State v. Turner

334 Conn. 660
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedFebruary 18, 2020
DocketSC20186
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 334 Conn. 660 (State v. Turner) 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. Turner, 334 Conn. 660 (Colo. 2020).

Opinion

Page 26 CONNECTICUT LAW JOURNAL February 18, 2020

660 FEBRUARY, 2020 334 Conn. 660 State v. Turner

STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. TYQUAN TURNER (SC 20186) Robinson, C. J., and Palmer, McDonald, D’Auria, Mullins, Kahn and Ecker, Js. Syllabus Convicted of the crimes of felony murder, robbery in the first degree, and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, the defendant appealed, claiming, inter alia, that his federal due process right to a fair trial was violated when the trial court improperly admitted testimony from a police officer, W, and other evidence regarding the location of the defen- dant’s cell phone on the day of the victim’s murder. The victim had been fatally shot while standing on a sidewalk when he was approached by two people who fired a series of gunshots. The victim’s medallion and gold chain were later recovered at a nearby pawn shop. W testified that he had performed a call detail mapping analysis of the defendant’s cell phone, which the police recovered after the shooting, and generated cell tower coverage maps and a time lapse video showing the movement of the cell phone. The state relied on the cell tower coverage maps to establish that the defendant was in the area of the crime scene at the time of the shooting and in the area of the pawn shop after the shooting. The Appellate Court concluded that the defendant’s claim was unpre- served and unreviewable under State v. Golding (213 Conn. 233), as modified by In re Yasiel R. (317 Conn. 773), because it was evidentiary and not constitutional in nature. In addition, the Appellate Court declined to review the defendant’s claim under the plain error doctrine, conclud- ing that defense counsel had assented to the admission of the cell phone evidence that the defendant claimed violated his right to due process. The Appellate Court also declined to review the defendant’s claim under its supervisory authority over the administration of justice, concluding that the defendant had failed to present extraordinary circumstances that warranted such review. Accordingly, the Appellate Court affirmed the judgment of conviction. On the granting of certification, the defen- dant appealed to this court, claiming, inter alia, that the Appellate Court incorrectly concluded that he was not entitled to Golding review of his unpreserved claim that the trial court violated his right to a fair trial by admitting W’s testimony and the cell phone evidence without conduct- ing a hearing pursuant to this court’s decision in State v. Porter (241 Conn. 57), which held that testimony based on scientific evidence must be assessed to determine whether it is derived from and based on reliable scientific methodology. Held: 1. The defendant having failed to establish that any error occurred in the admission of W’s testimony and the cell phone evidence, he was not entitled to review of his unpreserved claim under Golding: this court having determined, contrary to the defendant’s claim, that its recent February 18, 2020 CONNECTICUT LAW JOURNAL Page 27

334 Conn. 660 FEBRUARY, 2020 661 State v. Turner decision in State v. Edwards (325 Conn. 97) did not obligate the trial court to conduct a Porter hearing to assess the reliability of W’s testi- mony and the cell phone evidence in the absence of a party’s request for such a hearing, and the defendant having failed to request such a hearing or to object to the admission of W’s testimony and the cell phone evidence, his claim, which was evidentiary in nature, was unpre- served and there was no error, and, accordingly, the defendant could not establish that the trial court’s failure to conduct such a hearing sua sponte was constitutional in nature or violated his constitutional rights under the second and third prongs of Golding; moreover, because the defendant failed to request a Porter hearing, the record was unclear as to what the trial court would have done if he had requested such a hearing, and this court declined to find facts not in the record or to presume that the trial court committed evidentiary error when it was never asked to decide the issue; furthermore, the record was inadequate to determine whether W’s cell tower coverage map evidence satisfied the requirement of Porter that the proffered scientific testimony be demonstrably relevant to the facts of the case, as it was impossible to determine, without a Porter hearing or an objection to W’s testimony and the cell phone evidence, whether the state would have been able to satisfy that requirement. 2. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the trial court’s failure to conduct a Porter hearing constituted plain error; this court declined the defendant’s request to adopt the federal plain error standard, under which the determination of whether an error was clear is made on the basis of the law existing at the time of appeal rather than the time of trial, and, because the case law existing at the time of the defendant’s trial did not guarantee the defendant the right to a Porter hearing regard- ing cell phone data, this court could not conclude that the plain error doctrine afforded the defendant any relief. 3. This court declined the defendant’s request to exercise its supervisory authority over the administration of justice to review his unpreserved claim that the trial court improperly had admitted W’s testimony and the cell phone evidence without conducting a Porter hearing, as this case did not present the exceptional and unique circumstances that would justify the exercise of such authority, and this court’s decision not to exercise its supervisory authority was consistent with its holding in Edwards, as Edwards entitles a defendant to a Porter hearing regard- ing cell phone data only upon request, and the defendant failed to request such a hearing. Argued September 25, 2019—officially released February 18, 2020

Procedural History

Substitute information charging the defendant with the crimes of murder, felony murder, robbery in the first degree and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first Page 28 CONNECTICUT LAW JOURNAL February 18, 2020

662 FEBRUARY, 2020 334 Conn. 660 State v. Turner

degree, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial dis- trict of Hartford and tried to the jury before Kwak, J.; verdict and judgment of guilty of felony murder, robbery in the first degree and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, from which the defendant appealed to the Appellate Court, DiPentima, C. J., and Bright and Eveleigh, Js., which affirmed the trial court’s judgment, and the defendant, on the granting of certification, appealed to this court. Affirmed. Ann M. Parrent, assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant). Mitchell S. Brody, senior assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Gail P. Hardy, state’s attorney, and David L. Zagaja, senior assistant state’s attorney, for the appellee (state).

Opinion

D’AURIA, J. In this case, we are asked to determine whether, in light of our recent decision in State v. Edwards, 325 Conn. 97, 156 A.3d 506 (2017), the defen- dant, Tyquan Turner, is entitled to review of his unpre- served claim that the trial court improperly failed to sua sponte conduct a hearing pursuant to State v. Porter, 241 Conn. 57, 698 A.2d 739 (1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1058, 118 S. Ct. 1384, 140 L. Ed. 2d 645 (1998), before admitting expert testimony regarding cell phone data and corresponding cell tower coverage maps. The defen- dant seeks review under (1) State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233, 239–40, 567 A.2d 823 (1989), as modified by In re Yasiel R., 317 Conn. 773, 781, 120 A.3d 1188 (2015), (2) the plain error doctrine; see Practice Book § 60-5; and (3) this court’s supervisory authority over the adminis- tration of justice. We conclude that, because the defen- dant has failed to establish that any error occurred, he is not entitled to any review of this unpreserved claim.

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Bluebook (online)
334 Conn. 660, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-turner-conn-2020.