State v. Cook

796 A.2d 1269, 70 Conn. App. 114, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 273
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedMay 28, 2002
DocketAC 20561
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 796 A.2d 1269 (State v. Cook) 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
State v. Cook, 796 A.2d 1269, 70 Conn. App. 114, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 273 (Colo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Opinion

LAVERY, C. J.

The defendant, Robert Cook, appeals from the judgments of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (2)1 and attempt to commit robbeiy in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-49 (a) (2) and 53a-134 (a) (2).2 The defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) admitted evidence of uncharged conduct by the defendant and (2) consolidated for trial the count of attempt to commit robbeiy in the first degree with two counts of robbery in the first degree. We affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On September 22, 1998, the Dairy Mart convenience store located at 224 Quinnipiac Avenue in North Haven was robbed. At approximately 9 p.m., a man entered the store and pointed a shotgun at the two employees who were behind the counter. The man ordered the employees to place the money from the register into a bag. The man took the bag containing approximately $500 and exited the store. Both of the [116]*116clerks described the man as a black male wearing a multicolored scarf tied across his face as a mask from above his nose to below his chin.

On November 21,1998, Krauszer’s food store located at 59 Middletown Avenue in North Haven was robbed. A black male entered the store, pointed a shotgun at the clerk and demanded money. The clerk handed the man a bag containing approximately $541, and he left the store. The clerk described the man as wearing a “hankie” over his face and a sports cap on his head.

On December 11,1998, the Tolland Xtra Mart located on the Hartford Turnpike in Tolland was robbed. At approximately 8:45 p.m., a black male entered the store, pointed a shotgun at the clerk and demanded money. The clerk gave the man a bag containing approximately $300, and he exited the store. The clerk described the man as wearing a purple bandana over his face.

On that same day, at approximately 9:45 p.m., Sergeant William Bimey of the Wallingford police department observed a car parked suspiciously in a vacant lot next to a Texaco Mini-Mart located in Wallingford. Earlier that day, Bimey had received information concerning robberies of convenience stores that described the perpetrator as a black male wearing a multicolored bandana and armed with a shotgun. He observed a man, Harry Rivers, leaning against the operator’s door of the vehicle, looking toward the Texaco station. Bimey called in the license plate registration number of the vehicle and was informed that the plate had been reported stolen. As Birney approached the vehicle, Rivers was in the driver’s seat and he observed another man, the defendant, walk out from behind the Texaco station. When he arrived at the vehicle, the defendant was standing in front of it. After backup arrived, Bimey opened the glove compartment of the vehicle to obtain the registration documents. Bimey found a shower cap [117]*117containing $407 in the glove compartment and two large bags containing $144 in a rear child seat. Bimey then observed a multicolored bandana protruding from the defendant’s pocket, and, as the officer reached for it, the defendant attempted to flee but was quickly apprehended. A shotgun was found leaning against an air conditioning unit of the Texaco station approximately thirty feet from the stolen vehicle. The shotgun was later identified by the convenience store clerks as the weapon used in the robberies. The defendant was placed under arrest for attempt to commit robbery of the Texaco Mini-Mart.

The defendant was charged in three separate informations with robbery in the first degree for the robbery of the Dairy Mart in North Haven, robbery in the first degree for the robbery of Krauszer’s convenience store in North Haven and attempt to commit robbery in the first degree based on his arrest at the Texaco Mini-Mart in Wallingford. Prior to the commencement of jury selection, upon motion of the state, the trial court consolidated the three informations for trial. Following a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty of attempt to commit robbery in the first degree and of one count of robbeiy in the first degree. The defendant was sentenced to a total effective term of fifteen years in the custody of the commissioner of correction. This appeal followed.

I

The defendant first claims that the court improperly allowed the jury to consider evidence of the Tolland robbery for which he had not been charged as it pertained to the defendant’s intent to rob the Texaco Mini-Mart in Wallingford. We do not agree.

“Although evidence of other crimes or uncharged conduct is not admissible to show bad character or a disposition to commit a crime, such evidence is admissi[118]*118ble to show such Issues as common scheme, intent, malice, identity, motive or opportunity.” State v. Greene, 209 Conn. 458, 464-65, 551 A.2d 1231 (1988). “The rationale of this rule is to guard against its use merely to show an evil disposition of an accused, and especially the predisposition to commit the crime with which he is now charged. . . To be admitted under one of these exceptions, the evidence must satisfy a two-pronged test: First, the evidence must be relevant and material to at least one of the circumstances encompassed by the exceptions. . . . Second, the probative value of the evidence must outweigh its prejudicial effect.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Sierra, 213 Conn. 422, 428, 568 A.2d 448 (1990). “It is [b]ecause of the difficulties inherent in this balancing process that the trial court will be reversed only when there is a manifest abuse of discretion.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Greene, supra, 465.

During trial, the state sought to introduce evidence of the uncharged Tolland robbery through the testimony of Nina Miller, the clerk working at the convenience store on the night of the robbery. The state claimed that the evidence was relevant to the issues of the identification of the perpetrator in the two North Haven robberies and the defendant’s intent to commit a robbery of the Texaco Mini-Mart in Wallingford.3 The court held a hearing on the state’s offer of proof outside of the presence of the jury and ruled that the testimony was admissible. The court stated: “[W]ith respect to the Wallingford robbery, it was on the same day as the Tolland robbery. As I recall the evidence from Sergeant Bimey, there was a bandana in [the defendant’s] jacket. There was a shotgun found leaning against the building behind the Texaco Mini-Mart. I think the fact — -if a jury [119]*119should conclude that a convenience store robbery took place, as described in the evidence I heard this morning, that that is — that is extremely relevant to the issue of whether or not Mr. Rivers and [the defendant] had the intent to commit a robbery of that Texaco Mini-Mart.

“That being the case, I believe this evidence on the first prong of the test is relevant to the issue of identity. The second is a balancing test concerning probative value versus prejudice. ... I wanted to wait until I heai’d all the evidence in this case along with the offer of proof so that I could make that balancing test not in a vacuum, but in the context of all that’s been presented.

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Related

State v. Bell
891 A.2d 9 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2006)
State v. Rodriguez
881 A.2d 371 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2005)
State v. Cook
822 A.2d 243 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2003)
State v. Fauci, No. Fst-95602 (Mar. 5, 2003)
2003 Conn. Super. Ct. 2960 (Connecticut Superior Court, 2003)
State v. Sawyer
813 A.2d 1073 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
796 A.2d 1269, 70 Conn. App. 114, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 273, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cook-connappct-2002.