The man serving life without parole for the 1999 murder of a beloved Little Compton resident has petitioned the state for a new trial.

Jeremy Motyka, now 50, was 23 when he raped and murdered widow Angela Spence-Shaw, 66, in her Sakonnet Point Road home. He was later convicted of first degree murder and first degree sexual assault, and is serving his sentence at the Adult Correctional Institution in Cranston.

Motyka’s request for a new trial comes on the heels of a 2017 Rhode Island Supreme Court decision to vacate an earlier ruling that denied Motyka’s request for post-conviction relief.

In a statement this month, a Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office spokesperson wrote that while Motyka is entitled to the 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.”

In Washington County Superior Court earlier this month, his former public defender, Michael DiLauro, argued that Motyka’s defense counsel was not given the tools needed to properly represent him.

“We didn’t have all the information that we were entitled to in order to provide quality representation to Mr. Motyka,” DiLauro told the judge. “I have no problem saying that.”

A Superior Court judge made no decision on the request, but asked that Motyka’s legal arguments be presented in writing for review this coming Spring.

Murder shocks Little Compton

Spence-Shaw was beloved and well-known in Little Compton, and more than 300 residents came out to mourn her at a memorial service held about a week after her death.

She worked at Peckham’s Greenhouse and at the time of her death was due to take over as president of the Little Compton Garden Club. Just three days before her murder, she had filled window boxes at the community center with a colorful array of flowers.

Her body was discovered Sunday, May 30, by a friend who grew concerned after she failed to show up for work. The friend found her body in an upstairs bathroom, and police found an electric hairdryer in the bathtub.

There were no signs of forced entry, but within weeks police homed in on Motyka, a Fall River resident who was part of a work crew renovating Spence-Shaw’s home.

A jury trial began in late January 2001, and Motyka was found guilty in late April of that year.