State v. Maisonet

546 A.2d 951, 16 Conn. App. 89, 1988 Conn. App. LEXIS 337
Connecticut Appellate Court·Decided September 6, 1988·No. 5465·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

Bieluch, J.

The defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction, after a jury trial, of selling a narcotic substance in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-8 and 21a-277 (a), and of conspiracy to sell a narcotic substance in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-48 (a) and 21a-277 (a). The defendant claims that the trial court erred (1) in limiting his cross-examination of a prosecution witness, an accomplice, on the questions of whether the witness had been offered a particular sentence in exchange for his testimony and of the witness’ expectation regarding the extent of a reduced sentence, (2) in limiting his cross-examination of an undercover police officer concerning a previous misidentification [91] the officer had made of a suspect in an unrelated proceeding, and (3) in denying his attempt to show that his prior record consisted solely of a misdemeanor conviction. We find no error.

The jury could reasonably have found the following facts. On February 1, 1985, Trooper Julio Fernandez, on undercover assignment from the Connecticut state police statewide narcotics task force, entered the Crown Street Market in Meriden, owned by the defendant, and purchased one half gram of cocaine from Luiz Colon and the defendant. Both the defendant and his accomplice, Colon, were arrested and charged with crimes connected to the sale of the cocaine.1

At trial, Colon testified for the state regarding the drug transaction and also identified the defendant. During his cross-examination, it was established that Colon was awaiting sentencing on a number of charges and was facing a maximum of thirty-five years in prison. The court thereafter sustained the prosecution’s objections to the question whether “there ever [was] a time when you were offered any particular specific sentence,” and to the question asking the witness what he thought the “best” for him would be regarding a reduced sentence.

Fernandez testified as to the drug purchase and explained how he had identified the defendant, after the sale, from an array of photographs presented to him by the police. On cross-examination, the defendant attempted to ask Fernandez about a misidentification he alleged Fernandez had made in a previous case involving the use of photographs to identify the suspect. The court also prohibited this witness, upon [92] the state’s objection, from answering whether he was aware that, in a previous unrelated case, he had claimed to have purchased narcotics from an individual who was actually serving time in prison at the time of that alleged sale.

At another point in the trial, the state introduced a display of eight photographs as an exhibit and asked Fernandez to indicate whether he recognized them. He acknowledged that the photographs were the ones he had examined for the police after the narcotics purchase, and identified the defendant’s photograph as the one he had previously selected as being the individual from whom he had purchased the cocaine. On direct examination of the defendant later in the trial, the defendant was asked the nature of his prior conviction. The state objected on the ground of immateriality. The court sustained the objection, to which the defendant excepted, after claiming that the jury should know that he had been convicted only of a misdemeanor because “the jurors, whether they are told to or not, often speculate about the origin of that photograph.”

I

The defendant first claims that the trial court erred when it would not allow Colon to testify as to whether the state had promised him a “particular specific sentence” for his testimony against the defendant, or as to the reduction in sentence he expected to receive.2 [93] The defendant argues that such testimony should have been allowed because it would “demonstrate the bias of the witness by showing that he expected an extremely favorable sentence in exchange for his testimony” against the defendant. By limiting the witness’ testimony, the defendant argues that “the prosecution was permitted to leave with the jury the false impression that its star witness had no more expectation of a payoff for his damning testimony than a mere vague hope for ‘consideration,’ ” and that the defendant’s right to confront witnesses against him had thereby been abridged.3 We do not agree.

“The right of an accused effectively to cross-examine an adverse witness is embodied in the confrontation [94] clause of the sixth amendment. State v. Gaynor, 182 Conn. 501, 508, 438 A.2d 749 (1980); see also Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S. Ct. 1105, 39 L. Ed. 2d 347 (1974); Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 85 S. Ct. 1074, 13 L. Ed. 2d 934 (1965). Cross-examination regarding motive, interest, bias and prejudice is a matter of right and may not be unduly restricted. State v. Milum, 197 Conn. 602, 609, 500 A.2d 559 (1985); State v. Privitera, 1 Conn. App. 709, 711-12, 476 A.2d 605 (1984).” State v. Cox, 7 Conn. App. 377, 383-84, 509 A.2d 36 (1986). “ ‘ “The general rule is that restrictions on the scope of cross-examination are within the sound discretion of the trial judge . . . but this discretion comes into play only after the defendant has been permitted cross-examination sufficient to satisfy the sixth amendment.” ’ (Citations omitted.) State v. Castro, 196 Conn. 421, 424, 493 A.2d 223 (1985); State v. Gaynor, [supra].” State v. Jones, 205 Conn. 638, 670, 534 A.2d 1199 (1987). Our courts, therefore, undertake a bipartite analysis when reviewing claims of undue restriction on the scope of cross-examination, ascertaining first whether the constitutional standard has been met, and if so, then whether the trial court abused its discretion by restricting the scope of the cross-examination thereafter. State v. Milum, supra; State v. Gaynor, supra, 508; State v. Cox, supra, 384; State v. Heinz, 3 Conn. App. 80, 85-86, 485 A.2d 1321 (1984).

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State v. Maisonet, 546 A.2d 951, 16 Conn. App. 89, 1988 Conn. App. LEXIS 337 (Colo. Ct. App. 1988).

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