State v. Lewis

759 A.2d 518, 60 Conn. App. 219, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 466
Connecticut Appellate Court·Decided October 3, 2000·No. AC 18635·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinion

Opinion

HEALEY, J.

The defendant, Troy Lewis, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of three counts of robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (4)1 and one count of [221] conspiracy to commit robbery in violation of General Statutes § 53a-48.2 These charges stem from three separate incidents that resulted in three informations, which the trial court consolidated for trial. On appeal the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) consolidated the three cases against him thus depriving him of a fair trial, (2) refused to dismiss the charges against him because his arrest was without probable cause and in violation of his constitutional rights, (3) admitted his police statement because there was no waiver of his Miranda3 rights and his statement was not voluntary and (4) refused to grant a mistrial after playing back highly prejudicial testimony to the jury beyond that which was requested by the jury during their deliberations, thus denying him a fair trial. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The three robberies involved were committed in Stratford between December 24, 1996, and January 4, 1997. On December 24,1996, at about 2:15 a.m., Ramona Hemon was working as a night auditor at the Ramada Inn in Stratford. At that time, Hemon was in the lobby area with Howard Unger, the building’s security guard.4 A man came in and asked about the price of a room. After Hemon gave him that information, the man left explaining that he had to check with his girlfriend.

Shortly thereafter, two black men wearing ski masks entered the hotel and ran up to the counter behind [222] which Hemon stood.5 The men jumped over the counter, one man placed a shotgun against Hemon’s chest, and the other was holding a baseball bat. The man with the bat used it to club Unger, who lost consciousness briefly.

One of the masked men asked Hemon where the safe was, to which she replied that there was none. He then asked where the cash drawer was, and she showed him. After the man pulled the cash drawer out, he jumped back over the counter. As both men were exiting toward the front door, one of them turned to Hemon and told her that if she moved he would blow her brains out. Then both men fled taking about $250 with them. After they had gone, Hemon’s son noticed a duffel bag directly in front of the counter. Hemon was certain that it had not been there before the two masked men entered the hotel.

On December 30, 1996, Maria Guerra was working as the general manager at the Howard Johnson Motel in Stratford. Stanley Colten, a security guard, was working with Guerra that night. At about 11:30 p.m., a man came in and inquired of Guerra about the price of a room. When Guerra told him the cost, the man said that it was too expensive and left.6

A few minutes later, two men in long coats and masks entered the motel. Guerra testified that one of the men was the man who had come in earlier and inquired about a room. One of the men had a shotgun and yelled for Colten to get down on the floor. He then hit Colten on the side of the head with the shotgun, knocking him out for a few moments. When Colten came to, he heard [223] the men yelling at Guerra to give them the money. Guerra testified that the man with the shotgun put it to her neck and said, “Bitch, open the register or we’re gonna blow your head off.” Guerra had difficulty opening the register as it was going through the day’s audits and temporarily would not open. When she did get it open, she threw it at the men. One of the men put the register in a duffel bag and they both ran out. The register contained about $430.

On January 4, 1997, John Walker and Penelope Por-teous were working at Krauszer’s convenience store in Stratford. At about 11 p.m., Walker went to the front door of the store to lock it for the night. While doing so, Walker saw a man with a shotgun standing outside the store. That man told Walker to let him in or he would “blast” him. While Walker was trying to comply, another man ran up to Walker and started punching and choking him as well as banging his head against the glass door.7 At the time of trial, Walker identified the defendant as the man who had assaulted him.8

During the attack on January 4, Porteous was in the back room counting the money in the cash drawer. Upon hearing Walker yell, she looked out and saw the scuffle. When she tried to dial 911, one of the men ran back and prevented her from doing so. They took about $55 from the cash drawer and Porteous’ wallet.

The Stratford police, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were able to trace to Judith Lichtenberger the social security number written in ink in the interior section of the duffel bag left at the scene of the Ramada Inn robbery. At trial, Lichtenberger identified the duffel bag as hers and testified that it had [224] been kept in her garage at her home on Holland Street in Bridgeport. She also testified that she rarely stayed at the Holland Street address, but rather chose to five with her mother in Stratford. She did, however, say that her eighteen year old son, Ryan Simmons, and her sixteen year old daughter, Emily Minor, lived at the Holland Street address. In addition, Lichtenberger said that the defendant had been her daughter’s boyfriend during the fall of 1996, and that her daughter had worked at Krauszer’s for a brief time during this period.

Minor, who testified for the state, confirmed that the defendant had been her boyfriend in the fall of 1996, and that she had worked briefly at Krauszer’s. She also testified that the defendant had stored a sawed-off shotgun at her house in late November or early December, 1996, and that it had been concealed in the same duffel bag found at the scene of the Ramada Inn robbery. In addition, she also testified that the defendant had told her that he and his friend “Dell” had committed the Krauszer robbery.

On January 29,1997, at about 6:45 p.m., the defendant and Lydell Jefferson were arrested on warrants for an unrelated robbery in Naugatuck and both were then taken to the Stratford police department. There, after being informed of his rights and signing a written waiver of rights form, the defendant agreed to talk to the police. Thereafter, he gave a signed sworn statement in which he admitted his participation in the Ramada Inn, Howard Johnson and Krauszer robberies.9 He also admitted that he had planned and carried out all three robberies with Jefferson and Shane Barnes. The cases were consolidated and went to trial. The defendant was con[225] victed on all charges against him. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be discussed where necessary.

I

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State v. Lewis, 759 A.2d 518, 60 Conn. App. 219, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 466 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000).

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