A man serving life without parole for the 1999 rape and murder of a Rhode Island grandmother is now alleging that investigators planted DNA evidence as he seeks a new trial.
Jeremy Motyka, 50, was convicted in 2001 of first-degree murder and first-degree sexual assault in the killing of 66-year-old Angela Spence-Shaw. Her battered body was found in her bathtub at her Little Compton home over Memorial Day weekend, according to WPRI, the Providence Journal and EastBayRI.
Spence-Shaw was raped, beaten and left submerged in the bathtub with a plugged-in hair dryer, the outlets reported. Motyka was part of a construction crew renovating her Sakonnet Point Road home around the time of her death.
Motyka has long maintained he is innocent. In his latest push for post-conviction relief, he alleges Rhode Island State Police planted the DNA evidence used to secure his conviction and says his trial attorney provided ineffective representation, according to WPRI and the Providence Journal.
He has also argued he had an alibi during the period investigators believe Spence-Shaw died, and that fingerprints collected at the scene did not connect him to the crime, the Providence Journal reported.
Motyka’s most recent motion was argued earlier this month in Washington County Superior Court. A judge asked both sides to submit written legal arguments for review this spring. The hearing follows a 2017 Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling that Motyka was entitled to an evidentiary hearing after an earlier post-conviction request was denied without being heard, according to EastBayRI and WPRI.
Motyka’s former public defender, Michael DiLauro, told the court the defense did not receive all the information necessary to properly represent him at trial, EastBayRI reported.
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that while Motyka is entitled to a hearing, “the state is confident that after an evidentiary hearing on the post-conviction relief matter, the Superior Court will dismiss the petition as meritless,” WPRI and EastBayRI reported.
Prosecutors also argue Motyka has presented no new evidence and is attempting to relitigate facts a jury has already decided, according to the Providence Journal and WPRI.
Spence-Shaw, who worked at Peckham’s Greenhouse and was active in the Little Compton Garden Club, was remembered as a beloved member of the community. More than 300 residents attended a memorial service held about a week after her death, EastBayRI and the Providence Journal reported.
Motyka remains incarcerated at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, according to WPRI and EastBayRI.
