State Of Conn. v. Castillo
| Decision Date | 15 June 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 31086.,31086. |
| Citation | 998 A.2d 177,121 Conn.App. 699 |
| Parties | STATE of Connecticutv.Michael CASTILLO. |
| Court | Connecticut Court of Appeals |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Robert E. Byron, special public defender, for the appellant (defendant).
Timothy J. Sugrue, assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Gail P. Hardy, state's attorney, Dennis J. O'Connor, supervisory assistant state's attorney, and Robin D. Krawczyk, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).
DiPENTIMA, GRUENDEL and LAVINE, Js.*
The defendant, Michael Castillo, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of one count of capital felony in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-54b(7) and 53a-8, one count of capital felony in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-54b(2) and 53a-8, three counts of murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-54a(a) and 53a-8, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-48(a) and 53a-54a(a). On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court (1) denied him his sixth amendment right to a trial by an impartial and informed jury by directing the jury to find him guilty and (2) abused its discretion with respect to the alleged misconduct of a juror. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. Shortly after 5 p.m. on July 30, 2003, Robert Stears, Barry Rossi and Lorne Stevens (victims) were found dead or dying at B & B Automotive, located at 436 Spring Street in Windsor Locks.1 In an information filed August 7, 2007, the state charged that the defendant, acting with intent to cause the death of the victims, intentionally aided Jose Guzman, Erik Martinez and Benedetto Cipriani to murder the victims and that he did so for pecuniary gain. The state also charged the defendant in separate counts with the murder of each of the victims and in one count with conspiring with Guzman, Martinez and Cipriani to cause the murders of the victims.2
In 2003, Martinez lived with members of his family in an apartment at 12 Flatbush Avenue in Hartford. The residents of the apartment included Martinez' mother, Rose Emily Mendez; his girlfriend, Jennifer Cruz; and Guzman. Mendez made the acquaintance of Cipriani, who lived in Meriden, in an Internet chat room and occasionally went out with him. Martinez met Cipriani, who drove a maroon Mitsubishi, in May, 2003. Cipriani spoke with an accent and said that he worked in New York as a business executive.
In May, 2003, Cipriani took Mendez, Martinez and Cruz out for dinner. During the evening, Cipriani approached Martinez about doing something illegal in return for money. Cipriani told Martinez that he wanted Stears hurt and his business robbed.3 Cipriani also told Martinez that Stears had raped the daughter of a friend and that he was racist against Puerto Ricans. Cipriani knew Martinez, a Puerto Rican, had been conceived by rape. Cipriani gave Martinez a piece of paper that contained the personal identification number for a telephone calling card.
Later Cipriani offered Martinez $7000 to murder Stears. Initially, Martinez agreed to commit the murder. Guzman was to participate by driving Martinez to B & B Automotive. Cipriani twice drove Martinez to B & B Automotive to orient him to the area. Cipriani telephoned Martinez approximately five times a week to discuss the murder. According to Martinez, Cipriani was holding money for his friend whose daughter was raped, and there was a deadline for committing the murder. Cipriani was not happy with the delay and told Martinez that he would have him “in Staten Island with the garbage.” 4
Martinez discussed the murder plan with Cruz and Guzman and decided he did not want to commit the murder. Guzman, however, was interested in committing the murder and met with Cipriani. Guzman informed Martinez that Cipriani had told him that if Martinez had to kill anyone else, to go ahead and do it; he would pay more. Cipriani thought that the murder should be committed at 5 p.m. because only Stears would be at B & B Automotive at that time. Martinez discussed the murder plan with the defendant, a cousin by marriage, explaining that Guzman had to “take somebody out” and needed a driver. Martinez, Guzman and the defendant discussed money. The defendant wanted $2000 to participate in the murder, a sum Guzman agreed to pay him.
Prior to July 30, 2003, Martinez purchased a nine millimeter handgun with $900 supplied by Cipriani. He bought the gun on Benton Street in Hartford from a man named Charlie. Martinez and Guzman test fired the gun late at night in Highland and Goodwin Parks in Hartford.
Guzman told Martinez on July 30, 2003, that that day was the day he was going to carry out the murder. At approximately 4:30 p.m., Martinez saw Guzman leave the apartment and get into a Pathfinder vehicle being driven by the defendant. Cruz also was present when the defendant and Guzman met at the Flatbush Avenue apartment and saw the two men leave in the defendant's Pathfinder.
Shortly after 5 p.m. on July 30, 2003, Raymond LeClair, an employee of Town Fair Tire, arrived at B & B Automotive to deliver a tire. As he drove into the premises, he encountered a red pickup truck that had been abandoned as it was exiting the driveway.5 The driver's door of the pickup was open. In order to get around the pickup truck, LeClair had to close the door. When he did, the keys to the vehicle fell to the ground. LeClair drove to the building to make his delivery. Inside the building he saw a body on the floor and a “red glaze” near it. He got back in his truck to drive to the front of the building, where the office was located, with the intent of calling the police. At approximately the same time, Douglas Law and his wife, Patricia Law, drove their vehicles to the front of B & B Automotive where they intended to leave Patricia Law's vehicle for repair. When Douglas Law entered the building, he sensed that something was wrong. He heard moaning and saw two bodies on the floor. He ran from the building and called 911. An ambulance and six police cruisers arrived quickly. After the police officers secured the premises, the emergency medical personnel found the three victims. They all had been shot in the head at least once. Rossi and Stevens were dead. Stears was taken to Hartford Hospital where he died shortly thereafter.
After the defendant and Guzman left the Flatbush Avenue apartment, Martinez fell asleep watching television. When he awoke, Guzman and the defendant were present. According to Cruz, the defendant and Guzman returned to the apartment approximately one hour after they had left in the Pathfinder. She thought that the defendant was “amped up.” The defendant excitedly told Martinez, “[y]o, we did it.” The defendant then explained how he drove to B & B Automotive, “scoped the place out,” left and returned and “stopped the car in the driveway.” Guzman picked up the story at that point and described how he went to the driver's side of the truck, pulled out the gun, ordered the man to get out of the truck and walked him at gunpoint into B & B Automotive. Two other men were inside. Guzman ordered the victims to get on the floor. Guzman explained to Cruz and Martinez how he shot the victims. Guzman then took the cordless land line telephone (land line) in the apartment and went out on the porch to call Cipriani.6
The defendant invited Cruz and Martinez to watch the television news if they did not believe him and Guzman that three people had been murdered. Cruz and the others were watching the 10 p.m. television news, which reported a story about the murders at B & B Automotive. The broadcast included a video of the red pickup truck in the driveway, which prompted Guzman to say, “[t]his is where we stopped ‘em, right there.”
Three days after the victims were killed, Martinez telephoned his uncle, Jose Velazquez, whom he asked to drive him and Guzman from the Flatbush Avenue apartment to a Stop and Shop supermarket in Wallingford.7 When they arrived at the Stop and Shop, Cipriani was standing outside. Guzman and Cipriani went into the Stop and Shop. When Guzman returned to the car, he had a wad of money. He gave Martinez $1000, which Martinez believed was payment for purchasing the gun used to kill the victims and introducing Guzman to Cipriani. Guzman also gave Velazquez $200 for driving him to the Stop and Shop and for drugs. Guzman also gave Martinez $2000 to give to the defendant for being Guzman's driver.
The police made progress in their investigation in late 2003 when Velazquez was arrested on a unrelated matter. Velazquez asked to speak to the state police about the triple homicide in Windsor Locks.8 The information Velazquez provided led the police to Guzman and Martinez.
Christopher Sinsigalli and Stears' widow, Shelley Stears, led police to Cipriani. See footnotes 1, 3 and 5 of this opinion. Police interviewed Cipriani at his home on July 31, 2007. On the basis of what they perceived to be falsehoods in Cipriani's statement, police executed warrants for telephone records. The telephone records they obtained produced evidence of communication between the conspirators. On July 30, 2003, the defendant had received calls from Martinez' land line at 11:06 a.m. and 11:54 a.m. At 1:29 p.m., the land line was used to place a call to one of Cipriani's cellular telephones. At 4:57 p.m., shortly before the murders, the defendant's cellular telephone received an incoming call that was relayed by a cellular tower located less than one mile from B & B Automotive. At 5:38 p.m., a call was made on one of the defendant's cellular telephones to one of Cipriani's cellular telephones. Another such call was placed at 6:57 p.m. On August 1, 2003, at 6:31 p.m., 6:44 p.m. and 7:06 p.m., three outgoing calls were made on the land line to Velazquez' cellular telephone. Later that day, at 9:18 p.m., the land line...
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