01/24/2018
Defendant appealed the decision of the trial court sustaining the violation of R.I.G.L. 1956 § 31-22-30 (“text messaging while driving”). Defendant argued that she was not texting while driving, but was instead using her phone as a GPS. She provided documentation from T-Mobile proving she had not texted at the time the stop occurred. The Appeals Panel, however, adopted the interpretation of § 31-22-30 used in State v. Joseph Furtado, No. T16-0004, where the Panel found that using a phone as a GPS fell under § 31-22-30 because it still involved the concept of looking away from the road and reading words or symbols. The Appeals Panel noted that the legislature has since amended the statute to clarify that manipulating a GPS is not prohibited, but found that the amendment did not have retroactive application to the facts of this case. Accordingly, the trial court’s decision was affirmed.
State of Rhode Island v. Dana Freeman, No. T16-0017 (January 24, 2018).pdf