Municipal Court Directory

Municipal Court Page

Court Administrator & Clerk of the Court
Elisabeth Bettis
401-477-5126
ebettis@cranstonri.gov

Court Clerk
Robin Kutcher
401-477-5028
rkutcher@cranstonri.gov

Court Clerk/Translator (Habla Espanol)
Yahaira Nunez
401-477-5098
ynunez@cranstonri.gov

Clerk’s Office
401-477-5010
courtroom@cranstonri.gov

Judiciary Members

Chief Judge Raymond C. Coia

Senior Associate Judge Michael B. Forte

Michael B. Forte, Jr., was first appointed to the court in January, 2019.  In January of 2021 he was elevated to the position of Senior Associate Judge. 

Judge Forte is the co-founder of a law firm based in Warwick, an Assistant Professor of Accounting and Business Law at Nichols College in Dudley, MA, and legal counsel to the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Finance.  Judge Forte’s legal practice has included representing lawyers, judges and public officials accused of malpractice and civil rights violations, public employment and benefits cases and complex business matters.  He has served as certified class counsel in government pension matters, and his civil practice at the trial and appellate level has been varied and diverse. 

Judge Forte also serves as a bail commissioner for the Rhode Island District and Family Courts and as a Panel Member on the Labor and Employment Panels for the American Arbitration Association.  He has been a Certified Fraud Examiner since 2011.  He is a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association and serves on the Editorial Board of the Rhode Island Bar Journal.  Judge Forte is also a panelist on the Rhode Island Superior Court Receivership Panel.  He was previously a municipal budget committee chairman and he has been a member of the adjunct faculty at Roger Williams University.  He is also involved in youth sports serving as a referee assignor for the state youth soccer league.

Judge Forte resides in Cranston with his wife Tricia and his son Mikey (III).

Associate Judge Angelyne E. Cooper

In January of 2021, by a unanimous vote of the Cranston City Council, Angelyne E. Cooper became the first attorney of color nominated and appointed to serve as a judge on the Cranston Municipal Court.

Currently, she serves as Legal Counsel for the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, a role she previously held from 2013 to 2018. In 2015, while with the Department, she was appointed State Level Equal Opportunity Officer. In this position, she was responsible for conducting investigations into external discrimination complaints filed against the Department, oversaw the Department’s compliance with state and federal civil rights law, and served as the liaison with community groups on issues related to equal opportunity and diversity.

Her prior legal experience includes prison litigation monitoring to ensure that incarcerated individuals with mental health illness received constitutionally adequate mental health care and providing advice and counsel on a wide range of legal issues as an attorney for Rhode Island Legal Services and the City of Providence. She also served as a Law Clerk for the Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson on the First Circuit Court of Appeals -- one of twelve federal circuit courts of appeals directly underneath the Supreme Court of the United States.

She earned her J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law, cum laude, and served as President of the Black Law Students Association and a member of the Multi-Cultural Law Students Association. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Utica College of Syracuse University, where she served as Chief Justice of the Student Senate and President of the Criminal Justice Student Association.

She is a member of the Rules Advisory Committee for the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association, the Rhode Island Thurgood Marshall Law Society, the Rhode Island Hispanic Bar Association, and the Greater Providence RI Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. She also serves as a City Year Providence AmeriCorps mentor. In 2014, she was appointed by Governor Lincoln D. Chafee as a Commissioner for the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights and continues that work present day. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Rhode Island Center for Justice and Genesis Center, and a former board member for the Rhode Island Urban Debate League, where she held several leadership positions.

Judge Cooper resides in Cranston with her husband, Collin Bailey, and their two children, Lena and CJ Bailey.

Associate Judge Matthew B. Smith

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