State v. Juan V.

CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJuly 30, 2019
DocketAC40889
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Juan V. (State v. Juan V.) 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. Juan V., (Colo. Ct. App. 2019).

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. JUAN V.* (AC 40889) Prescott, Bright and Cobb, Js.

Syllabus

Convicted of four counts of the crime of risk of injury to a child in connection with his alleged sexual abuse of the minor victim, the defendant appealed to this court. Held: 1. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the trial court committed plain error by permitting the jury, during its deliberations and in the jury room, to view, without limitation, a video recording of a forensic interview of the victim, which had been admitted into evidence as a full exhibit: because the video recording had been admitted into evidence for substantive purposes as a full exhibit with the agreement of defense counsel, the trial court correctly submitted the exhibit to the jury for its consideration as required by the applicable rule of practice (§ 42- 23), which requires that all exhibits received into evidence be submitted to the jury, and in a manner consistent with our Supreme Court’s stated preference for juries to receive all exhibits, when feasible, in the jury room; moreover, because the forensic interview was an exhibit and not the functional equivalent of in-court testimony, such as a deposition, the rule of practice (§ 42-26) requiring that the play back of trial testimony at the request of the jury be conducted in the courtroom did not apply to the jury’s viewing of the video exhibit of the forensic interview; accordingly, because the defendant failed to demonstrate any error on part of the trial court, his claim of plain error failed. 2. The defendant could not prevail on his unpreserved claim that the trial court improperly instructed the jury on inferences, which was based on his assertion that the inferences instruction was an impermissible two-inference instruction that improperly diluted the state’s burden of proof: a. The defendant waived his right to challenge the inferences instruction on appeal, as he had a meaningful opportunity at trial to review it and expressed no concerns regarding the charge as given to the jury; the court provided defense counsel with a copy of the proposed instructions prior to the charging conference and held in-chambers conferences regarding the instructions, and defense counsel declined to object or take exception with the inferences instruction when the court read the final instructions to the parties at the charging conference. b. The defendant did not demonstrate that the inferences instruction constituted an error that was so clear, obvious and indisputable as to warrant the extraordinary remedy of reversal under the plain error doctrine: the instruction given by the court was a correct statement of law and did not constitute an impermissible two-inference instruction, as it did not instruct the jury to draw a conclusion of guilt or innocence, but to draw a conclusion that seemed reasonable and logical, it related only to conclusions regarding individual pieces of evidence rather than the evidence as a whole, and the instructions, taken as a whole, did not mislead the jury as to the state’s burden to prove every element of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt, and, therefore, the defendant’s claim did not involve an error so obvious that it affected the fairness of or public confidence in the judicial proceeding; moreover, even if such error existed, the inferences instruction did not constitute manifest injustice, as the defendant failed to demonstrate that the chal- lenged instruction was of such monumental proportion that it threatened to erode our system of justice or resulted in harm so grievous that fundamental fairness required a new trial. 3. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the defendant’s motion for a disclosure to the defense of the victim’s school records following an in camera review of such records; this court’s independent review of the undisclosed records confirmed the trial court’s conclusion that the material did not contain information that was probative of the victim’s credibility or otherwise exculpatory. Argued March 7—officially released July 30, 2019 Procedural History

Substitute information charging the defendant with four counts of the crime of risk of injury to a child, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Danbury and tried to the jury before Russo, J.; verdict and judgment of guilty, from which the defendant appealed to this court. Affirmed. Pamela S. Nagy, assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant). Kathryn W. Bare, assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, was Stephen J. Sedensky, state’s attorney, for the appellee (state). Opinion

COBB, J. The defendant, Juan V., appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of two counts of risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes § 53-21 (a) (1)1 and two counts of risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes § 53- 21 (a) (2).2 On appeal, the defendant claims that the court improperly (1) permitted the jury to have with it during its deliberations a video recording of a forensic interview between the victim and a forensic inter- viewer, which was admitted as a full exhibit, (2) instructed the jury on inferences in a manner that diluted the state’s burden of proof, and (3) denied his motion for a disclosure of the victim’s school records. The defendant’s first two claims concededly are unpre- served and we conclude that the defendant has failed to demonstrate that this court should review them or that he should prevail pursuant to the doctrines on which he relies. As to the defendant’s third claim of error, we have reviewed the victim’s school records and conclude that they do not contain any information that is exculpatory or otherwise bears on the victim’s credibility. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. In 2006, the defendant began dating the victim’s mother, E, and after about six months, the defendant moved in with E and the victim. At that time, the victim was approximately four years of age. In 2008, the defen- dant and E married, and the defendant adopted the victim in 2009.3 When the victim was approximately ten years old, the defendant began touching her inappropriately when E was not home. Specifically, the defendant ‘‘touched [the victim] on [her] breasts and vagina with . . . [h]is mouth, his hands and his penis.’’ On one occasion, the defendant attempted to put his penis inside of the vic- tim’s vagina. At another point, the defendant mastur- bated in front of the victim and ejaculated onto her leg.

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Juan V., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-juan-v-connappct-2019.