State v. Allen

• Decision Date: 25 November 2008
• Docket Number: No. 17701.,17701.
• Citation: 289 Conn. 550,958 A.2d 1214
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Anthony ALLEN.

958 A.2d 1214

289 Conn. 550

STATE of Connecticut v. Anthony ALLEN.

No. 17701.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued September 17, 2008.

Decided November 25, 2008.

Alice Osedach, assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Mitchell S. Brody, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom were Thomas R. Garcia, senior assistant state's attorney, and, on the brief, Gail P. Hardy, state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

ROGERS, C.J., and NORCOTT, KATZ, PALMER and VERTEFEUILLE, Js.

KATZ, J.

The defendant, Anthony Allen, directly appeals, pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199(b)(3), from the trial court's judgment of conviction of capital felony in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-54b(8)¹ and 53a-8(a),² murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-54a³ and 53a-8(a), conspiracy to commit murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-48(a)⁴ and 53a-54a, attempt to commit assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-49(a)(2)⁵ and 53a-59(a)(5),⁶ and conspiracy to commit assault in the first degree in violation of §§ 53a-48(a) and 53a-59(a)(5). The defendant contends that: (1) there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions; (2) the trial court improperly admitted into evidence a letter that he had written that was more prejudicial than probative; (3) the trial court improperly denied his request to poll the jury; and (4) General Statutes § 53a-35a,⁷ which mandates a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release for a defendant convicted of a capital felony who was under the age of eighteen at the time of the offense, violates the eighth amendment to the federal constitution. We affirm the judgment.

The record reflects the following undisputed facts and procedural history. On the evening of February 22, 2005, fifteen year old Lorenzo Morgan Rowe was fatally shot while he was walking home from a high school basketball game with several of his friends, including brothers Stanley Weaver and Jonathan Weaver. Thereafter, the state brought charges against the defendant and Kevin Amos related to that shooting. Pursuant to a request by the state, the cases were consolidated for trial. The state's theory of the case was that the victim had been shot by the defendant or Amos as a result of hostilities that previously had developed between them and the Weaver brothers. The state offered witnesses who placed the defendant at the scene and who testified that they had seen the defendant shooting in the direction of a group that included the Weaver brothers. The defendant presented alibi witnesses who testified that, although the defendant was at the basketball game, he was with a group of friends at another location at the time of the shooting.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all five counts against the defendant. The jury subsequently was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the charges against Amos, and the trial court declared a mistrial in his case. Because the defendant was seventeen years old at the time he committed the capital felony, in accordance with § 53a-35a, the trial court imposed a total effective sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release.⁸ This direct appeal followed.

I

We begin with the defendant's claim that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction. Specifically, the defendant contends that the evidence established that there was only one shooter and that no credible evidence established him as that shooter. With respect to the only two state witnesses who, at trial, identified the defendant as one of the shooters, the defendant points to the fact that, in statements given to the police shortly after the shooting, one witness did not identify him specifically as a shooter, and the second witness identified two other people who were with the defendant as the shooters. The defendant further contends that the forensic evidence showed that only one gun had been fired. We agree with the state that there was sufficient evidence that the jury properly could have credited to support their verdict.

In reviewing the question of whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction, we apply a two part test. "First, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. Second, we determine whether upon the facts so construed and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom the jury reasonably could have concluded that the cumulative force of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. . . . In evaluating evidence, the trier of fact is not required to accept as dispositive those inferences that are consistent with the defendant's innocence. . . . The trier may draw whatever inferences from the evidence or facts established by the evidence it deems to be reasonable and logical. . . . This does not require that each subordinate conclusion established by or inferred from the evidence, or even from other inferences, be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. . . because this court has held that a jury's factual inferences that support a guilty verdict need only be reasonable. . . .

"On appeal, we do not ask whether there is a reasonable view of the evidence that would support a reasonable hypothesis of innocence. We ask, instead, whether there is a reasonable view of the evidence that supports the jury's verdict of guilty." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Silva, 285 Conn. 447, 454, 939 A.2d 581 (2008).

With those principles in mind, we note that the state's witnesses offered testimony at trial as to the following course of events. In the fall of 2004, and the winter of 2005, brothers James Weaver, Jonathan Weaver, Donnell Weaver and Stanley Weaver, all in their mid to late teens, lived with their father and stepmother at 215 Branford Street in Hartford. The victim lived in the house across the street at 218 Branford Street. The Weaver brothers thought of the victim as a member of their family, like a brother or cousin. One evening in September, 2004, Jonathan Weaver, Stanley Weaver, Tynetta Muhammad, who is the mother of Stanley Weaver's child, and two other young women attended a show at Weaver High School. As the group left the school to walk back to the Weaver house, Muhammad was jumped by a large group of young women, and a fight ensued. After Muhammad and the others made it back to the Weaver house, a smaller group of young women came to the house and reignited the fight. Among those in that group were the defendant's sister, Shawanda Allen, and his mother, Crystal Faust. Faust sprayed mace in Jonathan Weaver's face during the fight, which broke up after the Weaver brothers' father came outside.

On the evening of February 22, 2005, the four Weaver brothers, the victim, Tynetta Muhammad, her sister Khadijah Muhammad, and a few other friends (Weaver group) met at Weaver High School to watch a basketball game. At the game, James Weaver noticed a couple of young men looking their way, giving them hard looks and acting "like they wanted to do something." James Weaver called his father after the game to voice his concern, and his father told him to walk home and that he would meet them. The high school is two blocks to the north and two blocks to the west of the Weaver house. As the Weaver group left the school and walked east on Tower Avenue, which runs parallel to Branford Street, where the Weaver family and the victim lived, several of them noticed a large group of young men following them. In that group was "Ant," who later was identified as the defendant, and "Maduke," who later was identified as Amos, both of whom were wearing black pants and jackets.⁹ Donnell Weaver also recognized another male, known as "Man Man," who also was dressed in black.

The Weaver group continued on Tower Avenue and turned south onto Lyme Street, where Tynetta Muhammad and Donnell Weaver noticed Ant and Maduke staring back at them from the next corner to the east on Tower Avenue at Palm Street. Palm Street runs parallel to Lyme Street, and both streets intersect two blocks to the south with Branford Street. The Weaver group continued to walk south on Lyme Street and turned east onto Branford Street. At about this same time, Donella Turmon, a friend of the Weaver brothers, was sitting outside the Weaver house at 215 Branford Street, waiting for the Weaver group to return from the game. She noticed three males, dressed in black jackets and pants, walking back and forth on Branford Street.

As the Weaver group continued east on Branford Street, they noticed three males ahead of them at the corner of Branford and Palm Streets, the corner closest to the Weaver home. The street lights were illuminated, and Jonathan Weaver, Donnell Weaver and Khadijah Muhammad were able to identify the males as Ant, Maduke and Man Man. James Weaver also was able to identify one of the three males as Ant. The three males walked north on Palm Street, but then cut through a yard and emerged on Branford Street behind the Weaver group. Turmon, Tynetta Muhammad and Khadijah Muhammad then heard gunshots coming from the direction of the three males, but could not see who was shooting. James Weaver saw two of the males pull out guns and heard shooting from two different guns, but he also could not identify who was shooting. Jonathan Weaver and Donnell Weaver, however, both identified Ant and Maduke as the shooters. Turmon and Jonathan Weaver saw the victim run across Branford Street toward his house, where he fell in his driveway. He later was pronounced dead of a single gunshot wound to the head.

The aforementioned testimony clearly was sufficient to support the verdict. Indeed, as we explain in part II of this opinion, there was other evidence that properly was admitted to establish the defendant's motive-he was angry about statements allegedly made by two of the Weaver brothers and another male to the defendant and his friends in an earlier incident, as well as the defendant's ready...