State Of Conn. v. Myers
| Decision Date | 25 January 2011 |
| Docket Number | AC 32026 |
| Court | Connecticut Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. MICHAEL MYERS |
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(Appeal from Superior Court, judicial district of New Haven, Licari, J.)
James B. Streeto, assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant).
Harry Weller, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, state's attorney, and Kevin Doyle, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).
The defendant, Michael Myers, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-55a and 53a-55 (a) (1), carrying a pistol without a permit in violation of General Statutes § 29-35, tampering with physical evidence in violation of General Statutes § 53a-155 (a) (1) and criminal possession of a firearm in violation of General Statutes § 53a-217 (a) (1). On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) failed to admit a defense witness' statement into evidence under the spontaneous utterance exception to the hearsay rule, (2) denied the defendant access to mental health records of a state's witness following in camera review, (3) admitted a photograph of the victim into evidence, (4) instructed the jury that evidence of motive was ''desirable and important, '' and (5) denied hisBatson1challenge during jury selection.2 We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The defendant had a tempestuous relationship with Shaquita Alston, the mother of his child. On the night of June 2 and the early morning of June 3, 2005, Alston met the victim, William Corey, at a nightclub in New Haven, after which they had sexual relations at his apartment. Corey then drove her back to her residence, where they found the defendant waiting outside. The defendant advised Corey that he would talk to him later.
Over the next two days, the defendant argued with Alston, accusing her of having sexual relations with Corey, which she denied. Subsequently, in the early morning of June 5, 2005, she physically attacked the defendant when she saw him with another woman at his house. On the night of June 6, 2005, the defendant and Alston spent time together at his house, during which he telephoned Corey and arranged a meeting. He took a handgun with him when he and Alston left the house.
The defendant and Alston walked to meet Corey, who was waiting in his car. Both got into Corey's car, which he then drove around New Haven, at which time the defendant asked questions about what had transpired between Corey and Alston on the morning of June 3. During this time, the defendant also telephoned a friend of Alston who had left the club with her and Corey on June 3. At some point, the defendant directed Corey to stop the car and exited on the passenger side after Alston. Standing outside the car, he fired one gunshot into Corey and ran from the scene. Corey died of internal bleeding caused by the single gunshot wound.
The defendant subsequently was arrested and charged with murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a (a), carrying a pistol without a permit in viola-tion of § 29-35, tampering with physical evidence in violation of § 53a-155 (a) (1) and criminal possession of a firearm in violation of § 53a-217 (a) (1). After a jury trial, the defendant was convicted of the lesser included offense of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm in violation of §§ 53a-55a and 53a-55 (a) (1), carrying a pistol without a permit, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a firearm. The court imposed a total effective sentence of fifty years incarceration. This appeal followed. Additional facts and procedural history will be set forth as necessary.
The defendant's first claim is that the court improperly failed to admit a witness' statement into evidence under the spontaneous utterance exception to the hearsay rule.3 He also argues, in the alternative, that the statement should have been admitted under the residual exception. We are not persuaded.
The following additional facts and procedural history are relevant to this claim. The defendant decided not to testify at his trial, but his recorded statement to the police of June 9, 2005, was in evidence. In that statement, he told the police that, after shooting Corey, he told ''some lady outside'' to call the police because ''somebody been shot.'' During the trial, the defendant sought to introduce the testimony of Sabrina Brown regarding that statement, and the state filed a motion in limine to preclude it. In an offer of proof, Brown testified that she lived close to the crime scene and knew the defendant. She testified that on June 6, 2005, he knocked on her door and stated his name, and, when she opened the door, he asked if she could call 911 because someone was hurt. She described his demeanor at the time as ' She also testified that the police arrived ''five to ten minutes'' after the defendant left her front door.
The defendant argued that Brown's testimony that the defendant asked her to call 911 was relevant to demonstrate that he lacked the intent to cause Corey's death and was admissible under the spontaneous utterance and residual exceptions to the hearsay rule. The court found that the defendant's statement was not a spontaneous utterance because, when he made it, he did not appear to be under the influence of a startling event and he had had the time and motive to fabricate the self-serving statement. For the same reasons, the court found that the statement lacked the requisite reliability to be admitted under the residual exception.
' (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Kendall, 123 Conn. App. 625, 666, 2 A.3d 990, cert. denied, 299 Conn. 902, A.3d (2010); see also Conn. Code Evid. § 8-3 (2).
Our Supreme Court first recognized the spontaneous utterance exception in Perry v. Haritos, 100 Conn. 476, 124 A. 44 (1924), and listed the following elements to guide the trial court's factual determination: ''The element of time, the circumstances and manner of the accident, the mental and physical condition of the declarant, the shock produced, the nature of the utterance, whether against the interest of the declarant or not, or made in response to question, or involuntary, and any other material facts in the surrounding circumstances, are to be weighed in ascertaining the basic conclusion whether the utterance was spontaneous and unreflective and made under such circumstances as to indicate absence of opportunity for contrivance and misrepresentation.'' Id., 484. With regard to the element of time, ''there is no identifiable discrete time interval within which an utterance becomes spontaneous; [e]ach case must be decided on its particular circumstances.'' (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Kirby, 280 Conn. 361, 375, 908 A.2d 506 (2006).
None of Brown's testimony tends to establish that the defendant's statement was spontaneous and uncon-trived. Her testimony gave no indication that the defendant was under the influence of a startling event but, rather, described him as ''[f]lat'' and ''[l]ike hi[m]self.'' She also indicated that time had elapsed between the incident and the statement. Although the time interval appears to have been short, given Brown's testimony that the statement occurred before the police arrived, the time span between the shooting and the defendant's arrival at Brown's residence was not so close in time as to negate the opportunity for deliberation. Moreover, given that the statement was unsolicited and self-serving, not a...
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