PROVIDENCE (AP) - The alleged president of the Rhode Island chapter of Hells Angels Motorcycle Club has again challenged a judge’s refusal to recuse herself from his case.
Superior Court Judge Kristin Rodgers previously denied the request by Joseph Lancia to step down on April 29, the Providence Journal reported Monday.
Lancia was arrested June 2019 after an investigation into reports of shots fired and faces charges related to attempting to kill a former club prospect.
Lancia has argued that Rodger’s marriage to Little Compton Police Chief Scott Raynes, formerly of the state police for 24 years, could appear improper.
Lancia’s request stems from a raid on the Hells Angels clubhouse by state police, a raid that Rodgers says her husband was not involved in.
“To suggest that Chief Raynes’ entry into that particular premises decades ago creates an appearance of impropriety is as unreasonable as concluding that recusal is required in a motor vehicle accident case where a judicial officer’s spouse patrolled the roadway on which that accident occurred in his role as a police officer many years before,” Rodgers wrote.
Lancia has requested that the ruling is delayed, arguing that the decision was reached using information from Raynes work with the state police.
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