State v. Lovely

WATHEN, Justice.

Defendant appeals from his conviction for arson, entered on a jury verdict in Superior Court, Cumberland County. Because the trial justice’s summary refusal to question prospective jurors concerning anti-homosexual bias constituted error, we sustain the appeal. 1

Defendant was charged with setting fire to a structure and with causing fires at two adjacent properties. Pretrial discovery suggested and the evidence at trial disclosed that the structure was a gay bar, frequented by homosexuals, and that defendant was a patron. At the conclusion of the court’s summary voir dire of…