John Paul Bourcier was born in Providence, Rhode Island on March 27, 1927. He attended high school at La Salle Academy in Providence until he enlisted in the United States Navy during his senior year in 1944.
Judge Bourcier enrolled at Brown University in 1946 as part of the Veterans Extension Program, which was created to help returning veterans obtain a college degree regardless of their financial means or academic preparation. He graduated in 1950, and on August 20, 1951 he and Norma M. DiLuglio were married. The Bourciers had two daughters, Carol Bourcier Fargnoli and Norma Jean Bourcier Bucci.
Judge Bourcier received his LL.B. degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1953. While there he was the associate editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. After returning to Rhode Island in 1953, Judge Bourcier worked as a trial attorney at his firm, Bourcier & Bourdier, until his appointment to the Rhode Island Superior Court in 1974. During this time he was also the Johnston, Rhode Island town solicitor as well as a probate judge.
While on the Superior Court Judge Bourcier was involved in many well-known cases. In 1981 he presided over the trial of Raymond L.S. Patriarca, reputed leader of organized crime in New England, who was accused of being an accessory to murder. He was the judge in the trial of then Mayor of Providence Vincent A. Cianci, Jr. on assault and kidnapping charges in 1984. In 1985 he presided over the trial of an antinuclear group which became known as the Trident II Plowshares, who were accused of breaking into Electric Boat's Quonset Point plant and damaging four Trident Missile tubes in October 1984.
In September 1994 Judge Bourcier was chosen to preside over Providence's "Gun Court", a special division of the Rhode Island Superior Court which was created to try anyone charged with using a gun in the commission of a crime. By February 1995 Judge Bourcier had disposed of sixty-four cases out of a backlog of seventy and had sentenced eighty percent of the defendants in his court to prison. While serving on the Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Bourcier was also a lecturer and instructor at Roger Williams College (1982-1995), Brown University (1979-1995), Bryant College (1990-1993), and Rhode Island Community College (1989-1990).
In May 1995 Governor Lincoln Almond appointed Judge Bourcier to the Rhode Island Supreme Court. While there Judge Bourcier also served as the chair of the Committee on the Future of the Courts and on the Alternate Dispute Resolution Task Force. In 1998 he was elected to the La Salle Academy Hall of Fame.
Judge Bourcier served on the Rhode Island Supreme Court until his death on August 25, 2002, at the age of seventy-five.
The John P. Bourcier papers contain judicial decisions, jury instruction material, correspondence and other material related to Judge Bourcier's career as a jurist in Rhode Island from 1974 to 2002.
The first series consists of Judge Bourcier's decisions in cases over which he presided while on the Rhode Island Superior Court from 1974 to 1995. The instructions to juries in the second series are mostly handwritten. They are not dated or arranged by topic, but many refer to a particular case or have a title such as "Self Defense".
The subject files contain material such as correspondence, newspaper articles, meeting agendas, membership lists and reports from committees on which Judge Bourcier served. Much of the correspondence, which can be found in almost all of the subseries, is related to the 1984 trial of then Mayor of Providence Vincent A. Cianci, Jr. and to the antinuclear Trident II Plowshares trial. Two photographs of Judge Bourcier, samples of his stationery and copies of a speech given at the inauguration of the Mayor of Johnston in 1995 are also included in this series.
The last series in these papers consists of nine bound volumes entitled
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
John P. Bourcier papers, Ms. 2009.005, Brown University Library.
The collection is arranged into the following series:
The collection is housed in five boxes. Box 3 is a legal-size Hollinger document case. Box 5 is a letter-size Hollinger document case.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
The John P. Bourcier papers were given to the Brown University Library by his daughter, Carol Bourcier Fargnoli, in 2003.
No further materials are anticipated for this collection.
Brown University catalog record for this collection:
The title below may be found at the University of Rhode Island Library:
This series consists chiefly of decisions written by Judge Bourcier when he served on the Rhode Island Superior Court between 1974 and 1995. One Supreme Court decision, Capital Properties, Inc. vs. State of Rhode Island (92-273), is included. Some decisions contain Judge Bourcier's handwritten notes and corrections.
Since most of this material is not dated it is filed by docket number, regardless of any alphabetical prefix. For example, docket numbers beginning with KC (Kent County) are interfiled with docket numbers beginning with PC (Providence County). If a decision applied to more than one case the first docket number listed is used in filing. The folder titles indicate the first and last docket numbers in that folder. However, these folders do not include every docket number in between the first and last one listed.
The material in the last folder in this series, "Notes on cases and appellate review", consists of handwritten notes and summaries regarding some of Judge Bourcier's decisions as well as material related to the Superior Court's right to review decisions of the various state administrative agencies.
This series consists of Judge Bourcier's instructions to juries on a variety of legal issues. Most of the instructions are handwritten and are not dated or arranged by topic. Some refer to a particular case or have a title such as "Self Defense". Judge Bourcier's original arrangement of this material has been retained.
This series contains a variety of material related to Judge Bourcier's professional activities while he served on the Rhode Island Superior Court and the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
In addition to Subseries F. Correspondence, letters to and from Judge Bourcier may be found in Subseries A. Alternate dispute resolution, Subseries D. Cianci, Vincent A., Jr., Subseries E. Continuing legal education seminar, Subseries G. Future of the Courts, Subseries K. Town of Johnston speech, Subseries L. Trident II Plowshares trial and Subseries M. University of Rhode Island Forensic Science Partnership.
This subseries contains material related to the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Task Force created by Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams in June 2001. Judge Bourcier served as co-chair of the Task Force along with Attorney Christine W. Ariel. The material includes correspondence, press releases, meeting agendas, Judge Bourcier's handwritten notes and the Task Force's recommendations.
This subseries consists chiefly of newspaper articles regarding Judge Bourcier and the cases over which he presided. While most of the articles are from the
This subseries consists of a one-page reprint of biographical information about Judge Bourcier. It was taken from an online version of
Most of the material in this subseries concerns the 1984 trial of then Mayor of Providence Vincent A. Cianci, Jr. on charges of assault and kidnapping. The court order in the Correspondence file assigned Judge Bourcier to the case. The campaign flier is from Mayor Cianci's 1994 re-election campaign. It refers to the "Gun Court" over which Judge Bourcier presided.
This subseries contains a letter and evaluation form regarding Judge Bourcier's participation in a seminar on openings and summations.
This subseries contains correspondence to and from Judge Bourcier on a variety of topics. All the letters are related to his professional life and are not personal.
Judge Bourcier was the chairman of the Committee on the Future of the Courts, which was created in 1996 by Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger. Its purpose was to determine the technologies, methods and jurisprudential philosophies that would be needed for the Rhode Island judicial system in the twenty-first century.
This subseries contains a photograph of the members of the Rhode Island Superior Court in 1974 and a photograph of the members of the Rhode Island Supreme Court on the cover of the December 1998 Rhode Island Bar Journal.
This subseries consists of an outline written by Judge Bourcier regarding recent developments in the courts and civil procedure.
These are samples Judge Bourcier's stationery. They were originally in a notebook and include envelopes, cards and writing paper.
This subseries contains a letter to Judge Bourcier from the Mayor-elect of Johnston, Louis A. Perrotta, and two copies of a speech Judge Bourcier gave at Mr. Perrotta's inauguration.
Most of this subseries consists of letters to Judge Bourcier from the United States and abroad regarding the Trident II Plowshares trial. Some of the correspondence is in Russian. An undated cartoon regarding the case and a transcript of the sentencing hearing of Jean Halladay, one of the defendants, are also included in this series.
Judge Bourcier was a member of the Advisory Board of the Forensic Science Partnership. This subseries contains material regarding the Board's partnership agreement with the Rhode Island Department of Health, lists of Board members, material regarding meetings and correspondence to and from Judge Bourcier.
This subseries consists of nine codices containing the opinions written by Judge Bourcier while he served on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.