(a) Any person who, by expressly or impliedly threatening to commit any unlawful act,
maliciously and knowingly communicates with another person with the specific intent
to intimidate a victim of a crime or a witness in any criminal proceeding with respect
to that person’s participation in any criminal proceeding shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500), or
imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
(b) Any person who, with the specific intent to intimidate a victim of a crime or a witness
in any criminal proceeding with respect to that person’s participation in any criminal
proceeding, causes a physical injury to or damages the property of any person or expressly
or impliedly threatens to cause physical injury to or damage to the property of any
person, or, with specific intent to intimidate, acts for pecuniary gain shall be guilty
of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars
($5,000), or imprisoned not more than five (5) years, or both.
(c) As used in this section, “criminal proceeding” means the filing of a criminal complaint,
any grand jury proceedings, any trial or hearing conducted in any court relating to
a criminal matter, any proceeding before the parole board or any official inquiry
into an alleged criminal violation.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent an attorney from interviewing
any witness or victim or from otherwise investigating a matter on behalf of a client
in an otherwise lawful manner.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
10
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1982–2025 · leading case:
State v. Burke, 811 A.2d 1158 (R.I. 2002).
State v. Burke, 811 A.2d 1158 (R.I. 2002).
· cites it 7× “) The defendant, Keith Burke, was convicted by a jury of one count of felony witness intimidation in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-32-5. He was sentenced to serve a five-year term of imprisonment for intimidating his wife, Deborah Burke (Deborah), and an additional fifteen-year…”
State v. Miller, 679 A.2d 867 (R.I. 1996).
· cites it 2× “The defendant was subsequently indicted by a grand jury on two counts of first-degree sexual assault, to wit, vaginal intercourse by force or coercion in violation of §§ 11-37-2 and 11-37-3 and one count of witness intimidation in violation of G.L.1956 § 11-32-5. In the course…”
State v. Martini, 460 A.2d 936 (R.I. 1983).
· cites it 2× “At its January 1982 session the General Assembly revised § 11-32-5 so that the prosecution must establish a “specific intent to intimidate.”
State v. Latraverse, 443 A.2d 890 (R.I. 1982).
“1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-32-5, as enacted by P.L.1980, ch. 91, § 2, better known as the Anti-intimidation of Witnesses and Crime Victims statute.”
State v. Appleton, 459 A.2d 94 (R.I. 1983).
“1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 11-8-3, entering a dwelling house with intent to commit larceny, and § 11-32-5, intimidation of a witness. A pretrial motion to suppress the admission of defendant’s signed confession was heard and denied on September 1, 1981.”
State v. Roscoe, 603 A.2d 330 (R.I. 1992).
“1956 (1981 Reenactment) § 11-32-5, which prohibits intimidation of a victim of a crime or a witness in any criminal proceeding.”
State v. Joseph Coletta, 337 A.3d 702 (R.I. 2025).
· cites it 3× “4; one count of intimidation of a witness or victim of a crime in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-32-5(a) and § 12-29-5; and one count of intimidation of a witness or victim of a crime in violation of § 11-32-5(a).”
State v. Burke, 783 A.2d 917 (R.I. 2001).
· cites it 3× “The defendant, Keith Burke, was convicted in the Superior Court of one count of witness intimidation, in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-32-5, a felony offense. Specifically, the criminal information alleged that defendant, “with the specific intent to intimidate Deborah Burke, in…”
State v. Quinones, 706 A.2d 1340 (R.I. 1998).
· cites it 2× “The defendant-asserted that the testimony of state’s "witnesses was “not worthy of belief’ and contended that the delay in reporting the alleged robbery was suspect. The defendant further argued that there was no basis for the underlying charge of witness intimidation because…”
State v. Demers, 576 A.2d 1221 (R.I. 1990).
“, § 11-32-5, as amended by P.L. 1982, ch. 372, § 1 and § 11-32-6, as amended by P.”
R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-32-5(a): 2 cases
State v. Burke, 811 A.2d 1158 (R.I. 2002).
“) The defendant, Keith Burke, was convicted by a jury of one count of felony witness intimidation in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-32-5. He was sentenced to serve a five-year term of imprisonment for intimidating his wife, Deborah Burke (Deborah), and an additional fifteen-year…”
State v. Joseph Coletta, 337 A.3d 702 (R.I. 2025).
“4; one count of intimidation of a witness or victim of a crime in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-32-5(a) and § 12-29-5; and one count of intimidation of a witness or victim of a crime in violation of § 11-32-5(a).”
R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-32-5(b): 1 case
State v. Burke, 811 A.2d 1158 (R.I. 2002).
“) The defendant, Keith Burke, was convicted by a jury of one count of felony witness intimidation in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-32-5. He was sentenced to serve a five-year term of imprisonment for intimidating his wife, Deborah Burke (Deborah), and an additional fifteen-year…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.