State v. Sanchez

795 A.2d 597, 69 Conn. App. 576, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 227
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedMay 7, 2002
DocketAC 22340
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 795 A.2d 597 (State v. Sanchez) 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. Sanchez, 795 A.2d 597, 69 Conn. App. 576, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 227 (Colo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Opinion

LAVERY, C. J.

The defendant, Miguel Sanchez, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a and carrying a pistol without a permit in viola[578]*578tion of General Statutes § 29-35. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) denied his motion to suppress a witness’ out-of-court identification that was made from a photographic array, (2) made several evidentiary rulings that either allowed the state to introduce damaging evidence or limited his ability to present a defense and (3) denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal as to the murder conviction. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On the evening of July 9,1995, the defendant was on the front stoop of 57 Center Street in Hartford, where he lived in an apartment with his grandparents. The victim, Jose Gonzalez, who was on a bicycle, began arguing with him. The victim threw a bottle through the front door of the building, shattering the glass portion of the door. The defendant ran into the vestibule and loaded a .22 caliber gun. He came out of the building and fired three shots at the victim. One bullet entered the back of the victim’s skull, killing him instantly.

The police arrived at the scene and spoke to members of the crowd that had formed around the victim. On the basis of the police interviews, the defendant quickly emerged as the only suspect. He was not apprehended until June 11, 1997, when he was located and arrested in a criminal court in Manhattan, where he was using an alias.

The defendant was tried before a jury on the charges of murder and carrying a pistol without a permit. He was found guilty of both charges and is serving a total effective term of sixty years on those charges and on a sentence enhancement on the murder charge in accordance with General Statutes § 53-202k. This appeal followed. Additional facts and procedural history will be provided as necessary.

[579]*579I

The defendant claims that the court improperly denied his motion to suppress a witness’ testimony that identified him from a photographic array. He argues that the court improperly found that the identification procedure was not unnecessarily suggestive and claims that it was unreliable under the totality of the circumstances. We disagree because we conclude that the defendant did not show that the identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive.

The court reasonably could have found the following facts during the hearing on the motion to suppress. Shortly before the shooting, Juan Estronza was riding north on Center Street in a car driven by Harry Perez. He saw the victim, with whom he was “real tight,” and heard him shouting, “f— that King, look at that King over there.” Estronza asked Perez to turn around, and Perez obliged, parking slightly in front of 57 Center Street. Estronza saw that the victim was arguing with the defendant and saw the defendant enter the building. Shortly after, he heard the smash of glass breaking. Estronza saw the defendant in the vestibule, where it looked as if he were loading a gun. Estronza testified that when he saw the defendant emerge from the apartment building pointing the gun, he told Perez to “peel off.” Perez obliged and Estronza heard gunshots as they drove away.

Later that night, Estronza was brought to the Hartford police station and questioned by Detective Peter Goetz about what he had seen. During an undetermined period of questioning, Estronza claimed that because he was not wearing his glasses and because of the distance between him and the individual with the gun, he could not identify that individual. Goetz left the room and Detective Jack Leitao entered with a photographic array. Leitao showed it to Estronza and asked him [580]*580whether the victim would have cooperated with the police if Estronza had been shot. Estronza then selected the defendant’s photograph.

During the trial, the defendant sought to suppress any identification testimony from Estronza on the grounds that the identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive and the resulting identification was unreliable. The court found that the identification procedure was not unnecessarily suggestive and denied the motion to suppress in a brief oral decision.1

“Because the issue of the reliability of an identification involves the constitutional rights of an accused ... we are obliged to examine the record scrupulously to determine whether the facts found are adequately supported by the evidence and whether the court’s ultimate inference of reliability was reasonable.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Ortiz, 252 Conn. 533, 553, 747 A.2d 487 (2000).

“In determining whether identification procedures violate a defendant’s due process rights, [t]he required inquiry is made on an ad hoc basis and is two-pronged: first, it must be determined whether the identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive; and second, if it is found to have been so, it must be determined whether the identification was nevertheless reliable based on an examination of the totality of the circumstances. . . . An identification procedure is unnecessarily suggestive only if it gives rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. . . . The defendant bears the burden of proving both that the identification procedures were unnecessarily sugges[581]*581tive and that the resulting identification was unreliable. . . . Generally, [t]he exclusion of evidence from the jury is ... a drastic sanction, one that is limited to identification testimony which is manifestly suspect.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.; see also State v. Reid, 254 Conn. 540, 554-56, 757 A.2d 482 (2000).

In claiming that the identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive, the defendant directs us to certain testimony at the suppression hearing from Estronza and Goetz. He notes that Estronza testified that he had told Goetz at first that he could not identify the individual with the gun because of the distance he was from the event and because he was not wearing his glasses, but that Goetz would not allow him to leave. The defendant also notes that Goetz testified that he continued to question Estronza and would have “ke[pt] asking him until I [had] hit [a] dead end. I don’t think that I ever hit a dead end . . . .” The defendant concludes in his reply brief that Goetz implied “that he would question any witness until that witness made some identification” (emphasis in original) and that Estronza was coerced into choosing the defendant’s photograph from the array.

For us to reach the conclusion that the defendant asks us to reach, we would have to ignore much of the rest of the record.

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Bluebook (online)
795 A.2d 597, 69 Conn. App. 576, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 227, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sanchez-connappct-2002.