State v. Boyd

570 A.2d 1125, 214 Conn. 132, 1990 Conn. LEXIS 65
Supreme Court of Connecticut·Decided March 6, 1990·No. 13514·Published·Cited by 42 cases

Opinions

Glass, J.

The defendant, Terrence Boyd, was charged in a substitute information with the crimes of felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54e,1 burglary in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-101 (a) (2), larceny in the third degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-119 and 53a-124 (a) (1) and larceny in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-119 and 53a-122 (a) (3). All of the charges stemmed from the murder of Ann Viner during the burglary of her home in New Canaan, [134] on December 10,1986. After a trial to a jury of twelve, the defendant was found guilty on all of the charges except larceny in the first degree. On January 21,1988, the defendant was sentenced to an effective prison term of forty-five years.

The defendant’s principal argument on appeal is that the trial court erred in finding probable cause to prosecute him for felony murder. Specifically, at a joint probable cause hearing, the state offered evidence against the defendant and his codefendant, Tyrone Wilson.2 Neither the defendant nor Wilson took the stand and, in effect, the only evidence offered by the state implicating the defendant in Ann Viner’s murder was a written statement made by Wilson.3 In particular, Wilson claimed in his statement that, while both he and the defendant participated in the burglary of the Viner residence, it was the defendant who killed Ann Viner.

The defendant contends that the trial court improperly admitted Wilson’s statement for the following reasons: (1) the statement was hearsay and did not come under any recognized exception to the hearsay rule; and (2) admission of the statement violated his right to confrontation under the sixth amendment to the United States constitution and article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution. Thus, the defendant asserts, and [135] the state concedes, that without Wilson’s statement, there was insufficient evidence offered by the state to find probable cause to prosecute the defendant for felony murder.

In assessing the defendant’s claim, we must undertake several levels of inquiry. First, because the defendant received a fair trial,4 we must resolve the question of whether appellate review of the trial court’s probable cause determination is warranted in this case. If so, we must then determine whether the trial court erred in admitting Wilson’s statement at the probable cause hearing.

I

Article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution, as amended, provides in part that “[n]o person shall be held to answer for any crime, punishable by death or life imprisonment, unless upon probable cause shown at a hearing in accordance with procedures prescribed by law.” In State v. Mitchell, 200 Conn. 323, 331, 512 A.2d 140 (1986), we held that “appellate review of the determination of probable cause is essential to fulfilling the purpose of [article first, § 8].” Furthermore, we stated that “an invalid finding of probable cause at such a hearing undermines the court’s power to hear the case at trial.” Id., 332.

Moreover, in Mitchell, we held that the standard for determining whether probable cause exists is “ ‘whether the government’s evidence would warrant a person of [136] reasonable caution to believe that the accused [had] committed the crime.’ ” Id., 336. We further noted that, when a defendant claims the evidence presented by the state was insufficient to meet this standard, “we must examine the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing to determine whether it was sufficient to support the trial court’s finding of probable cause.” Id., 335. In our recent decision of State v. McPhail, 213 Conn. 161, 170, 567 A.2d 812 (1989), we reaffirmed this principle, stating: “[I]mplicit in our decision [in Mitchell] was an understanding that, at the very least, insufficiency of the evidence presented at the probable cause hearing will deprive the trial court of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant, thus rendering moot any subsequent prosecution and conviction.”

Therefore, even though the defendant received a fair trial, appellate review of his claim that the state presented insufficient evidence to establish probable cause to prosecute him for felony murder is mandated.

II

The defendant’s first ground for claiming that the trial court erred in admitting Wilson’s statement is that the statement is hearsay and does not fall under any recognized exception to the hearsay rule.5 General Stat[137] utes § 54-46a (b),6 the implementing legislation for article first, § 8, states that at a probable cause hearing “[t]he court shall be confined to the rules of evidence.”7 The state concedes that Wilson’s statement is hearsay, but argues that it is admissible as a third party statement against penal interest or, alternatively, is admissible under the catch-all exception to the hearsay rule.

[138] “In State v. DeFreitas, [179 Conn. 431, 450, 426 A.2d 799 (1980)], we adopted a rule, consistent with Chambers v. Mississippi, [410 U.S. 284, 295, 93 S. Ct. 1038, 35 L. Ed 2d 297 (1973)], and in accord with rule 804 (b) (3) of the Federal Rules of Evidence,8 which provides that trustworthy third party statements against penal interest which are exculpatory to the defendant are admissible if the declarant is unavailable.” State v. Bryant, 202 Conn. 676, 692, 523 A.2d 451 (1987); see State v. Gold, 180 Conn. 619, 630, 431 A.2d 501, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 920, 101 S. Ct. 320, 66 L. Ed. 2d 148 (1980). In the present case, however, Wilson’s statement does not exculpate the defendant but, rather, clearly inculpates the defendant.

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State v. Boyd, 570 A.2d 1125, 214 Conn. 132, 1990 Conn. LEXIS 65 (Colo. 1990).

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