State v. Lytell

539 A.2d 133, 206 Conn. 657, 1988 Conn. LEXIS 34
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedMarch 22, 1988
Docket13235
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 539 A.2d 133 (State v. Lytell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lytell, 539 A.2d 133, 206 Conn. 657, 1988 Conn. LEXIS 34 (Colo. 1988).

Opinion

Glass, J.

The defendant, Malcolm Lytell, was charged with two counts of the crime of robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (4),1 one count of the crime of larceny in the second degree [659]*659in violation of General Statutes § 53a-123 (a) (2),2 and one count of the crime of using a motor vehicle without the owner’s permission in violation of General Statutes § 53a-119b (a) (1).3 He was tried by a jury and found guilty on all counts. On May 23, 1986, the trial court, Hadden, J., sentenced the defendant to a total effective sentence of imprisonment of twenty-one years. The defendant now appeals, raising four claims: (1) that he was deprived of a fair trial due to the introduction into evidence of his postarrest refusal to name his alibi witnesses; (2) that the trial court erred in its instruction to the jury on fingerprint evidence; (3) that the trial court erred in its instruction to the jury on proof beyond a reasonable doubt; and (4) that conviction and punishment for two counts of the crime of robbery in the first degree violated his due process and double jeopardy rights under the federal and state constitutions. We find no error.

The jury could reasonably have found that on November 7, 1985, at approximately 12:30 p.m., Anthony Guarino, the owner of the Congress Cafe (cafe) in New Haven, and his wife, Mary, were robbed by three black males. The Guarinos had driven to the cafe in Mary’s car which they had parked in front of the cafe door. Harry Dailey, the night bartender, was with the Guarinos when the three black males entered the cafe and announced that it was a “stickup.” One man was armed [660]*660with a gun and one man was carrying a stick or tree branch. The man with the gun ordered Mr. Guarino and Dailey to lie down on the floor. Mrs. Guarino panicked and began throwing glasses at the men. The two men without guns pushed her to the floor and hit her with the stick.

The men then took approximately $1500 from Mr. Guarino’s pockets and a bank bag containing $6000 that they had ordered Mrs. Guarino to retrieve from a closet behind the bar. The men then took Mrs. Guarino’s car keys and drove away in her car. Approximately five minutes after the robbery, Mrs. Guarino’s car was found abandoned in a vacant lot a short distance from the cafe. A green ski mask worn by one of the men was found inside the car. Mrs. Guarino’s purse and car keys were missing. The car was “dusted” for fingerprints, and one that was identified as the defendant’s was found on the exterior of the driver’s window.

At the time of the robbery one of the state’s witnesses, Dennis Sims, lived two blocks away from the cafe. Sims and the defendant had known each other for approximately five years and had regular, personal contact. On the day of the robbery, while walking past the cafe, Sims had noticed the defendant and two other men across the street from the bar. Later Sims saw the men run across the street and enter the bar. Sims, knowing “what was going down,” retreated, and shortly thereafter saw the three men leave the bar and drive away in Mrs. Guarino’s car.

Later, Sims approached Detective Jerry Waller, who had been dispatched to the area of the cafe, and told Waller that he thought he might be wanted for a robbery he had not committed. He stated that if Waller would “see what’s happening in [his] case,” he might have some useful information. Waller found no warrant for Sims’ arrest and arranged to meet him around [661]*661the corner. At that meeting Sims told Waller that the defendant was involved in the robbery. The next day Sims went to the police station and made a photographic identification of the defendant. Sims also identified the defendant at trial.

The defendant was arrested on November 13, 1985. After executing a written waiver of his Miranda rights; Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966); the defendant made an oral statement to Detective Robert Coffey, in which he claimed to have been hosting or running a card game in Waterbury at the time of the robbery. When Coffey asked the defendant for the names and addresses of the persons in the card game to enable him to investigate the defendant’s alibi claim, the defendant refused to give such information. Coffey then told the defendant that his fingerprint had been found on Mrs. Guarino’s car, and the defendant replied that that was “impossible” because he had never been in or near the car.

I

The defendant’s first claim is that he was deprived of a fair trial by the introduction of his postarrest refusal to name his alibi witnesses. The defendant specifically relies on Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S. Ct. 2240, 48 L. Ed. 2d 91 (1976), for the proposition that a defendant’s silence after having been arrested and having received Miranda warnings may not be used to impeach his trial testimony. We hold that the principles of Doyle are inapplicable to the facts of this case, and that our recent decision in State v. Talton, 197 Conn. 280, 497 A.2d 35 (1985), is dispositive of this issue.

In Talton, the defendant was charged with first degree sexual assault, and after waiving his Miranda rights refused to answer a question regarding the name of the woman he claimed to have been with at the time [662]*662of the assault. The state presented evidence of his refusal to answer the question at the trial. We stated: “The Doyle decision, however, is not applicable to the facts of this case. The crucial distinction is that, here, the defendant did not remain silent after he was arrested and advised of his rights. After being given Miranda warnings, the defendant clearly chose to forego his right to remain silent. Once an arrestee has waived his right to remain silent, the Doyle rationale is not operative because the arrestee has not remained silent and an explanatory statement assuredly is no longer ‘insolubly ambiguous.’ By speaking, the defendant has chosen unambiguously not to assert his right to remain silent. He knows that anything he says can and will be used against him and it is manifestly illogical to theorize that he might be choosing not to assert the right to remain silent as to part of his exculpatory story, while invoking that right as to other parts of his story. While a defendant may invoke his right to remain silent at any time, even after he has initially waived his right to remain silent, it does not necessarily follow that he may remain ‘selectively’ silent.” State v. Talton, supra, 295. Thus in Taitón, the defendant’s “expression of a disinclination to answer one question was not tantamount to any assertion of his fifth amendment right.” Id.

Similarly, the defendant’s actions in this case cannot be construed as an invocation of his fifth amendment right. As in Talton, the defendant waived his Miranda rights and voluntarily discussed the events of the day in question with Coffey. After the defendant had refused to provide the names and addresses of the alibi witnesses, the questioning continued. Specifically, Coffey stated that the defendant’s fingerprint had been found on Mrs. Guarino’s car.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
539 A.2d 133, 206 Conn. 657, 1988 Conn. LEXIS 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lytell-conn-1988.