State v. Jones

210 Conn. App. 249
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 2022
DocketAC42674
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 210 Conn. App. 249 (State v. Jones) 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. Jones, 210 Conn. App. 249 (Colo. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

*********************************************** The “officially released” date that appears near the be- ginning of each opinion is the date the opinion will be pub- lished in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it was released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the be- ginning of all time periods for filing postopinion motions and petitions for certification is the “officially released” date appearing in the opinion.

All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the Connecticut Reports and Connecticut Appellate Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the advance release version of an opinion and the latest version appearing in the Connecticut Law Journal and subsequently in the Connecticut Reports or Connecticut Appellate Reports, the latest version is to be considered authoritative.

The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publica- tions, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut. *********************************************** STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. THEODORE JONES (AC 42674) Bright, C. J., and Elgo and Lavine, Js.

Syllabus

Convicted, following a jury trial, of the crimes of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of a pistol, and carrying a pistol without a permit, the defendant appealed to this court. At 5 p.m. on the date of his arrest, Shot Spotter, a system of microphones around the city of New Haven that uses sound to triangulate the location of gunshots, detected a gunshot in the area of 17 Vernon Street. Approximately four minutes later, an individual called the police and reported seeing the defendant in the area with a handgun. Shortly thereafter, the police arrived at the scene, encountered the defendant in an area that was approximately three houses down from the location identified by Shot Spotter, and detained him. Although the defendant did not have any weapons on him, the police recovered a firearm from a snowbank on the property located directly behind where the defendant was discov- ered. The defendant was arrested and was found to have multiple packets of heroin in his possession. Additionally, the defendant’s DNA and finger- prints were found on the recovered handgun. After a jury found the defendant guilty of all charges, he filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal, which the trial court denied, and the defendant appealed to this court. Held: 1. The evidence was sufficient to support the defendant’s conviction of criminal possession of a pistol, and, accordingly, the trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion for a judgment of acquittal with respect to that charge: the state’s arguments on appeal were consistent with the theory that it pursued at trial, namely, that the defendant had actual possession of the pistol on the date in question; moreover, the state was not compelled to prove constructive possession of the pistol because there was substantial circumstantial evidence from which the jury could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that, on the date of his arrest, the defendant actually possessed the handgun, fired it, and attempted to dispose of it, as Shot Spotter established that a gun was fired near 17 Vernon Street, less than five minutes later an officer arrived at the scene and found the defendant in an area only three houses down from the location registered by Shot Spotter, no other individuals were in the immediate area, the defendant exhibited evasive conduct by mis- leading the police regarding where he had been and where he was going, and, shortly after he was detained, the police found a handgun containing the defendant’s DNA and fingerprints in a snowbank just over a fence from the location where he was apprehended. 2. There was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding that the defen- dant was guilty of carrying a pistol without a permit, and, accordingly, the trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion for a judgment of acquittal with respect to that charge: the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant carried a pistol on his person on the day in question by holding it in his hand and firing it at 5 p.m. in the area of Vernon Street and by carrying it and tossing it over a nearby fence in an effort to dispose of it on the basis of the same evidence that was sufficient for a jury to conclude that the defendant criminally possessed a handgun on the date of his arrest. 3. Contrary to the defendant’s claim, the trial court did not commit plain error in charging the jury on criminal possession of a pistol by omitting from its charge that the state was required to prove that the defendant intended to exercise control over the handgun because the error, if any, was not so clear and so harmful that a failure to reverse the judgment would result in manifest injustice: the defendant’s claim rested on an incorrect premise, as the state was not required to prove constructive possession, rather, it was sufficient to demonstrate that the defendant actually possessed the firearm; moreover, the trial court’s charge dis- cussing constructive possession was substantially similar to those exam- ined in State v. Fasano (88 Conn. App. 17) and State v. Elijah (42 Conn. App. 687), which this court found had sufficiently explained the elements of the crimes charged to the jury. 4. This court declined to review the defendant’s claim that the trial court erred by permitting two police officers to testify as to the ultimate issue of whether the defendant had intent to sell the narcotics found on his person because that claim was not properly preserved at trial: at trial, the defendant objected to the officers’ testimony on the bases of rele- vance and lack of foundation, which the court overruled, but failed to object on the ground that the officers were testifying to an ultimate issue of fact, and, accordingly, the defendant could not challenge on appeal the proffered testimony as constituting improper opinion testi- mony on an ultimate issue; moreover, the defendant’s alternative basis for consideration of his unpreserved claim, that this court consider it as a matter of plain error, was unavailing, as any error of the trial court in not ruling on an objection that was not made did not rise to the level required for plain error review, which is reserved for extraordinary situations in which the existence of the error was so obvious that it affected the fairness and integrity of and public confidence in the judicial proceedings. Argued October 7, 2021—officially released January 25, 2022

Procedural History

Substitute information charging the defendant with the crimes of possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of a pistol, and carrying a pistol without a permit, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of New Haven, geographical area num- ber twenty-three, and tried to the jury before Alander, J.; verdict and judgment of guilty, from which the defen- dant appealed to this court. Affirmed. Julia K. Conlin, assigned counsel, with whom was Emily Graner Sexton, assigned counsel, for the appel- lant (defendant). Brett R. Aiello, deputy assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Patrick J. Griffin, state’s attorney, and Devant Joiner, senior assistant state’s attorney, for the appellee (state). Opinion

LAVINE, J.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 Conn. App. 249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jones-connappct-2022.