A Rhode Island felony is any criminal offense punishable by more than one year in state prison at the Adult Correctional Institutions. Felonies are prosecuted in Rhode Island Superior Court (not District Court like misdemeanors) and carry dramatically more severe consequences across every dimension, sentence length, collateral consequences, and long-term impact.
Common Rhode Island felonies include:
- Drug offenses, possession with intent to deliver, drug trafficking, and manufacturing involving cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, or large-quantity marijuana
- Violent crimes, robbery (first and second degree), assault with a dangerous weapon (ADW), felony assault with serious bodily injury, kidnapping, home invasion
- Domestic violence, felony-level domestic assault, especially with prior convictions
- Sex offenses, first, second, and third-degree sexual assault, child molestation
- Property crimes, burglary, breaking and entering, arson, larceny over $1,500
- Firearms offenses, carrying without a license, felon in possession
- White-collar, identity theft, embezzlement, forgery
- Motor vehicle felonies, third-offense DUI, DUI with serious injury, DUI resulting in death, and habitual offender enhancements
Some Rhode Island felonies carry mandatory minimum sentences the judge cannot suspend. Every felony case Bank & Munns handles starts with a charge-by-charge analysis: can it be reduced, can it be dismissed, what are the trial odds, and what does a best-case plea look like.