State v. Smith

166 A.3d 691, 174 Conn. App. 172, 2017 WL 2655849, 2017 Conn. App. LEXIS 266
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJune 27, 2017
DocketAC37632
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 166 A.3d 691 (State v. Smith) 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. Smith, 166 A.3d 691, 174 Conn. App. 172, 2017 WL 2655849, 2017 Conn. App. LEXIS 266 (Colo. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

DiPENTIMA, C.J.

*174 The defendant, Stacy Smith, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of sexual assault in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-71(a)(1) (count one), risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes § 53-21(a)(2) (count two), sexual assault in the second degree in violation of § 53a-71(a)(1) (count three), risk of injury to a child in violation of § 53-21(a)(2) (count four), sexual assault in the fourth degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-73a(a)(1) (count five), risk of injury to a child in violation of § 53-21(a)(2) (count six), and risk of injury to a child in violation of § 53-21(a)(1) (count seven). On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) his conviction violated his right to due process under the constitution of Connecticut because the police lost potentially exculpatory evidence, in the form of a text message, in violation of State v. Morales , 232 Conn. 707 , 720, 657 A.2d 585 (1995), and (2) his conviction for both sexual assault in the second degree (counts one and three) and risk of injury to a child (counts two and four) constituted a violation of his constitutional right against double jeopardy. We disagree and, accordingly, affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The charged events occurred between October, 2007, and October, 2009, when the victim 1 was thirteen, *175 fourteen and fifteen years old. At that time, she lived with her mother, M, two older brothers, and a younger sister. Until the end of 2009, the victim's family socialized "almost every weekend" with D, who was the victim's godmother and M's best friend, and D's sons. In 2006, the victim met the defendant for the first time at a Dunkin' Donuts store and learned that he was the father of D's oldest son. The defendant was thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old at the time, recently had finished serving a prison sentence for federal narcotics violations, and was living in a halfway house and working at Dunkin' Donuts. Shortly thereafter, the defendant and D resumed their previous relationship, and, in the winter of 2007, the defendant moved into D's East Hartford home.

In the summers of 2007, 2008 and 2009, the victim and her family regularly attended get-togethers at D's home with D, her sons, and the defendant. During that time, *695 the victim also frequently babysat for D's younger son at D's house. On those occasions, the defendant would often be present. The defendant's inappropriate behavior toward the victim started in 2007, when the victim was socializing with D's family and babysitting at D's house. Specifically, between 2007 and 2008, the defendant began talking to the victim about sex, he would caress her calf while they were watching a movie, and he would show her "in his phone ... other girls he was messing with other than [D], telling [her] things that he would do with them and ... what [she] should do with other guys if [she] was dating someone."

In 2008, the defendant began kissing and touching the victim while she was babysitting or attending social gatherings at D's house. The defendant put his fingers in her vagina and touched her breasts or buttocks multiple times between October, 2008 and October, 2009. On one occasion in the summer of 2008, the defendant *176 performed oral sex on the victim while she was babysitting for D. Although the victim asked him to stop and tried to push him off of her, he continued for about thirty seconds and stopped when he heard D's car pull into the driveway. On several occasions when the defendant was kissing or touching the victim, he would unzip his pants and pull out his penis. Although the defendant asked the victim to perform oral sex on him two or three times, she refused, and he "laughed it off."

In 2010, the victim's family stopped socializing with D's family because the defendant "was getting abusive" with D, and M did not want her daughters "to be around all that arguing." The last time the victim saw the defendant was at a Fourth of July party at D's house in 2010, at which the defendant tried to pull the victim into a room and to kiss her, but she was able to escape.

In January, 2011, the victim told M about the defendant's actions. The next day, M took the victim to the East Hartford Police Department, where they met with Officer Daniel Zaleski. Zaleski spoke with the victim separately for about twenty minutes, during which time the victim disclosed the pertinent details about the defendant's repeated sexual conduct toward her. Zaleski then referred the case to a juvenile investigator, Detective Samuel Kelsey, who investigated sexual assaults involving minors, and reported the matter to the Department of Children and Families (department).

On February 1, 2011, after receiving a phone call from Kelsey requesting to speak with him about the allegations against him, the defendant voluntarily went to the East Hartford Police Department and gave a statement. According to Kelsey, the defendant admitted to having had "close contact" with the victim "in an inappropriate nature, [such] as touching her breast and vagina." Specifically, during this interview with Kelsey, the defendant "said at no time did he have sex with *177 her; he said he was under the influence of alcohol and he can't remember all the events but he does admit having made contact with her; he said he was very sorry and that he would like to make amends in any way deemed necessary, this is not him ... but that's no excuse." After Kelsey reduced the defendant's statement to writing, the defendant initialed and signed it. The entire interview lasted approximately forty minutes.

After the interview, in the lobby of the police station, the defendant was met by Betzalda Torres, an investigator employed by the department who was investigating the alleged physical neglect and sexual abuse of the victim by the defendant. After Torres reviewed the allegations against him involving the physical neglect and sexual *696 abuse of the victim, for the purposes of the investigation by the department, the defendant "basically, confirmed that what [the victim] said was correct, did not deny it, and ... [he] was feeling apologetic to the family for what he ha[d] done." The defendant told Torres that he had been sexually inappropriate with the victim and that he had "many" discussions with her regarding sex and her virginity. During this interview, the defendant was not specific as to the details of the actual acts he preformed, but he explained that his alcohol and drug use played a role and he "took full responsibility" for being "sexually inappropriate toward [the victim]."

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Related

Smith v. Commissioner of Correction
234 Conn. App. 749 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2025)
State v. Fox
192 Conn. App. 221 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2019)
State v. Smith
170 A.3d 680 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 A.3d 691, 174 Conn. App. 172, 2017 WL 2655849, 2017 Conn. App. LEXIS 266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-smith-connappct-2017.