State v. Talton

• Decision Date: 27 August 1985
• Docket Number: No. 11473,11473
• Citation: 197 Conn. 280,497 A.2d 35
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Napier TALTON.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

Page 35

497 A.2d 35

197 Conn. 280

STATE of Connecticut v. Napier TALTON.

No. 11473.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued June 4, 1985.

Decided Aug. 27, 1985.

John R. Williams, New Haven, with whom, on brief, were Sue L. Wise, New Haven, and Beth Merkin, Legal Intern, for appellant (defendant).

Christopher Malany, Sp. Asst. State's Atty., with whom were Julia D. Dewey, Asst. State's Atty., and, on brief, Arnold Markle, State's Atty., for appellee (state).

Before PETERS, C.J., and HEALEY, SHEA, DANNEHY and SANTANIELLO, JJ.

DANNEHY, Associate Justice.

The defendant was charged in the first part of an indictment with the crime of sexual assault in the first degree in violation of § 53a-70 of the General Statutes. ¹ He was tried by a jury and found guilty. The defendant was also charged in the second part of the indictment with being a persistent dangerous felony offender under § 53a-40 of the General Statutes. ² The subsequent court trial on that charge also resulted in a conviction. No claims of error are directed against this conviction under the second part of the indictment apart from those relating to the predicate offense in the first part of the indictment. After his post-trial motions were denied, the defendant was sentenced to the custody of the commissioner of correction for a term of not less than twenty-five years nor more than life.

The defendant did not testify at the trial. The complainant testified that at approximately 6 p.m. on February 13, 1981, she and a neighbor were together at her apartment in New Haven. They heard a knock on the door. The neighbor opened the door and a man whom the complainant identified as the defendant entered the room. After the neighbor left, the defendant made sexual advances toward the complainant. She demanded that he leave. At this point she was grabbed by the defendant, thrown onto a bed and forced to engage in sexual intercourse. When the defendant released her, she ran to her neighbor for refuge. The neighbor saw the defendant leave the complainant's apartment. Police officers took the complainant to a hospital where a vaginal smear was taken. The laboratory tests indicated the presence of sperm. The defendant denied having intercourse with the complainant on that occasion, although he sharply questioned her on the issue of forcible compulsion, so that the case was in large part one of credibility.

It is unnecessary to elaborate the facts further. Indeed, the evidence unquestionably was sufficient to sustain the charge made in the first part of the indictment. This appeal is based upon a series of questions that raise four main issues: (1) whether the trial court's exclusion of any evidence regarding the determination of paternity of the child allegedly conceived during the rape of which the defendant was accused violated his state and federal constitutional rights to cross-examine witnesses and to establish a defense; (2) whether the trial court erred by permitting the state to show in its case in chief that the defendant had lied when he stated, during police interrogation that followed Miranda warnings, that he had never before been arrested; (3) whether the trial court denied the defendant assistance of counsel and due process of law in violation of the fifth and fourteenth amendments by permitting the state to present evidence that the defendant had refused to answer a question during police interrogation; and (4) whether the trial court erred and denied the defendant effective assistance of counsel, the right to present his defense, and the right to compulsory process in violation of the sixth and fourteenth amendments and article first, section 8 of the Connecticut constitution by refusing to call to the stand an available witness who assertedly would have presented evidence material and favorable to the defense. Additional facts will be discussed as may be necessary to place these issues in appropriate context.

I

The defendant first contends that the trial court's exclusion of any evidence regarding the paternity of a child allegedly conceived during the sexual assault violated his state and federal constitutional rights to cross-examine witnesses and to establish a defense. We disagree.

Prior to trial, the defendant requested that the trial court order the complainant and her child to submit to a blood test "for the purposes of determining paternity." The defendant's request was based on the complainant's grand jury testimony that she believed, from what she had been told in the hospital, that whoever assaulted her on the night in question was the father of her child. The defendant claimed that medical evidence establishing that he was not the father of the child "would be strong exculpatory evidence ... that he was not the individual who committed the offense." The trial court, correctly noting that it could not make substantive use of the complainant's grand jury testimony; see General Statutes § 54-45(6); denied the motion on the ground of relevance but indicated that it would reconsider the request at a later stage in the trial, if a proper factual foundation could be established.

At the conclusion of the complainant's direct testimony, the defendant renewed his request for blood testing and moved that he be allowed to cross-examine the complainant concerning the paternity issue. The trial court expressed strong concern that, on the state of the record as developed to that point, the issue of paternity appeared to be irrelevant. The defendant was allowed, however, in the absence of the jury, to question the complainant extensively in order to explore this issue. The defendant apparently advanced various theories as to the relevance of the paternity issue but he was unable to establish any causal connection between the sexual assault and the child's paternity. Eventually, defense counsel himself conceded that "the issue as far as the law is concerned, is, of course, not relevant...." The trial court then remarked that it would not "allow this case to be turned into some type of paternity proceeding" and ultimately ruled that "the inquiries with respect to the paternity or lack of paternity of a child born some nine and a half months later on the state of this record, are irrelevant." The defendant objected and properly excepted.

"The rights to confront and cross-examine witnesses and to call witnesses in one's own behalf have long been recognized as essential to due process." Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 294, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 1045, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973). The cross-examination of a witness in an effort to show his or her motive, interest, bias, or prejudice against a party is a matter of right, although the extent of such cross-examination is within the judicial discretion of the court. State v. Tropiano, 158 Conn. 412, 426, 262 A.2d 147 (1969), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 949, 90 S.Ct. 1866, 26 L.Ed.2d 288 (1970); State v. Luzzi, 147 Conn. 40, 46, 156 A.2d 505 (1959). "It is a reasonable exercise of judicial discretion to exclude questions which would introduce issues foreign to the case; State v. Dortch, 139 Conn. 317, 325, 93 A.2d 490 [1952]; or evidence the relevancy of which appears to be so slight and inconsequential that to admit it would distract attention which should be concentrated on vital issues of the case. State v. Bassett, 151 Conn. 547, 551, 200 A.2d 473 [1964]." State v. Mahmood, 158 Conn. 536, 540, 265 A.2d 83 (1969). We have reiterated that evidence is relevant only when it tends to establish the existence of a material fact or to corroborate other direct evidence in the case. State v. Sharpe, 195 Conn. 651, 659, 491 A.2d 345 (1985); State v. Mastropetre, 175 Conn. 512, 517, 400 A.2d 276 (1978).

On appeal, the defendant's claim of relevance appears to be limited to only one of the theories advanced at trial; that is, if it were shown that the defendant did not father the child, then the credibility of the complainant's entire testimony could have been destroyed. This argument hinges on our holding in State v. Mastropetre, supra, which was controlling at the time of trial. ³ There, we noted that, as a general rule, "evidence of prior sexual relations cannot be introduced to impeach a complaining witness' credibility." (Citations omitted.) Id., 518, 400 A.2d 276. The defendant argues that, under the exception to the general rule enunciated in State v. Rivers, 82 Conn. 454, 458, 74 A. 757 (1909), and distinguished in Mastropetre, he should have been allowed to explore the issue of paternity by questioning the complainant about her prior sexual conduct. The defendant, however, misconstrues the rule in State v. Rivers, supra, wherein we held that "courts may properly ... permit the accused to inquire on cross-examination as to particular acts of immorality and unchastity of the complainant either before or after the date of the alleged assault" when the complainant has made a claim of chastity on direct examination. Id. In this case, the complainant testified on direct examination that she had not had sexual relations with any other person for "three or four days or a week" prior to February 13, 1981 or during the twenty-one day period after February 25, 1981, and that she had not seen the defendant at any time subsequent to the alleged sexual assault except in the courthouse. She never made any claims of chastity nor did she make any claim at trial that the defendant was the father of her child. In light of this testimony the trial court was understandably skeptical about the defendant's ability to demonstrate the relevance of his claim. The trial court did provide the defendant with ample opportunity to establish a link between the paternity issue and the sexual assault. The defendant's offer of proof demonstrated the link was missing.

The issue in this case was whether this defendant sexually assaulted the complainant. The complainant's subsequent pregnancy was irrelevant as to whether a sexual...