State v. Smith

592 A.2d 382, 219 Conn. 160, 1991 Conn. LEXIS 286
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedJune 11, 1991
Docket13867
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 592 A.2d 382 (State v. Smith) 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. Smith, 592 A.2d 382, 219 Conn. 160, 1991 Conn. LEXIS 286 (Colo. 1991).

Opinion

Glass, J.

After a jury trial, the defendant, Lawrence R. Smith, was convicted of one count of kidnapping in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-92 (a) (2) (A) and (B),1 one count of robbery in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-136,2 one count of larceny in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-123 (a) (3),3 and one count of assault in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-61 (a) (l).4 The defendant was sentenced to a total effective term of thirty-five years imprisonment. This appeal followed.

In his appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly: (1) sustained the state’s objection to a question asked of him by defense counsel on direct examination regarding the circumstances surrounding and [162]*162his reasons for making an admittedly false statement to the police; (2) instructed the jury on “consciousness of guilt” in connection with his false statement; and (3) delivered a “two-inference” instruction to the jury. We affirm the judgment of conviction.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On July 21, 1989, the defendant entered the Pump House Gallery in Bushnell Park in Hartford, where the victim worked. After speaking to two patrons of the Gallery whom he knew, the defendant left the Gallery and subsequently returned with another man. The defendant then grabbed the victim around the neck, dragged her into the bathroom and hit her in the face. Unbuckling the victim’s belt, the defendant demanded that she “get naked.” The victim, in an attempt to placate the defendant, offered the defendant her watch and earrings, which he accepted. Thereafter, the defendant left the bathroom in search of the victim’s knapsack and did not return. The victim never recovered her belongings.

I

The defendant first claims that the court violated his federal and state constitutional rights to due process, compulsory process and confrontation by sustaining the state’s objection to a question asked of him by defense counsel on direct examination regarding the circumstances surrounding and his reasons for making an admittedly false statement to the police. On direct examination, the defendant admitted that he had falsely stated that he had been at home when Detective Stanley Lucas of the Hartford police department inquired as to his whereabouts on the date of the crimes. Defense counsel thereafter elicited the following testimony from the defendant. Before making the statement to Lucas, the defendant had attended a scheduled meeting with a parole officer. While at the [163]*163meeting, the defendant had been told that the police wanted to speak to him about an investigation that concerned him. Thereafter, the defendant had been transported to police headquarters and placed in a “little room” that he had not felt free to leave. Lucas had come into the room and had told the defendant that a woman had been sexually assaulted and robbed in Bushnell Park on July 21, 1989, and had inquired as to the defendant’s whereabouts on that date. The defendant had falsely stated that he had been at home because he considered Lucas to have made “crazy accusations” and he “didn’t want to be involved in those conversations.” Defense counsel then asked the defendant: “Okay, well, were you given your Miranda rights at any time?” After the defendant responded “No,” the state objected to the question as irrelevant and the court sustained the objection on that ground. The defendant did not take an exception to the court’s ruling or make a responsive offer of proof.

The defendant argues that this ruling unconstitutionally precluded him from disclosing “the rest of the details” regarding his false statement to Lucas. The defendant variously characterizes those details as exculpatory and so critical to his case that their preclusion requires a reversal of his conviction. Acknowledging his failure to preserve this claim by excepting to the court’s ruling; see Practice Book § 288;5 the defendant asserts that the claim is of constitutional dimension and seeks review under State v. Evans, 165 Conn. [164]*16461, 327 A.2d 576 (1973), and State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233, 567 A.2d 823 (1989).

In State v. Golding, supra, we reformulated the guidelines for appellate review of unpreserved constitutional claims articulated in State v. Evans, supra. We held that a defendant can prevail on such a claim “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. In the absence of any one of these conditions, the defendant’s claim will fail.” (Emphasis in original.) State v. Golding, supra, 239-40. The defendant’s argument in support of the constitutional significance of his claim under the second Golding condition overlooks his failure to satisfy the first Golding condition. Specifically, the record provides no indication of precisely what additional details would have been disclosed if not precluded by the court. It is therefore impossible to determine whether those details were so important to the defendant’s case that their preclusion, as he claims, impaired his constitutional rights. See id., 240; see also State v. Leary, 217 Conn. 404, 416-17, 587 A.2d 85 (1991). On this barren record, the defendant’s claim necessarily fails.

II

The defendant next challenges the court’s instruction on “consciousness of guilt” in connection with his false statement to Lucas. The court instructed the jury that “there is a legal principle known as consciousness of guilt. It applies when a defendant does an act which one can infer that he has attempted to avoid detection [165]*165or avoid facts which would lead to his arrest or conviction. You heard the defendant testify that when asked by Detective Lucas whether he was at Bushnell Park Pump House on July 21st, 1989, that he denied being there. He testified that he denied it because he would be accused of the incident which had occurred. You may consider the denial to Detective Lucas and the explanation of it under this principle of law, consciousness of guilt.”

The defendant argues that the court’s instruction deprived him of a fair trial as guaranteed by the federal and state constitutions because the evidence at trial, in light of his general denial of involvement in the crimes, was insufficient to support an inference that his statements manifested a consciousness of guilt. The defendant concedes, however, that he failed to preserve this claim by taking an appropriate exception at the close of the court’s charge. See Practice Book § 852. Nevertheless, he seeks review of the claim under State v. Evans, supra, and State v. Golding,

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Bluebook (online)
592 A.2d 382, 219 Conn. 160, 1991 Conn. LEXIS 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-smith-conn-1991.