State v. Baker

• Decision Date: 02 April 1985
• Citation: 489 A.2d 1041,195 Conn. 598
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. James BAKER.

Page 1041

489 A.2d 1041

195 Conn. 598

STATE of Connecticut v. James BAKER.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Feb. 7, 1985.

Decided April 2, 1985.

Victor P. Fasano, New Haven, for appellant (defendant). Julia D. Dewey, Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were Arnold Markle, State's Atty., and Mary M. Galvin, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (state).

Before PETERS, C.J., and ARTHUR H. HEALEY, SHEA, DANNEHY and SANTANIELLO, JJ.

SHEA, Associate Justice.

After a jury trial, the defendant, James Baker, was found guilty of the crimes of arson in the second degree and conspiracy to commit arson in the second degree, in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-112(a) ¹ and 53a-48(a), ² respectively, and sentenced on September 10, 1981, to concurrent terms of not less than two nor more than four years of incarceration. On appeal, the defendant claims that the convictions must be overturned because (1) the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to support convictions for the crimes charged, (2) punishment for both crimes under these circumstances would be multiplicitous, and (3) the trial court erred in admitting for impeachment purposes an out-of-court statement of a defense witness when the state had failed to produce the statement in response to a pretrial request for exculpatory information. We find no merit in the defendant's contentions and affirm the convictions.

The state produced the testimony of four young adults present at the Duchess Diner in West Haven at approximately 2 a.m. on November 8, 1980, when the incident occurred that gave rise to the criminal charges involved here. One of these witnesses testified that she saw a man, identified as Kelly Moye, ignite a fire in what turned out to be the defendant's 1978 Thunderbird automobile in the Duchess Diner parking lot. The defendant was standing near the rear entrance to the diner adjacent to the parking lot at the time. When two of the young adults attempted to intervene to extinguish the fire, the defendant moved toward the car, and a fight broke out in which the defendant and Moye were allied against the others. Firemen discovered a container partly filled with gasoline on the floor of the vehicle below the dashboard, where most of the fire damage was concentrated, and the fire marshal testified that in his opinion the fire had been purposely set. There was undisputed testimony that the defendant's automobile had been repossessed for his failure to make car loan payments one month before the incident and that the defendant had redeemed the car four days later, but was in arrears on the date of the fire. The automobile was covered by an insurance policy, on which the defendant made a claim as a result of the fire.

The defendant disputed the allegation that Kelly Moye had set fire to the automobile. The defendant claimed that, when he returned to the diner with Moye, he discovered his car on fire and that, as he went to notify the fire department, Moye attempted to extinguish the flames. At this point they were set upon by the state's witnesses. The defendant attributed his refusal to make his car payments to his protest concerning the car dealer's failure to provide him with a second set of hubcaps.

I

In arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions, the defendant first contends that the arson statute underlying both convictions contains an element not even remotely proved by the state's evidence. At the time of the incident, General Statutes § 53a-112 applied only to fires set with the intent "to destroy or damage a building, as defined in [General Statutes] section 53a-100...." The defendant argues that his automobile is not a building and that there is no evidence of an intent to harm any building. If the word "building" as used in the statute were given its ordinary meaning, the defendant's position would be sound. ³ Section 53a-112 does not employ the word in its usual sense, however. For a definition of the word "building," the arson statute specifically refers to General Statutes § 53a-100, which defines "building" to include "in addition to its ordinary meaning ... any watercraft, aircraft, trailer, sleeping car, railroad car, other structure or vehicle or any building with a valid certificate of occupancy." (Emphasis added.) The defendant points to the statutory definition as it read before a 1974 amendment. See Public Acts, 1974, No. 74-186, § 10. At that time the statute limited the scope of "other structure or vehicle" to include only those "adapted for overnight accommodation of persons or for carrying on business therein." We reject the defendant's contention that the 1974 enactment deleting this last phrase did not change the meaning of the statute. Although the 1974 amendment was characterized as "technical" in the legislative discussion; 17 S.Proc., Pt. 4, 1974 Sess., p. 1777 (remark of Sen. George C. Guidera); and was part of a bill entitled "An Act Concerning Technical Amendments Affecting the Operation of the Criminal Justice Division," the elimination of the phrase which required a vehicle to be "adapted for overnight accommodation of persons or for carrying on business therein" must be given substantive significance. ⁴ 4] " '[S]tatutes should be construed so that no part of a legislative enactment is to be treated as insignificant and unnecessary, and there is a presumption of purpose behind every sentence, clause or phrase in a legislative enactment.' State ex rel. Kennedy v. Frauwirth, 167 Conn. 165, 168, 355 A.2d 39 [1974]." Doe v. Institute of Living, Inc., 175 Conn. 49, 58, 392 A.2d 491 (1978). The obvious purpose of the 1974 amendment was the elimination of the very language relied upon by the defendant to limit the scope of the statute to exclude the vehicle at issue. The defendant claims that the legislature did not intend to eliminate this limitation. "It has often been said that the legislative intent is to be found not in what the legislature meant to say, but in the meaning of what it did say." Muha v. United Oil Co., 180 Conn. 720, 730, 433 A.2d 1009 (1980). " 'Courts may not by construction supply omissions in a statute, or add exceptions merely because it appears to them that good reasons exist for adding them.' State v. Nelson, 126 Conn. 412, 416, 11 A.2d 856 [1940]. In considering the relevant statutes, we find no ambiguity or reason to seek any legislative intent not plainly indicated in the language used." Liistro v. Robinson, 170 Conn. 116, 130, 365 A.2d 109 (1976).

The legislative history accompanying Public Acts 1979, No. 79-570, § 7, a 1979 amendment to § 53a-100, supports our interpretation of the latter statute as including the defendant's automobile. The explanation given for this amendment, which added the phrase "or other building with a valid certificate of occupancy" to the definition of building, explicitly declared the statute applicable to vehicles of the type involved here. "This amendment makes some technical changes in the bill to be sure that the definition of the word building would be broad enough to include a motor vehicle...." 22 S.Proc., Pt. 11, 1979 Sess., p. 3727 (remarks of Sen. Salvatore C. DePiano). "So, then a building is defined in our statutes as any structure. It doesn't matter whether we're talking about an abandoned car, a boarded-up barber shop, a boarded-up and abandoned office building." 22 H.R.Proc., Pt. 31, 1979 Sess., p. 10,878 (remarks of Rep. John A. Berman). In the face of this legislative discussion of the scope of § 53a-100 as it pertains to motor vehicles, there can be no doubt that the defendant's automobile was intended to be included in the definition of "building" for the purposes of § 53a-112, as the plain language of § 53a-100 indicates.

Aside from his interpretation of § 53a-100 as excluding the vehicle involved here, the defendant separately claims that the evidence presented was insufficient to support the convictions as a matter of law. The defendant asserts that "[t]he observed actions of the defendant Baker were entirely consistent with his innocence." In reviewing a sufficiency of the evidence claim, "[o]ur inquiry is limited, however, to whether the facts supported reasonable inferences allowing the trier of fact to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes of which he was convicted. State v. Haddad, 189 Conn. 383, 387-90, 456 A.2d 316 (1983)." State v. Vincent, 194 Conn. 198, 206, 479 A.2d 237 (1984). In this analysis, "the evidence presented at the trial must be given a construction most favorable to sustaining the jury's verdict." State v. Jackson, 176 Conn. 257, 262, 407 A.2d 948 (1978). Under this standard, the evidence adequately supported the verdict.

The defendant was convicted of arson in violation of General Statutes § 53a-112 and conspiracy to commit arson in violation of § 53a-48. The state never contended that the defendant ignited the fire himself, but charged him under § 53a-8 as an accessory to the arson committed by his companion. ⁵ If the state's version of the facts is credited, the evidence shows sufficient concert of action between the defendant and his companion to support both the accessory allegation and the inference of agreement necessary to the conspiracy conviction. "Conspiracy can seldom be proved by direct evidence. It may be inferred from the activities of the accused persons. State v. Faillace, 134 Conn. 181, 185, 56 A.2d 167 [1947]. It is only in rare instances that conspiracy may be established by proof of an express agreement to unite to accomplish an unlawful purpose. The combination or confederation may be proved by circumstantial evidence, that is, by proof of the separate acts of the individuals accused and by proof of circumstances from which the illegal confederation may be inferred. State v. Gerich, 138 Conn. 292, 297, 83 A.2d 488 [1951]." State v. Holmes, 160 Conn. 140, 150, 274 A.2d 153 (1970). Proof that the defendant and...