State v. Doyon

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

The defendant, Leo F. Doyon (Doyon), was tried before a Superior Court jury on a two-count indictment charging him with arson, a violation of G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-4-1 (1979 Supp.), and murder while in perpetration of arson, a violation of G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-23-1 (1979 Supp.). A Superior Court jury, in its March 6, 1978 verdict, found Doyon guilty of arson and of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment for murder and to a concurrent twenty-five-year sentence for arson.

Shortly after 2 a. m. on March 26, 1977, the…