State v. Luster

713 A.2d 277, 48 Conn. App. 872, 1998 Conn. App. LEXIS 231
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJune 2, 1998
DocketAC 17120
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 713 A.2d 277 (State v. Luster) 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. Luster, 713 A.2d 277, 48 Conn. App. 872, 1998 Conn. App. LEXIS 231 (Colo. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

Opinion

FOTI, J.

The defendant, Arthur Luster, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of burglary in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-101 (a) (2), unlawful restraint in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-95 (a) and assault of a victim sixty years of age or older in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-61a.1 On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) admitted evidence of his prior felony [874]*874convictions and (2) denied him his right to a unanimous verdict on the charge of burglary in the first degree. The defendant also claims that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction of unlawful restraint in the first degree. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On February 6,1996, the victim, a seventy year old woman, lived with her granddaughter in an apartment at 84B Brookside Avenue in New Haven. The defendant, who is the victim’s son-in-law and the stepfather of her granddaughter, entered the victim’s home unlawfully at approximately 3 a.m., proceeded to the victim’s bedroom and jumped on her. The defendant pulled and hit the victim, who screamed and defended herself with her hands and legs. The defendant was still on top of the victim when the victim’s granddaughter entered the bedroom holding a broom handle and knife. The victim’s granddaughter recognized the defendant as her stepfather and exclaimed “Oh, daddy.” When the defendant saw hér, he got off the victim and left the apartment. The defendant exited the apartment through the kitchen door located at the rear of the apartment, which had been locked when the victim had gone to bed. After the defendant left the apartment, the victim discovered that a window in the kitchen, which had been closed but not locked when the victim had gone to bed, was open. The defendant, who had never been to the victim’s apartment prior to February 6, 1996, had known the victim for approximately eighteen years.

I

The defendant first claims that the trial court improperly admitted into evidence, for purposes of impeachment, two prior larceny convictions that were over ten years old. The defendant argues that the prior larceny convictions were seventeen years old and should have [875]*875been excluded on the basis of remoteness and because the prejudicial effect of this evidence greatly outweighed its probative value as to the defendant’s credibility.

The facts relevant to this claim are as follows. Prior to trial, the defendant filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude the state from introducing evidence of his prior felony convictions for impeachment purposes. In his motion, the defendant claimed that his convictions of larceny in the second degree in 1979, and of assault in the second degree and larceny in the second degree in 1980, were remote in time and that “[g]iven the age of the defendant at the time they lack any probative value as to truthfulness at this trial.” The trial court granted the defendant’s motion as to the assault conviction but denied the motion as to the larceny convictions. On direct examination, the defendant admitted that he had been convicted of larceny in 1979 and 1980, and stated that he was presently thirty-five years old. The state, on cross-examination, elicited testimony from the defendant that both convictions were felonies. The state did not mention the defendant’s prior convictions during its initial or rebuttal closing arguments to the juiy. The defendant’s counsel, however, referred to the convictions during his final argument to the jury. The trial court properly instructed the jury that they could consider the defendant’s prior convictions only for the purpose of determining the defendant’s credibility.

“The credibility of a witness may be attacked by introducing the witness’ conviction of a crime if the maximum penalty for that conviction is imprisonment exceeding one year. See General Statutes § 52-145 (b); State v. Braswell, 194 Conn. 297, 307, 481 A.2d 413 (1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1112, 105 S. Ct. 793, 83 L. Ed. 2d 786 (1985). . . . Three factors have usually been identified as of primary importance in considering whether a former criminal conviction is to be admitted: [876]*876(1) the extent of the prejudice likely to arise; (2) the significance of the commission of the particular crime in indicating untruthfulness; and (3) its remoteness in time. State v. Nardini, 187 Conn. 513, 522, 447 A.2d 396 (1982). We will not disturb the trial court’s determination as to the admissibility of a prior conviction to impeach a witness absent an abuse of discretion.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Webb, 37 Conn. App. 722, 731-32, 657 A.2d 711, cert. denied, 234 Conn. 915, 660 A.2d 357 (1995).

We have held that it is within the trial court’s discretion to admit a prior conviction that is more than ten years old where the conviction has special significance on the issue of the defendant’s veracity. See State v. Irving, 27 Conn. App. 279, 290-91, 606 A.2d 17, cert. denied, 222 Conn. 907, 608 A.2d 694 (1992). Crimes that by their very nature indicate dishonesty or the tendency to make false statements fall within a category of prior convictions admissible for impeachment purposes. State v. Geyer, 194 Conn. 1, 12, 480 A.2d 489 (1984). Crimes involving larcenous intent “obviously bear heavily on the credibility of one who has been convicted of them. The probative value of such convictions, therefore, may often outweigh any prejudice engendered by their admission.” Id. “[T]he primary responsibility for conducting the prejudicial-probative balancing test rests with the trial court, and its conclusion will be disturbed only for a manifest abuse of discretion . . . or where injustice appears to have been done.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Faria, 47 Conn. App. 159, 173, 703 A.2d 1149 (1997), cert. denied, 243 Conn. 965, 707 A.2d 1266 (1998).

“[I]t was 'within the discretion of the trial court to admit the defendant’s prior convictions because it determined that their probativeness as to the defendant’s veracity sufficiently outweighed any prejudice.” State v. Webb, supra, 37 Conn. App. 732. Clearly, the [877]*877two prior convictions admitted by the trial court in this case reflected crimes of larcenous intent and were probative of the defendant’s veracity. In addition, the prior convictions involved crimes that significantly differed from the crimes charged and bore heavily on the defendant’s credibility. See id.

We conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of the defendant’s two larceny convictions that were more than ten years old.

II

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
713 A.2d 277, 48 Conn. App. 872, 1998 Conn. App. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-luster-connappct-1998.