State v. Ward

849 A.2d 860, 83 Conn. App. 377, 2004 Conn. App. LEXIS 258
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJune 15, 2004
DocketAC 23159
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 849 A.2d 860 (State v. Ward) 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. Ward, 849 A.2d 860, 83 Conn. App. 377, 2004 Conn. App. LEXIS 258 (Colo. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Opinion

FLYNN, J.

The defendant, Robert Ward, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of [379]*379criminal possession of a firearm in violation of General Statutes § 53a-217, carrying a pistol without a permit in violation of General Statutes § 29-35, criminal trespass in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-109 and criminal mischief in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-117. The defendant also appeals from the judgment of conviction resulting from being found guilty of being a persistent serious felony offender by the trial court pursuant to General Statutes § 53a-40 (2) (c).

On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) the court improperly denied his motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of an illegal Terry stop,1 (2) the court improperly precluded the defendant from testifying about statements the police made during the stop, (3) his fifth amendment right to be free from double jeopardy was violated when he was convicted of both carrying a pistol without a permit and criminal possession of a firearm and (4) the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction of criminal trespass in the third degree. We disagree and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The owner of an apartment building gave the Bridgeport police keys to the premises so that, as a part of their regular neighborhood police duties, they could patrol the hallways because of a number of break-ins, narcotics sales and rampant prostitution on the premises. After a walk-through of the building on December 26, 2000, Officer Adam Roscoe and Officer Martin Heaneu stationed themselves inside of the Washington Avenue entrance to the building.2 The Washington Avenue entrance had a “No Trespassing” sign [380]*380posted outside it. The door to that entrance had been broken repeatedly by persons who did not possess keys to the building, although there was a main entrance to the building on Sanford Place with an intercom and buzzer system for tenants and visitors. The officers heard the door being forcibly yanked multiple times, and, finally, after the defendant forced it open, they watched him walk into the building. The officers stopped the defendant and asked him if he was a tenant. He responded in the negative. They then asked him what his business was in the building. He stated that he was there to visit “his boy,” but would not divulge the person’s real name.3

A third officer, Jesse Pizarro, arrived as backup, enabling Heaneu to go upstairs to knock on the door of the apartment the defendant named as the one he was visiting. No one answered the door when Heaneu knocked. While Heaneu was upstairs, Roscoe obtained identification from the defendant and checked to see if he had any outstanding warrants. During this time, the defendant put his hands in his pockets. Roscoe, apparently for his own safety, asked him to keep his hands in sight, and when the defendant complied by removing his hands, a straw became visible, sticking out of his pocket. When asked what the straw was for, the defendant stated that he used it to snort heroin. When he was asked if he had any drugs on him, the defendant disobeyed the officer’s orders to keep his hands in sight, reached into his pocket and made a motion toward Roscoe’s head. The two officers attempted to grab the defendant, but he managed to slip out of his jacket and flee the scene. The officers [381]*381gave chase, and the defendant was subsequently seized and put into a police car, which he proceeded to damage by kicking the interior.

In the meantime, Heaneu returned downstairs to find that Roscoe, Pizarro and the defendant were gone, but that the defendant’s jacket had been left on the floor. Roscoe returned to the building and met Heaneu in the hallway. They brought the jacket outside and set it on the ground. On impact with the ground, a loaded gun hidden in the lining of the defendant’s jacket discharged and shot off a part of Heaneu’s finger. The defendant now appeals after being tried, convicted and sentenced. Further facts will be provided where pertinent.

I

The defendant first claims that the court improperly denied his motion to suppress because the police illegally detained him in an alleged investigative or Terry stop, and therefore, all evidence obtained as a result of that stop should have been suppressed. We disagree.

Our review standard for allegedly unlawful Terry stops is settled. “When considering the validity of a Terry stop, our threshold inquiry is twofold. . . . First, we must determine at what point, if any, did the encounter between [the police officer] and the defendant constitute an investigatory stop or seizure. . . . Next, [i]f we conclude that there was such a seizure, we must then determine whether [the police officer] possessed a reasonable and articulable suspicion at the time the seizure occurred. . . .

“We must first determine, therefore, at what point, if at all, a seizure occurred. [Our Supreme Court has] . . . defined a person as seized under our state constitution when by means of physical force or a show of authority, his freedom of movement is restrained. ... In determining the threshold question of whether there [382]*382has been a seizure, we examine the effect of the police conduct at the time of the alleged seizure, applying an objective standard. Under our state constitution, a person is seized only if in view of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave. . . . Therefore, [w]hether there has been a seizure in an individual case is a question of fact.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Santos, 267 Conn. 495, 503-504, 838 A.2d 981 (2004).

If a seizure has occurred, we then turn to an analysis of “whether the trial court properly concluded that the seizure was based on a reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity. The determination of whether a reasonable and articulable suspicion exists rests on a two part analysis: (1) whether the underlying factual findings of the trial court are clearly erroneous; and (2) whether the conclusion that those facts gave rise to such a suspicion is legally correct.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 504-505.

“Under the fourth amendment to the United States constitution and article first, [§ 7] ... of our state constitution, a police officer is permitted in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner to detain an individual for investigative purposes if the officer believes, based on a reasonable and articulable suspicion that the individual is engaged in criminal activity, even if there is no probable cause to make an arrest.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Gaston, 82 Conn. App. 161, 165, 842 A.2d 1171 (2004); see also Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21-22, 88 S. Ct. 1868, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889 (1968).

“[I]n justifying [a] particular intrusion the police officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant that intrusion. . . . Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. 21 ....

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
849 A.2d 860, 83 Conn. App. 377, 2004 Conn. App. LEXIS 258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ward-connappct-2004.