Attorney General Peter Kilmartin today commended the decision by the Rhode Island Supreme Court upholding the Family Court judgment in the contempt sentence of Craig Price.
"I am very pleased that the Supreme Court affirmed the Family Court's rejection of Craig Price's post-conviction relief application," said Attorney General Kilmartin. "The brutality of the crimes committed by then 15 year-old Craig Price shook our community to the core and continues to shock the conscience of society today. Justices Goldberg, Indeglia and Robinson quite correctly rejected Price's double jeopardy argument, and were certainly correct in holding that the twenty-five year sentence of contempt imposed upon Price was justified by his 'repeated and defiant refusal' to obey a series of court orders directing him to comply with the therapeutic evaluation program that was painstakingly crafted by the Family Court. The correctness of these determinations – that 'Price exhibited a menacing defiance of the Family Court's [rehabilitative] efforts' – is especially evident, when one considers the 'unprovoked' and 'unusually brutal' nature of the 'four horrific murders' committed by Price in 1989. There could hardly be a case in which the imposition of criminal contempt is more appropriate."