State v. Mooney

767 A.2d 770, 61 Conn. App. 713, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 73
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedFebruary 13, 2001
DocketAC 20636
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 767 A.2d 770 (State v. Mooney) 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. Mooney, 767 A.2d 770, 61 Conn. App. 713, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 73 (Colo. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

[715]*715 Opinion

FOTI, J.

The defendant, Joseph Mooney, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54c,1 robbeiy in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (l),2 burglary in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-101 (a) (2),3 assault in the first degree of a person sixty years of age or older in violation of General Statutes § 53a-59a (a)4 and kidnapping in the first degree in violation of General [716]*716Statutes § 53a-92 (a) (2) (B).5 The trial court incoipo-rated the robbery and the burglary charges into the count of felony murder and sentenced the defendant to a term of sixty years imprisonment. On appeal, the defendant claims that the court improperly (1) accepted the verdict of guilty of assault in the first degree and robbery in the first degree because the former was predicated on a finding of reckless use of force while the later was predicated on intentional use of force, and, thus, the verdict was legally inconsistent in violation of his right to due process of law under the constitutions of Connecticut and the United States, (2) instructed the jury on burglary with the intent to commit assault as the predicate felony because the court instructed the jury only as to reckless assault and not as to burglary with the intent to commit assault and (3) denied him his right to a fair trial because two members of the jury allegedly observed the defendant wearing shackles during the course of the trial. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On July 28, 1997, the defendant and his accomplice, Irving Hemingway,6 had been drinking heavily in the course of an alcoholic binge that had started the previous day. When their supply of money and alcoholic beverages was depleted, they decided to rob Edward Samick, whom they knew kept alcohol and money in his apartment.7 Samick resided with his housemate, William Burks, in a two bedroom apartment located at 2352 Bamum Avenue, Stratford. Samick’s bedroom was [717]*717located at the rear of the apartment near a sealed back door, and Burks’ bedroom was located in the front of the apartment near the apartment’s main entrance.

On that same day, at approximately 5 a.m., Burks heard someone pounding on the back door of the apartment. He then heard the door crash open and someone yell, “Give it up!” Burks then heard Samick yell out for him to call the police. The defendant and Hemingway held Samick down with a pillow over his face. They told Sarnick that they would not hurt him if he told them where he kept the money. When Samick would not speak, they punched him repeatedly. The defendant and Hemingway then ransacked Samick’s apartment in search of money that they knew that Samick kept there from the proceeds of his sales of alcohol and other items. Frightened by these events and dressed only in his underwear, Burks ran out the front door of the apartment. He went to a local newsstand where he unsuccessfully tried to contact the police. After a few minutes, he left the newsstand and went to a pay telephone outside a McDonald’s restaurant, where he was finally able to contact the police. When the defendant and Hemingway were unable to find any money, they took some beer and liquor from Samick’s apartment and fled. Samick died from the blunt trauma that he sustained during the attack.

Officer Donna Brennan of the Stratford police department was the first officer to arrive on the scene. She saw Burks standing in the road, dressed only in his underwear, waving his arms and pointing in the direction of two individuals walking on the sidewalk toward the city of Bridgeport. Upon observing the two suspects, Brennan notified headquarters and broadcast a description of the suspects to other police cmisers that were responding to the call. As she approached the suspects, the defendant started to flee, and a foot chase ensued. Brennan found the defendant hiding behind a fifty-five [718]*718gallon drum located in back of a building. Additional facts will be provided as needed.

I

The defendant first claims that the court violated his due process rights under the state and federal constitutions because it accepted the jury’s verdict of guilty of both reckless use of force in committing assault in the first degree and intentional use of force in committing robbery in the first degree when the offenses have different mental elements, but were based on the same act.8 Thus, the defendant argues that the verdict finding him guilty of those charges was legally and logically inconsistent.9 We disagree.

The defendant argues that the court improperly permitted the jury to return a verdict of guilty on both counts because the charges require mutually exclusive mental states. Specifically, the defendant argues that an intent to use force is legally and logically inconsistent with an intent to cause serious physical injury when applied to the same physical act against the same victim. He argues, therefore, that the verdict of guilty on both counts is violative of the prohibition against an inconsistent guilty verdict. See State v. Hinton, 227 Conn. 301, [719]*719313, 630 A.2d 593 (1993); State v. King, 216 Conn. 585, 594, 583 A.2d 896 (1990), on appeal after remand, 218 Conn. 747, 591 A.2d 813 (1991).

The defendant concedes that he did not preserve this claim at trial. He seeks review, however, pursuant to State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233, 239-40, 567 A.2d 823 (1989). Under the Golding doctrine, “a defendant can prevail on a claim of constitutional error not preserved at trial only if all of the following conditions are met: (1) the record is adequate to review the alleged claim of error; (2) the claim is of constitutional magnitude alleging the violation of a fundamental right; (3) the alleged constitutional violation clearly exists and clearly deprived the defendant of a fair trial; and (4) if subject to harmless error analysis, the state has failed to demonstrate harmlessness of the alleged constitutional violation beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Emphasis in original.) Id.

“The first two steps in the Golding analysis address the reviewability of the claim, while the last two steps involve the merits of the claim.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Henry, 253 Conn. 354, 359, 752 A.2d 40 (2000). We review the defendant’s claim because the record is adequate for review and the claim is constitutional in nature. See State v. Hinton, supra, 227 Conn. 313-14 (reviewing similar claim under Golding). Because this is a question of law, our review is plenary.

“The general rule, to which we subscribe, was set forth by Judge Learned Hand in Steckler v. United States,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Abraham
343 Conn. 470 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2022)
State v. Chyung
Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2017
State v. Nash
Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2015
State v. King
87 A.3d 1193 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2014)
State v. McFarlane
17 A.3d 1131 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2011)
State v. Gamble
987 A.2d 1049 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2010)
State v. Hazel
941 A.2d 378 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2008)
State v. Santos
935 A.2d 212 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2007)
State v. Bjorklund
830 A.2d 1141 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2003)
State v. Kuranko
803 A.2d 383 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2002)
State v. Jones
792 A.2d 148 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2002)
State v. Mooney
772 A.2d 598 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
767 A.2d 770, 61 Conn. App. 713, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mooney-connappct-2001.