State v. Ampero
| Decision Date | 06 August 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 33545.,33545. |
| Citation | 144 Conn.App. 706,72 A.3d 435 |
| Parties | STATE of Connecticut v. Alberto AMPERO. |
| Court | Connecticut Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Naomi T. Fetterman, with whom, on the brief, was Aaron J. Romano, Bloomfield, for the appellant (defendant).
Nancy L. Chupak, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Gail P. Hardy, state's attorney, and Robin D. Krawczyk, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).
BEAR, SHELDON and PELLEGRINO, Js.
The defendant, Alberto Ampero, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of kidnapping in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a–94 (a) and interfering with an officer in violation of General Statutes § 53a–167a.1 On appeal, the defendant makes three claims: [144 Conn.App. 708]1) that the admission of testimony regarding his prior bad acts constituted reversible error; (2) that the admission of testimony regarding his prior incarceration constituted reversible error; and (3) that prosecutorial impropriety in offering the foregoing evidence and arguing its significance to the jury deprived him of a fair trial. We disagree, and thus affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On August 27, 2009, around 7 p.m., the victim, Jasmin Vazquez, was driving her three children, a six year old, a four year old, and a six month old, to her mother's house on Natick Street in Hartford, when she stopped at the store on the corner of Broad and Ward Streets in Hartford to buy them chips and juice. She had parked her car on Broad Street and was walking around the car to remove her children from it when she saw the defendant. The victim and the defendant previously had been in a relationship together that ended in April, 2009, following an incident in which the defendant slapped the victim in the face and broke both of her cell phones in half.
The defendant initiated a conversation with the victim by saying that they needed to talk, to which the victim replied that they did not have to talk about anything. After the defendant repeated that they needed to talk, he showed the victim a kitchen knife in his back pocket and told her to get into her car. After the victim complied, the defendant also got into the car and told the victim to drive around the corner and park in front of an apartment building on Ward Street. Once she had parked her car around the corner, the defendant turned off the car's motor and told the victim and the two older children to get out of the car. The defendant also got out of the car and carried with him the victim's six month old son in his car seat. The defendant then directed the victim and the children into his apartment. The defendant led the victim and her children upstairs to a room inside of the apartment that contained only a bed, told the two older children to go to sleep, and put the baby, who was still in his car seat, on the floor.
The defendant, who was then “real mad,” again told the victim that they had to talk. The victim repeatedly told the defendant that she wanted to go home, but the defendant told her she was not going anywhere. The defendant argued with the victim and would not let her leave the apartment or make any phone calls. At some point during the argument, the defendant pressed the same knife that he previously had displayed to the victim against her stomach and told her that he loved her and that if she was not going to be with him, she would not be with any man. The defendant also threatened that if the victim was not going to be with him, he would either kill her or kill himself and that she would have to live with the fact that he had killed himself for her love.
The defendant argued with the victim for the next several hours and at one point bit her neck, leaving hickeys to show that she belonged to him. The defendant held the victim overnight. The next day, the victim tried to escape by bringing her children downstairs, but the defendant would not let her leave. The defendant grabbed the victim by her right wrist, told her she was not going anywhere, took her phone, and ordered her to call her mother. The defendant instructed the victim to tell her mother that she was happy with the defendant, that she loved him and that they were going to be together. The victim complied, but the victim's mother did not believe her daughter because she was crying and she knew her daughter was afraid of the defendant. The victim's mother repeatedly asked her about her location, what the defendant was doing to her, and if the children were okay. The victim was able to respond only that the children were okay. The defendant then took the phone and spoke with the victim's mother directly, telling her that he knew she had called the police in April when he was arrested and that she had better not call the police this time.2 The victim's mother then handed the phone to her husband so that she could call the police. Fearing that the defendant would hear her calling the police, the victim's mother told the 911 operator that she had had a fight with her daughter that had caused her daughter to leave the house and that she was requesting a well-being check. The defendant then hung up the phone.
After the phone conversation with her mother, the victim repeatedly told the defendant that she wanted to go home, to which he replied that she was not going anywhere. The defendant then grabbed the victim by her neck, choking her and leaving scratch marks on her neck. The victim attempted to go downstairs with her children, but the defendant grabbed her by the neck again. The defendant then let the victim go downstairs with her two older children, but he brought the baby back upstairs, and the victim yelled at the defendant to give her back her baby. At this point, an unidentified older man who lived downstairs told the defendant to give the victim back her baby and to let her go because he did not want any trouble with the police. The defendant obliged and let the victim and her children leave the apartment. He made the victim promise to come back, however, and threatened that if she did not return, he would look for her and kill her. The victim then drove to her mother's house, where she was met by Officers Robert Quaglini and Robert Iovanna of the Hartford Police Department, who had responded to her mother's 911 call. The victim informed the officers of what had happened and provided a description of the defendant and the location where the incident had occurred.
Quaglini and Iovanna then left the mother's home in pursuit of the defendant. After obtaining the defendant's name, date of birth, and “DOC picture” 3 from their cruiser computer, they began walking on Ward Street and saw the defendant standing on the front steps of an apartment building. When Quaglini made eye contact with him, the defendant immediately turned around and ran inside the apartment. Quaglini ordered the defendant to stop, but he did not comply. Quaglini then chased him into the apartment, where he ran down the back stairs and out the back door of the apartment. The defendant ran west on Ward Street, turned north on Lawrence Street, passed a couple of houses, ran east, and started hopping fences in the backyards while running northbound on Lawrence Street.
Quaglini saw the defendant hop a fence at 913 Broad Street and later located him hiding under a minivan parked near that address. Quaglini first ordered the defendant to come out from under the minivan, but he refused. When Quaglini attempted to grab the defendant's feet to pull him out, the defendant began kicking at Quaglini's hands. Quaglini then struck the defendant's ankle with his baton, but the defendant still would not come out. Quaglini struck the defendant's ankle three more times before he was able to grab the defendant's feet, pull him out, and place him in handcuffs. The defendant was given medical treatment at the scene for swelling to his ankle, and later was treated at Hartford Hospital for a broken ankle. After the defendant was placed under arrest, he stated that he “didn't do it,” that he just wanted to be with the victim, and that they had had an argument about their relationship. The police then transported the victim to the scene for a showup identification of the defendant and to the Hartford Police Department to have her statement taken by the major crimes detectives.
Following a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty of kidnapping in the second degree and interfering with an officer. On the charge of kidnapping in the second degree, the court sentenced the defendant to twenty years of incarceration, suspended after ten years, followed by five years of probation. On the charge of interfering with an officer, the court sentenced the defendant to one year of incarceration, to be served concurrently with his sentence for kidnapping in the second degree. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.
The defendant's first claim on appeal is that the admission of evidence of his prior bad acts constituted reversible error. We disagree.
The following additional facts are relevant to our resolution of this claim. The defendant references five instances in which three of the state's witnesses testified about his prior bad acts. First, the victim testified that when she and the defendant broke up in April, 2009, the defendant broke both of her cell phones in half and slapped her in the face. The victim also testified about another incident involving the defendant where he threatened her over the phone with a gun and then followed her in his car, which resulted in his arrest. The victim further testified that a condition of the defendant's probation was a court order that he have no contact with her. The victim's mother testified that she previously had called the police on the defendant, that he had been arrested as...
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State v. Bouvier
...because it fails Golding ’s second prong. See id. The defendant's claim is "purely evidentiary" in nature; see State v. Ampero , 144 Conn. App. 706, 721, 72 A.3d 435, cert. denied, 310 Conn. 914, 76 A.3d 631 (2013) ; and thus is not "of constitutional magnitude alleging the violation of a f......
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State v. Angel M.
...that clearly have deprived a criminal defendant of his right to a fair trial." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Ampero , 144 Conn. App. 706, 723, 72 A.3d 435, cert. denied, 310 Conn. 914, 76 A.3d 631 (2013). Consistent with well established precedent, we decline to review the de......
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State v. Turner
...his closing argument, there is no manifest injustice that warrants reversal under the plain error doctrine. See State v. Ampero , 144 Conn. App. 706, 715, 72 A.3d 435 (defendant could not demonstrate manifest injustice where defense counsel made strategic decision to not object to evidence ......
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State v. Joseph
...When a party so utilizes allegedly improper evidence, it cannot prevail under the plain error doctrine. See, e.g., State v. Ampero , 144 Conn.App. 706, 715, 72 A.3d 435 ("[t]he defendant cannot show manifest injustice because his defense counsel waived this claim by failing to take action a......