State v. Newton

757 A.2d 1140, 59 Conn. App. 507, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 411
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedAugust 22, 2000
DocketAC 18231
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 757 A.2d 1140 (State v. Newton) 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. Newton, 757 A.2d 1140, 59 Conn. App. 507, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 411 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Opinion

HENNESSY, J.

The defendant, Terrance Newton, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of arson in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-8 and 53a-lll (a) (2), arson in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-111 (a) (4) and 53a-8 and conspiracy to commit arson in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-48 and 53a-lll (a) (4). On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) denied his motion for a new trial, (2) denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal due to the insufficiency of evidence, (3) admitted a statement made by him as an admission of a party opponent, (4) violated his right of confrontation and (5) denied his motion for a speedy trial. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

[509]*509The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On October 23, 1996, an unoccupied house located at 16 Clover Place in New Haven was set on fire. Earlier that morning, Katherine Hutchings observed the defendant and Rufus Spearman together carrying a large bucket or jug between the houses located at 16 and 18 Clover Place. When Hutchings asked them what they were doing, she received no response. While returning from shopping, Hutchings heard a “big boom.” She rounded the corner onto Clover Place and saw the fire at 16 Clover Place. She also saw the defendant and Spearman running away and noticed that the defendant’s coat was on fire. The defendant shed the coat and continued running. As Hutchings continued down Clover Place, she passed the defendant’s coat as it hung smoldering on a fence.

Edith Hunter, who lived at 18 Clover Place, also heard a “big boom.” Hunter ran from her kitchen to her front porch and saw the defendant stumbling and running off the porch of 16 Clover Place wearing a smoldering coat. Around that time, Napoleon Gunn, an off-duty firefighter, noticed smoke billowing from the roof of the house at 16 Clover Place. Gunn shouted to a passerby to call 911 as he attempted to enter the burning house. The New Haven fire department responded immediately and when Lieutenant James Robinson arrived, he found a “tremendous volume of fire” that not only engulfed the house at 16 Clover Place, but also ignited the home next door. Robinson believed that the sheer volume of the fire in such a short period of time indicated that it was the work of an arsonist. He also testified that a fire fueled by an accelerant posed an increased risk of injury to firefighters because it causes the fire to bum hotter and faster.

Meanwhile, firefighter Michael Mineri of the central headquarters firehouse was driving an aerial tower tmck to the fire when his tmck was struck by a motorist. [510]*510The truck veered onto a sidewalk and struck a pedestrian. Mineri injured his hand and his back and had to be taken to a hospital. The collision also caused James Stacey, a firefighter and passenger in the fire truck, to bounce off the front windshield and to be taken to the hospital as well.

The firefighters who went into the burning house detected a strong odor of gasoline, despite the fact that they were wearing air masks. The firefighters fought the fire until one of them fell through the floor. After the firefighters rescued the one who had fallen, they tried to retreat and realized that the fire had surrounded them. They were able to escape only after a second group of firefighters came up to the second floor to rescue them.

New Haven Fire Marshal Frank Dellamura also responded to the fire. He discovered four or five areas where gasoline had been poured but did not ignite, which was probably because the mixture of gasoline to available oxygen was too rich. In other rooms, Della-mura found six or seven plastic milk containers that were partially melted with scorch marks near them. Dellamura opined that the fire was the result of an arsonist who had attempted to cause an explosion and to bum the house down. Dellamura also opined that because the fire originated in several areas, it must have been set by more than one person.

I

The defendant claims first that the court improperly denied his motion for a new trial because of newly discovered evidence that Hutchings lied in court when she identified the defendant. The defendant’s motion stated: “Pursuant to Connecticut Practice Book § 9021 [511]*511[now § 42-53] and State v. Myers, 242 Conn. 125, 698 A.2d 823 (1997), Defendant hereby requests a new trial based on the discovery of new evidence.”2 The state argues that the defendant’s motion for a new trial was not cognizable under the rule of practice cited by the defendant3 and that it was untimely.4

The court, after hearing the arguments from counsel, denied the motion. The court did not address the state’s [512]*512arguments that the motion for a new trial was untimely and had been brought under an incorrect section of the Practice Book, but rather decided that on the basis of the arguments presented it could not tell whether the evidence could not have been discovered earlier. In addition, there was other evidence that was sufficient to place the defendant at the scene.

“[0]ur standard of review of the trial court’s denial of a motion for a new trial is limited to a determination of whether, by such denial, the court abused its discretion. State v. Rothenberg, 195 Conn. 253, 264, 487 A.2d 545 (1985). State v. Leavitt, 8 Conn. App. 517, 524, 513 A.2d 744, cert. denied, 201 Conn. 810, 516 A.2d 886 (1986). As a reviewing court considering the trial court’s decision granting or denying a motion for a new trial, we must be mindful of the trial judge’s superior opportunity to assess the proceedings over which he or she has personally presided.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Munson v. United Technologies Corp., 28 Conn. App. 184, 194-95, 609 A.2d 1066 (1992).

“A party is entitled to a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence if such evidence is, in fact, newly discovered, will be material to the issue on a new trial, could not have been discovered and produced, on the trial which was had, by the exercise of due diligence, is not merely cumulative and is likely to produce a different result. . . . New trials are not granted upon newly discovered evidence which discredits a witness unless the evidence is so vital to the issues and so strong and convincing that a new trial would probably produce a different result. . . . The basic question which the trial court has to decide is whether upon all the evidence an injustice had been done. In deciding this question, the court has the exercise of a sound legal discretion, and its action cannot be disturbed unless this discretion has been abused.” (Citations omitted.) [513]*513Turner v. Scanlon, 146 Conn. 149, 163, 148 A.2d 334 (1959).

The court was not persuaded that the proffered evidence could not have been discovered prior to or during trial. Moreover, there was other identification evidence placing the defendant at the scene making it unlikely that a new trial would produce a different result.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
757 A.2d 1140, 59 Conn. App. 507, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 411, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-newton-connappct-2000.