Aparo v. Superior Court, Judicial Dist., Civ. No. 3:93CV00579(TFGD).

• Decision Date: 24 June 1996
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 3:93CV00579(TFGD).
• Citation: 956 F.Supp. 118
• Parties: Karin APARO, Petitioner, v. SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF HARTFORD/NEW BRITAIN AT HARTFORD, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut

Page 118

956 F.Supp. 118

Karin APARO, Petitioner, v. SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF HARTFORD/NEW BRITAIN AT HARTFORD, Respondent.

Civ. No. 3:93CV00579(TFGD).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

June 24, 1996.

Hubert J. Santos, Hope C. Seeley, Santos & Seeley, Hartford, CT, for Karin Aparo.

Judith Rossi Schannon, Judith Rossi, Office of the Chief State's Attorney, Rocky Hill, CT, for Superior Court, Judicial District at Hartford.

RULING ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

DALY, District Judge.

The petitioner, Karin Aparo ("petitioner"), seeks a Writ of Habeas Corpus to bar the State of Connecticut Superior Court ("respondent") from subjecting her to a retrial on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her mother, Joyce Aparo ("the petitioner's mother"). For the reasons set forth below, the petition is granted.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On August 28, 1987, the petitioner was arrested and charged in a short form information with the crimes of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the death of her mother on August 5, 1987. On September 29, 1987, the State of Connecticut (the "State") filed a two-count long-form information charging the petitioner with murder as an accessory in violation of Connecticut General Statutes §§ 53a-8 and 53a-54a(a) and with conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree in violation of Connecticut General Statutes §§ 53a-48(a) and 53a-54a(a). The petitioner pleaded not guilty to both counts.

Prior to trial, on February 19, 1988, the petitioner moved to sever the two counts on the ground that, pursuant to Conn.Gen.Stat. § 54-82b(c), she was entitled to be tried by a jury of six on the conspiracy charge. On April 27, 1990, the trial court denied the petitioner's motion to sever. On June 28, 1990, the jury acquitted the petitioner on the charge of murder as an accessory, but was deadlocked, by a seven to five vote in favor of acquittal, on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. The trial court, in accordance with Connecticut Practice Book Section 866, declared a mistrial. Thereafter, on July 3, 1990, the petitioner filed a Motion for Acquittal and a Motion in Arrest of Judgment. On February 8, 1991, at oral argument on the motions before the trial court, the parties agreed that the only issue to be decided by the court was the sufficiency of the evidence claim, which was denied by the court in a ruling from the bench. Additionally, by agreement of the parties, the Motion in Arrest of Judgment and the issues relating to double jeopardy and collateral estoppel advanced in the Motion in Arrest of Judgment would be raised before the trial judge at such time as the petitioner was retried on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

On July 18, 1990, the State issued a declaration of its intent to retry the petitioner on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. On May 3, 1991, the petitioner filed a Motion to Dismiss the reprosecution. On November 20, 1991, the trial court denied the motion.

Thereafter, the petitioner filed an interlocutory appeal of the denial of the motion to dismiss in the Connecticut Appellate Court. Subsequently, the Connecticut Supreme Court transferred the matter to its docket. The petitioner presented three arguments before the Supreme Court: 1) that principles of double jeopardy precluded retrial when six out of twelve jurors voted for acquittal; 2) that principles of collateral estoppel/double jeopardy precluded retrial because the jury necessarily found that she had never intended that her mother be killed; and 3) that principles of collateral estoppel require the exclusion of certain evidence, leaving insufficient admissible evidence to warrant a retrial. See State v. Aparo, 223 Conn. 384, 386-87, 614 A.2d 401 (1992). The Supreme Court rejected the first and second claims and accepted the third in part. Id. at 387, 614 A.2d 401. The Supreme Court principally held that double jeopardy and collateral estoppel did not bar a retrial but that collateral estoppel did preclude the reuse of certain evidence at the retrial. Both the petitioner and the State filed motions for reargument and reconsideration, which were denied, as were the State's petition and the petitioner's cross-petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. See Connecticut v. Aparo, 507 U.S. 972, 113 S.Ct. 1414, 122 L.Ed.2d 785 (1993) and Aparo v. Connecticut, 507 U.S. 972, 113 S.Ct. 1415, 122 L.Ed.2d 785 (1993). The petitioner subsequently filed the instant petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

DISCUSSION

The petition raises two grounds for relief: 1) that the principles of collateral estoppel/double jeopardy bar the petitioner's retrial on the conspiracy to commit murder charge because the jury, by its acquittal on the accessory to commit murder charge, necessarily determined an essential element of the crime of conspiracy to commit murder in her favor; and 2) that the principles of double jeopardy and due process bar her retrial on the conspiracy to commit murder charge because the petitioner obtained the necessary number of votes for acquittal at the first trial.

As an initial matter, the State raises two arguments that it asserts bar this Court from considering the instant petition, or parts thereof. First, the State claims that because the petition contains both exhausted and unexhausted claims, the entire petition must be dismissed under Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 102 S.Ct. 1198, 71 L.Ed.2d 379 (1982). Specifically, the State urges that because the Connecticut Supreme Court reviewed only the double jeopardy/collateral estoppel claims in its opinion disposing of the petitioner's appeal, the petitioner still has an avenue of appeal in the state court on her due process claim and, thus, that claim is not exhausted. This assertion is without merit.

The exhaustion doctrine is designed to give state courts a meaningful opportunity to consider claims of error without interference by the federal courts. Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U.S. 254, 257, 106 S.Ct. 617, 620, 88 L.Ed.2d 598 (1986) (citing Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 515, 102 S.Ct. 1198, 1201-02, 71 L.Ed.2d 379 (1982)). "Under standards established by [the Supreme Court], a state prisoner may initiate a federal habeas petition `[o]nly if the state courts have had the first opportunity to hear the claim sought to be vindicated.... It follows, of course, that once the federal claim has been fairly presented to the state courts, the exhaustion requirement is satisfied." Id. (Emphasis added). In the petitioner's brief on appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court, she specifically raised the due process claim concerning the number of votes necessary for acquittal on the conspiracy charge. See Petitioner's March 5, 1992 Brief to the Connecticut Supreme Court, at 47-48. The mere fact that the state court decided, for whatever reason, not to pass on a federal constitutional issue in its written opinion is not determinative of whether the exhaustion doctrine has been satisfied. See Smith v. Digmon, 434 U.S. 332, 333, 98 S.Ct. 597, 599, 54 L.Ed.2d 582 (1978) ("[W]hether the exhaustion requirement ... has been satisfied cannot turn upon whether a state appellate court chooses to ignore in its opinion a federal constitutional claim squarely raised in petitioner's brief in the state court."). Here, the claim was presented to the Connecticut Supreme Court and it had the first crack at reviewing it. Simply because that court did not refer to the due process aspect of that claim in its opinion does not defeat the instant petition. Thus, the exhaustion requirement has been satisfied.

The State next argues that the petitioner failed to raise her claim that the jury necessarily decided that she lacked the intent to agree with Coleman and that this claim should not be reviewed because it is barred by the cause and prejudice standard enunciated by the Supreme Court in Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977). This argument also is without merit. A review of the record on appeal before the Connecticut Supreme Court clearly establishes that this point was briefed by both parties. See State's April 29, 1992 Brief to the Connecticut Supreme Court, at 29-30; see also Petitioner's May 19, 1992 Reply Brief to the Connecticut Supreme Court, at 11. Accordingly, the Court will consider this claim as well.

I. Collateral Estoppel/Double Jeopardy

The petitioner first claims that the principles of collateral estoppel/double jeopardy bar her retrial on the conspiracy to commit murder charge because the jury, by its acquittal on the accessory to commit murder charge, necessarily determined an essential element of the crime of conspiracy to commit murder in her favor. Specifically, the petitioner argues that the jury, by its acquittal on the accessory to commit murder charge, necessarily found either that she lacked the specific intent that her mother be murdered or that, in view of the trial court's assertedly improper instructions to the jury on the accessory charge, she did not "join" in a conspiracy with Coleman in the commission of the murder. The Court will address these arguments seriatim.

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that no "person [shall] be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." In Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970), the Supreme Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause incorporates the doctrine of collateral estoppel in criminal proceedings. See also Dowling v. United States, 493 U.S. 342, 347, 110 S.Ct. 668, 671-72, 107 L.Ed.2d 708 (1990). "Collateral estoppel, or, in modern usage, issue preclusion, `means simply that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.'" Ashe, 397 U.S. at 443, 90 S.Ct....