State v. White

640 A.2d 572, 229 Conn. 125, 1994 Conn. LEXIS 90
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedMarch 16, 1994
Docket13941; 13945
StatusPublished
Cited by76 cases

This text of 640 A.2d 572 (State v. White) 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. White, 640 A.2d 572, 229 Conn. 125, 1994 Conn. LEXIS 90 (Colo. 1994).

Opinion

Katz, J.

The dispositive issue in each of these appeals is whether the state’s suppression of exculpatory evidence so impaired the fairness of the proceedings against the defendants that the trial court was required to grant their motions for a new trial or to dismiss the charges against them. After a joint trial before a jury, the defendants, Roy White and Winston Watkins, were convicted of capital felony pursuant to General Statutes § 53a-54b (8),1 attempted murder pursuant to General Statutes §§ 53a-54a and 53a-49,2 assault in the first degree pursuant to General Statutes § 53a-59 (a) (1)3 and carrying a pistol without a permit pursuant to General Statutes §§ 29-35 and 29-37 (b).4 Although it ini[128]*128tially sought the death penalty for both defendants, the state did not offer any evidence of an aggravating factor at the penalty stage of the trial. The trial court therefore sentenced both defendants to life in prison without possibility of release on the capital felony counts.5 The defendants have appealed directly to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (b) (3). We reverse the judgments of the trial court.

The jury could reasonably have found the following facts. At 1:58 p.m. on November 10,1987, Bridgeport police officers were dispatched to investigate a shooting in the area of the Jamaican Club. When they arrived, they discovered the bodies of Lilla McCalla and Llwellyn Blake in Blake’s Market. Each had been fatally shot in the back of the head with a nine millimeter gun. While at the market, the police were informed that a third shooting victim was being treated at Bridgeport Hospital. The third victim, Vernon Crummie, had been shot twice with a .45 caliber gun.

Nine days later, on November 19,1987, the Bridgeport police met with Crummie in his hospital room. Detective Leo Krusinski brought a photographic array to the hospital for Crummie to view. The six picture array included a photograph of Watkins. Crummie identified Watkins as one of the two men involved in the shootings, but indicated he was not the man who had shot him. Crummie then gave a statement to the police. Thereafter, Crummie again picked out Watkins’ photograph from [129]*129the array. At trial, Crummie testified that he had seen Watkins at Blake’s Market and the Java Restaurant on several occasions prior to the shootings.

On May 10,1988, Krusinski asked Crummie to come to the Bridgeport police station to view another photographic array. Crummie did so and, from a six picture array, selected a photograph of White as the man who had shot him in Blake’s Market. On the same day, Crummie was also shown a thirteen picture array that included a different photograph of White. Crummie again selected the photograph of White as the man who had shot him.

Although Crummie identified White in both arrays, he said he had a slight doubt and would like to see White in person in order to be positive about his identification. On May 16, 1988, Crummie went to the Bridgeport police station to view a lineup. After viewing the lineup, Crummie positively identified White as the man who had shot him in Blake’s Market. Crummie also looked at the two photographic arrays he had first viewed on May 10 and signed the backs of the two photographs of White that he had previously selected.

Crummie was the prosecution’s key witness at trial. He testified that he had known McCalla and Blake for many years and that they had been dating for approximately six years. Blake had been operating Blake’s Market, a grocery store, for nine or ten months at the time of the shootings. Crummie often stopped at the store and helped Blake and McCalla in his spare time.

Crummie testified that on the day of the shootings, he had stopped by Blake’s Market on his way to work at about 1:40 p.m. He had been there only a short time when the two defendants entered the store with guns drawn. Watkins entered first, ran past Crummie and jumped over a counter to the side on which Blake and McCalla stood. White entered behind Watkins, stopped a yard from Crummie and faced him. Crummie said [130]*130“What’s up?” to White, and White shot him in the neck. As Crummie ran toward the front door to escape he was shot a second time in the back. As Crummie ran out of the store and across the street, he heard explosions coming from inside the store. He did not-see the defendants emerge from the store. Crummie flagged down an approaching car and the driver drove him to the hospital. Crummie also testified at trial to his photographic identifications of both defendants and his lineup identification of White.

Zaida Brown was the only other witness at trial who could place a defendant near the crime scene. She testified that she had seen Watkins near her home around the time of the shootings. A city engineer testified that Brown had lived approximately 720 feet from Blake’s Market. Brown testified that she had seen Watkins running through a neighbor’s backyard. She said Watkins had come from the general direction of Blake’s Market.

On appeal, both defendants claim that the trial court improperly: (1) refused to dismiss the charges against them or order a new trial even though the state had improperly suppressed exculpatory evidence, depriving the defendants of a fair trial; (2) refused to dismiss the charges against them even though there was insufficient evidence to support the two witness requirement of General Statutes § 54-83; (3) allowed them to be tried before a death qualified jury; (4) allowed them to be shackled while appearing in court before the jury; (5) refused to grant a mistrial after it was discovered that a police officer who had testified for the state had discussed his testimony with a juror during a recess; (6) admitted evidence showing consciousness of guilt; (7) refused to hold that Crummie’s testimony was incredible as a matter of law, thereby making the evidence insufficient to convict them; and (8) refused to declare a mistrial or order a new trial based on various factors that impaired the fairness of the trial. Each [131]*131defendant also contends, separately, that the trial court improperly refused to suppress the photographic identifications made by Crummie. In addition, White claims that the trial court improperly: (1) refused to suppress Crummie’s lineup identification of him; and (2) refused to sever his trial from that of Watkins.

I

Both White and Watkins claim that the state withheld exculpatory evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215 (1963), and thereby deprived them of a fair trial. Because we find merit in this claim, we reverse the convictions of both defendants and remand their cases for a new probable cause hearing and, if appropriate, a new trial.

The following additional facts are relevant. At the June 16, 1988 probable cause hearing for the two defendants, the state represented that there was no exculpatory evidence to disclose to the defendants. Crummie was the sole witness at the probable cause hearing. On June 27, 1988, and July 25, 1988, White and Watkins, respectively, filed pretrial motions seeking disclosure of any exculpatory evidence. The state did not disclose any materials pursuant to these motions.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
640 A.2d 572, 229 Conn. 125, 1994 Conn. LEXIS 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-white-conn-1994.