State v. Soto

757 A.2d 1156, 59 Conn. App. 500, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 405
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedAugust 22, 2000
DocketAC 19308
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 757 A.2d 1156 (State v. Soto) 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. Soto, 757 A.2d 1156, 59 Conn. App. 500, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 405 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Opinion,

FOTI, J.

The defendant, Kevin Soto, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a (a).1 [502]*502On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) denied his motion in arrest of judgment in which he had claimed that the verdict2 was legally inconsistent as a matter of law and (2) excluded evidence. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On April 22, 1996, officers from the Waterbury police department were dispatched to 49 Ridgewood Street where they discovered the body of the victim, Hector Nieves, who had been stabbed and cut approximately 125 times. They had been directed to the scene by a 911 emergency telephone call made by a male caller who had identified himself only as “Michael.” On the following day, the defendant, a friend of the victim, was interviewed, and he denied any knowledge of the murder. On the next day, after listening to the 911 tape, the defendant admitted that he had made the call and that the voice on the tape was his. After being advised of his Miranda3 rights and having waived those rights, the defendant named Jose Colon as the person who had committed the murder. The defendant did not admit that he was present or that he had participated in the murder.

Following Colon’s questioning by the police, the police again spoke to the defendant and he admitted at that time that he had been present and had been involved in the murder. Thereafter, the defendant gave a signed written statement wherein he described how he and Colon had planned only to scare the victim because the victim had disrespected both of them in public. He indicated that he had given his buck knife [503]*503to Colon, who, after waving it around, gave it back to him. The defendant then cut Nieves on the side of the neck. At trial, the defendant testified that they had been smoking marijuana and had cut the victim on the neck, but that Colon had pulled out a big knife, which was an antique Pakistani sword, and began stabbing Nieves, at which time the defendant left. The defendant then went to the house of his girlfriend, Edith Santos, and told her that Colon had just killed Nieves.

I

The defendant first claims that the court should have granted his postverdict motion in arrest of judgment.4 He argues that while not inconsistent as a matter of fact, the verdict is inconsistent as a matter of law because it was based on a legal impossibility, that is, two people cannot aid and abet one another to commit murder5 without the two first having made at least an implied agreement to commit the crime. Therefore, one cannot be guilty of aiding and abetting murder without first having committed the crime of conspiracy to commit murder.

“It is axiomatic that a juiy verdict may not be overturned on the ground that a conviction on one count is factually inconsistent with an acquittal on another count.” State v. Jacques, 53 Conn. App. 507, 523-24, 733 A.2d 242 (1999). “Consistency in the verdict is not necessary.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Martin, 189 Conn. 1, 6, 454 A.2d 256, cert. denied, 461 U.S. 933, 103 S. Ct. 2098, 77 L. Ed. 2d 306 (1983).

[504]*504We do not agree with the defendant that the jury’s verdict was inconsistent as a matter of law and based on a legal impossibility. “The issue of legal inconsistency typically arises when a defendant is convicted of two offenses that contain contradictory elements. Such verdicts are legally inconsistent if the existence of the essential elements for one offense negates the existence of the essential elements for another offense of which the defendant also stands convicted. State v. Hinton, 227 Conn. 301, 313, 630 A.2d 593 (1993). . . . [T]he defendant was convicted of one offense and acquitted of the other. [Because the court is] not dealing with a situation in which the defendant is convicted of two offenses, and one conviction negates the other, the verdicts are not legally inconsistent in the usual sense. . . .

“Where the inconsistent verdicts claim involves a simultaneous conviction and acquittal on different offenses, the court, in testing the verdict of guilty for inconsistency as a matter of law, is necessarily limited to an examination of the offense charged in the information and the verdict rendered thereon without regard to what evidence the jury had for consideration. State v. Manning, [162 Conn. 112, 123, 291 A.2d 750 (1971)], quoting State v. Keating, 151 Conn. 592, 596, 200 A.2d 724 (1964), cert. denied sub nom. Josephs. Connecticut, 379 U.S. 963, 85 S. Ct. 654, 13 L. Ed. 2d 557 (1965). If the offenses charged contain different elements, then a conviction of one offense is not inconsistent on its face with an acquittal of the other. See State v. Manning, supra, 123-24. State v. Milner, 46 Conn. App. 118, 122-23, 699 A.2d 1022 (1997).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. DeCaro, 252 Conn. 229, 244-45, 745 A.2d 800 (2000). A conviction of the defendant for conspiracy requires proof of an agreement, whereas to convict him as an accessory to murder proof of such an agreement is not necessary. Section 53a-48 (a), the statute governing conspiracy liability, and General Statutes [505]*505§§ 53a-8 and 53a-54a (a), which govern liability for murder as an accessory, contain different elements, and consequently a conviction of one crime is not inconsistent on its face with an acquittal of the other. See State v. DeCaro, supra, 252 Conn. 245. Accordingly, the defendant’s claim must fail.

II

The defendant next alleges that the court improperly excluded from evidence statements of Colon that showed Colon’s intentions, motivations and state of mind during the murder and that constituted statements made against Colon’s penal interest.

During the trial, the defendant attempted to have three witnesses testify that Colon had told them that he had murdered Nieves because he had been told by his parents that Nieves had disrespected his family and had touched his sister inappropriately during a party at his house. The court did not allow the proffered testimony because it was irrelevant and inadmissible hearsay. We agree that the evidence the defendant sought to have presented before the jury was both irrelevant and inadmissible as hearsay.

“It is well established that a ‘trial court has broad discretion in ruling on the admissibility [and relevancy] of evidence. . . . The trial court’s ruling on evidentiary matters will be overturned only upon a showing of a clear abuse of the court’s discretion.’ ” Sivilla v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
757 A.2d 1156, 59 Conn. App. 500, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-soto-connappct-2000.