State v. Brown

• Decision Date: 04 March 1986
• Docket Number: No. 11751,11751
• Citation: 505 A.2d 690,199 Conn. 14
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Judson BROWN.

Page 690

505 A.2d 690

199 Conn. 14

STATE of Connecticut v. Judson BROWN.

No. 11751.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Nov. 13, 1985.

Decided March 4, 1986.

John R. Williams, New Haven, with whom was Jon L. Schoenhorn, Hartford, for appellant (defendant).

Kevin J. Gumpper, Sp. Asst. State's Atty., with whom were Carl Schuman, Asst. State's Atty., and, on the brief, Arnold Markle, State's Atty., and Mary Galvin, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (State).

Before PETERS, C.J., and HEALEY, SHEA, DANNEHY and CALLAHAN, JJ.

CALLAHAN, Associate Justice.

The defendant ¹ Judson Brown was charged in a substitute information with arson in the second degree in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1977) § 53a-112(a), ² conspiracy in violation of General Statutes § 53a-48, ³ and attempted larceny in the first degree in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1977) § 53a-122(a)(2), ⁴ and General Statutes §§ 53a-49 ⁵ [199 Conn. 17] and 53a- -8. ⁶ A jury convicted the defendant on all three counts and he was sentenced by the trial court to an effective sentence of imprisonment aggregating not less than eleven years nor more than twenty-five years.

The defendant has appealed claiming (1) that the evidence was insufficient to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) that the trial court erred in certain rulings on evidence; (3) that the trial court erred in several respects in its instructions to the jury; (4) that he was denied a fair trial because of the trial court's behavior toward the only defense witness and (5) that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. We find no error.

A summary of the facts that the jury could reasonably have found proven is necessary to review the defendant's claims. On October 7, 1978, Michael Havelick executed a bill of sale to Ophelia Holmes for a laundromat located on Orange Avenue in West Haven. The purchase price was $3000, the price that Havelick had asked when he advertised the laundromat for sale. The laundromat was located in a building with four other stores all under one roof. The laundromat was not doing well financially, and had been shut down by Havelick sometime in August. Its equipment was old. At the time of the purchase, fire insurance in the amount of $30,000 on the equipment and leasehold fixtures and income interruption insurance paying a maximum of $1000 a month for four months were placed on the property. After an initial payment, the premium was financed. The bill of sale to the laundromat and the insurance were both in the name of Ophelia Holmes, who lived with the defendant. Although Holmes was present at times, it was the defendant who negotiated the purchase of the laundromat and he was originally named as the purchaser in the bill of sale. The name of Holmes was later substituted by the seller at the defendant's request. Similarly, although Holmes was present and ultimately became the insured, it was the defendant who conducted all the business with the agent when insurance coverage was obtained. When the insurance was applied for, the defendant made false representations concerning remodeling to be done and the equipment on the premises. The defendant, who gave the name of "Jerry Holmes," also conferred with the owner concerning leasing the building and, at the owner's suggestion, had a lease drawn. The proposed lease, however, was unacceptable to the owner because Ophelia Holmes was named as the lessee and the owner was under the impression that he had rented the premises to "Jerry Holmes." Also, the owner of the building wanted the lease to specify the hours of operation because, since Ophelia Holmes had taken over, he had received numerous complaints that the laundromat was not open regularly and, when he called Ophelia Holmes to tell her that there were customers waiting, she had responded in a desultory fashion. A written lease was never executed.

At approximately 11:30 a.m. on November 6, 1978, the Allingtown Fire Department responded to a report of an odor of smoke at 215 Orange Avenue in the Allingtown section of West Haven. It was determined by fire officials that the odor was emanating from an overheated ballast on a fluorescent light fixture at the laundromat. The defendant and Holmes were there when the firemen arrived. The fire marshal ordered the electric power to the laundromat turned off and told the defendant to have the light fixture repaired before turning the power back on.

The fire department personnel left the premises at 12:35 p.m. The defendant and Holmes left together at about the same time and Holmes was seen to lock the front door. After the departure of the firemen, a West Haven police officer observed the defendant in a driveway next to the laundromat carrying a half-filled brown paper grocery bag. During this period, the officer saw Holmes walk by the building twice, both times in opposite directions. The officer was distracted momentarily but then saw the defendant emerge from the driveway without the bag. The officer, at that point, went to lunch. A second witness also saw the defendant in the driveway carrying a brown paper bag and a beer can. The defendant was never seen entering the building. About eight to ten minutes after the officer had gone to lunch he was notified of a second fire at 215 Orange Avenue and ran to the scene.

Fire department personnel responded to the second alarm at 12:49 p.m., fourteen minutes after recall from the first alarm. When they arrived at the laundromat, they found it filled with a heavy black smoke. The front door, the only access to the premises, was locked, and they had to break a glass panel with an axe to gain entry. The firemen noticed that the lights were on although power to the premises had been turned off earlier. Though the fire was quickly extinguished, it caused damage to a three foot by three foot section of the floor and to a portion of a wall and the ceiling. The washers and dryers were slightly discolored, one of the dryers suffered heat damage, and the interior of the premises suffered smoke damage.

Investigation revealed that the source of the fire was a pile of debris behind the dryers consisting of newpapers, a telephone book, rags and wood. Included in the debris was a beverage can. None of this debris had been present when fire department personnel inspected the premises after the first alarm. Firemen testified that at that time the area had been inspected and it was clear. One fireman testified that he had inspected the area behind the dryers and it was "clean, very clean." Chemical analysis revealed traces of diesel fuel or kerosene in the debris and wood chips taken from the floor in the vicinity of the fire. There was expert testimony that the fire had been fueled by a liquid accelerant and had burned rapidly causing an "alligator effect." There was also expert testimony that the fire had been deliberately set.

Two days after the fire, the defendant, using the name "James Holmes," gave a statement to the West Haven police wherein he told them that Ophelia Holmes was the owner of the laundromat and that she had paid $5000 to purchase it and set it up. He also said that fire department personnel on their first visit on November 6 had told him to clean out the debris behind the dryers. Further, he said that he did not know how much insurance was on the laundromat, that the business was doing well and that his wife was making "a little over $1000.00 per month." He also told police that he was married to Ophelia Holmes and that he worked as a private pilot with a plane based at Sikorsky Airport. The police could find no record of the defendant's marriage to Holmes and the defendant had only an expired student pilot's license. The fire took place the day the rent for November was due and the day before the first installment payment on the premium finance agreement for the insurance policy was due.

On November 6, 1978, the day of the fire, a public adjuster, Meyer Biller, who knew the defendant and had previously done business with him, was retained to adjust the claim for fire damage. He inspected the premises that same day. The insurer was the Maryland Casualty Insurance Company. Subsequently, on December 15, 1978, Ophelia Holmes submitted a sworn proof of loss to the insurer. The proof of loss stated that the actual cash value of the personal property and loss of income was $41,500 and that the insured was making a claim under the policy for $30,497.12. An adjuster for the insurance company characterized the $41,500.00 figure as "highly excessive" and stated that "there was nowhere near that kind of contents on the premises." An expert hired by the insurance company estimated the fire damage to be $3399.20 "giving the insured the benefit of the doubt in every way." The insurance claim was pursued until sometime in April, 1978, after which the insurance company heard nothing further from either the insured or Meyer Biller. At some point, Maryland Casualty considered the claim abandoned.

I

The defendant first claims that the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Each essential element of the crimes charged must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1072, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). Though the jury may "draw reasonable, logical inferences from the facts proven, [it] may not resort to speculation and conjecture." State v. Saracino, 178 Conn. 416, 419, 423 A.2d 102 (1979). " 'Where it cannot be said that a rational trier of fact could find guilt proven beyond a reasonable doubt, then, a conviction cannot "constitutionally stand," as it is violative of due process under the fourteenth amendment. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 317-18, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2788, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Kish, 186 Conn. 757, 768, 443 A.2d 1274 (1982).' (Footnote omitted.) State v. Haddad, 189 Conn. 383, 387-88, 456 A.2d 316 (1983)." State v. Scielzo, 190...