Small v. State

70 A.3d 180, 143 Conn. App. 655, 2013 WL 3193308, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 337
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJuly 2, 2013
DocketAC 32959
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 70 A.3d 180 (Small v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Small v. State, 70 A.3d 180, 143 Conn. App. 655, 2013 WL 3193308, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 337 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Opinion

HARPER, J.

The petitioner, Anthony Small, appeals following the denial of his petition for certification to appeal from the judgment of the trial court denying his petition for a new trial. On appeal, the petitioner claims that the court abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal and improperly denied his petition for a new trial, which was based on alleged newly discovered and/or suppressed evidence and an alleged unconstitutional jury charge.1 We dismiss the appeal.

The petition for a new trial arises from the petitioner’s underlying criminal case. Our Supreme Court previously has set forth the following facts that the jury reasonably could have found. “In October, 1990, the [petitioner] was involved in drug trafficking with his friend, Eric Amado. The [petitioner] and Amado stored drugs at the West Haven apartment of Amado’s girlfriend, Joanne Bailey. Bailey shared the apartment with [658]*658Hope Vaughn, who had been dating the [petitioner], . . . Vaughn, who was upset over statements regarding her allegedly made by the [petitioner] and Amado, decided that she would ‘put a stop to it.’ Vaughn telephoned a friend, Anthony Young, and asked him to come to the apartment she shared with Bailey. She then opened a window and knocked over some of the apartment’s furnishings to make it appear as though the apartment had been burglarized. When Young arrived, Vaughn told him that she had some things to bring out and, after Young had backed his car, a red Toyota Cél-ica, up to the door of the apartment building, she loaded two duffel bags and a small safe containing the drugs into the trunk of the car. The two then drove to Young’s apartment in Bridgeport, where they were joined by Peter Hall, Vaughn’s former boyfriend.

“Meanwhile, the [petitioner] and Amado returned to the West Haven apartment and discovered that the drugs were missing. The two men immediately began to search for the drugs and for whomever had taken them. They were joined in their search by Joanne Bailey, as well as by two associates, John ‘John-John’ Wideman and David ‘Chico’ Bailey. During the course of their search, the group traveled to Stamford so that Amado could consult with a ‘voodoo man’ of his acquaintance. The ‘voodoo man’ told him that Vaughn had taken the drugs. Joanne Bailey informed Amado that Vaughn might be with a friend, Sarita Malloy, who lived in Bridgeport with Young. The group drove in two cars to Young’s apartment, where they found Vaughn, Young and Hall standing outside on the porch. At that time, they apparently did not suspect Young or Hall to have been involved in the theft. Joanne Bailey approached Vaughn and told her that Amado wanted to speak with her. Vaughn went over to the car where Amado was waiting, and when he ordered her to get into the car she complied. The group then returned to West Haven, [659]*659where they spent the night. Throughout the night, Amado and the [petitioner], along with the other two men, questioned Vaughn as to her knowledge of the missing drugs. Amado threatened to shoot her and, at one point, the [petitioner] tied a sock around Vaughn’s head while David Bailey threatened her with a gun.

“The next morning, Joanne Bailey asked neighbors whether they had seen anything suspicious. After being told by a neighbor that Vaughn had been seen loading bags into the trunk of a red Toyota, the [petitioner], Amado, Joanne Bailey, Wideman and David Bailey returned to Young’s Bridgeport apartment. The men were armed with automatic or semiautomatic weapons, including Uzis. The [petitioner] carried an Uzi. Upon arriving at Young’s apartment, Amado told Young that he had come for his ‘stuff.’ Young told him to calm down and to come inside the house, but Amado began yelling and then began shooting. Young and Hall were fatally wounded, and Joanne Bailey was shot in the back of her left thigh. The [petitioner], Amado, Wideman and David Bailey fled the scene. The [petitioner] subsequently left the Bridgeport area, and moved to Queens, New York, where he remained until his arrest for the murders in 1994.” State v. Small, 242 Conn. 93, 97-98, 700 A.2d 617 (1997).

This court previously has set forth the relevant procedural history with respect to the petitioner’s criminal case. “In 1995, following a jury trial, the petitioner was convicted of capital felony in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54b (8), two counts of felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54c and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (2) and [General Statutes] § 53a-48. On appeal, our Supreme Court reversed the judgment in part and remanded the case to the trial court with direction to vacate the capital felony conviction and to impose a sentence on the felony murder [660]*660charges. . . . The trial court thereafter imposed a total effective sentence of forty-five years incarceration.” (Citation omitted.) Small v. State, 101 Conn. App. 213, 216, 920 A.2d 1024 (2007), appeal dismissed, 290 Conn. 128, 962 A.2d 80, cert. denied, 558 U.S. 842, 130 S. Ct. 102, 175 L. Ed. 2d 68 (2009).

On May 3, 2001, the petitioner filed a revised petition for a new trial pursuant to General Statutes § 52-270 and Practice Book § 42-55, in which he alleged: (1) actual innocence on the basis of newly discovered evidence; (2) that the state failed to disclose exculpatory evidence; and (3) that the trial court provided an unconstitutional jury charge on consciousness of guilt. “On July 7, 2006, the court denied the petitioner’s request for a new trial. Thereafter, the petitioner filed a petition for certification to appeal [pursuant to General Statutes § 54-95 (a)]. . . . The court . . . denied the petition for certification to appeal on the ground that there were no questions involved that merited review by an appellate court.” Id. This appeal followed.

The petitioner claims that the court abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal. “As a preliminary matter, we identify the standard of review. It is well established that we apply the abuse of discretion standard when reviewing a court’s decision to deny a request for certification to appeal from a denial of a petition for a new trial. ... In determining whether a court abused its discretion in this context, we apply the criteria set forth in Lozada v. Deeds, 498 U.S. 430, 431-32, 111 S. Ct. 860, 112 L. Ed. 2d 956 (1991). . . . According to the Lozada framework, a petitioner can establish a clear abuse of discretion by demonstrating one of the following criteria: (1) that the issues are debatable among jurists of reason; (2) that a court could resolve the issues in a different manner; or (3) that the questions are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed farther.” (Citations omitted.) Daniels v. State, [661]*66188 Conn. App. 572, 575-76, 870 A.2d 1109, cert. denied, 274 Conn. 902, 876 A.2d 11 (2005).

The petitioner claims that the court abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal because he has presented issues that warrant appellate consideration.

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Related

State v. Bryan
193 Conn. App. 285 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2019)
Smigelski v. Dubois
Connecticut Appellate Court, 2014

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 A.3d 180, 143 Conn. App. 655, 2013 WL 3193308, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/small-v-state-connappct-2013.