State v. Colon
| Decision Date | 14 August 2001 |
| Docket Number | (SC 16413) |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. JOSE COLON |
Sullivan, C. J., and Norcott, Palmer, Vertefeuille and Zarella, Js. Richard E. Condon, Jr., special deputy assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant).
Rita M. Shair, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom were John A. Connelly, state's attorney, and, on the brief, Robin Lipsky, assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).
A jury found the defendant, Jose Colon, guilty of one count of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a (a)1 and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-482 and 53a-54a (a). The trial court sentenced him to a term of imprisonment of fifty-five years on the murder conviction and twenty years on the conspiracy conviction, to run concurrently, for a total effective sentence of fifty-five years. The defendant appealed from that judgment to the Appellate Court, claiming that the trial court improperly denied his motion for judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy conviction after his sole alleged coconspirator was acquitted of conspiracy in a separate, subsequent trial.3 The defendant argued that this outcome was in direct conflict with State v. Grullon, 212 Conn. 195, 562 A.2d 481 (1989), and State v. Robinson, 213 Conn. 243, 567 A.2d 1173 (1989), both of which held that § 53a-48 is strictly a bilateral conspiracy statute. We transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to Practice Book § 65-1.4 We now conclude that § 53a-48 (a) can be interpreted unilaterally in those cases in which alleged coconspirators are tried separately based on independent evidence of the crime of conspiracy.5 Accordingly, the defendant's conviction is affirmed.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. Sergeant Michael Fischer of the Waterbury police department testified that on April 22, 1996, the Waterbury police received an anonymous telephone call alerting them to a possible homicide at an abandoned building on Ridgewood Street in Waterbury. When the police arrived, they discovered the bloody body of the victim. The victim had been stabbed several times in the head, neck, arms and torso, and also appeared to have been beaten about the head. A metal pipe and a small buck knife covered in blood and hair were discovered at the crime scene. An autopsy conducted by Edward T. McDonough, the deputy chief medical examiner, revealed that the victim had approximately "125 ... sharp force injuries ... he had cuts and stabs over the head, the face, the front of the trunk, the back, and the arms and both legs." The victim also had on his arms, hands and wrists several cuts that were consistent with defensive injuries, as though he had been attempting to protect himself from the blows. The autopsy revealed that the wounds had been inflicted by the buck knife and the metal pipe discovered at the scene, and that another, much larger, weapon also had been used in the attack. Michael Silva, a forensic crime scene technician, described the victim's wounds as appearing to have been inflicted by a knife that was "large ... approximately eight inches long with a fat blade with a brass type of guard to it."6 Silva also testified that the "cast off patterns of blood at the crime scene illustrated that the victim had suffered a "severe attack," that the "assailant was swinging very, very violently at the victim," and that the wall behind the victim showed signs of "actual misses ... [that occurred when] the assailant swung the weapon ... against the wall...." He also testified that the hair pattern on the wall behind the victim indicated that he was struck several times in the head. It was the opinion of McDonough and Silva that, as a result of the combined sharp force injuries, the victim bled to death over a period of time.
Lieutenant Michael Ricci of the Waterbury police department testified that on April 23, 1996, the day after the body was discovered, police officers began questioning local residents about the homicide. After being shown a police photograph, the victim's father identified the victim as his son, Hector Nieves. Once the victim was identified, Ricci and several other officers interviewed area residents in an effort to identify the individual who had made the anonymous call to the Waterbury police. Ricci interviewed Kevin Soto and his girlfriend, Edith Santos, who appeared to have been acquainted with the victim. Ricci requested that the couple come down to the police station the next day to listen to a recording of the unidentified 911 caller. While Soto was at the station, Ricci realized that it was his voice on the 911 tape. Soto then admitted making the call and, after being issued a Miranda7 warning, disclosed his role in the crime and implicated the defendant as the principal actor. See State v. Soto, 59 Conn. App. 500, 502-503, 757 A.2d 1156, cert. denied, 254 Conn. 950, 762 A.2d 906 (2000).8 Ricci testified that, after Soto's disclosure, several officers were dispatched to Kennedy high school in Waterbury to bring the defendant in for questioning. Shortly after his arrival, and after being issued a Miranda warning, the defendant admitted to the officers his participation in the murder.
Ricci testified that, after taking a written statement from the defendant, police officers spoke to Soto a second time about the homicide and also interviewed Santos. Santos gave the police two different statements regarding the events of that day, one before and one after the defendant was placed under arrest. Initially, Santos did not implicate the defendant in the murder. She testified at trial that, when she gave her first statement to the police, she had been afraid that the defendant was still out on the street. Once she knew the defendant was in custody, however, she disclosed to police everything she knew about the murder. Thus, during her second interview with the police, Santos disclosed that she was with Soto at his mother's residence on the day of the murder. She observed Soto leave the residence with the victim and then return about one half hour later. Santos told the police that, when Soto returned to his mother's home after spending time with the defendant, he was acting strangely. When she asked what was wrong, Soto revealed to her that he and the defendant had stabbed the victim. Soto then told Santos that they had to go to her apartment because the defendant was there. When Santos arrived at her apartment and saw the defendant, she could see that he was "full of blood from head to toe." The defendant took a large "sword" out of his sleeve and showed it to her. It also was covered in blood. Santos got the defendant a garbage bag for his bloody clothes, while he showered and changed into clean clothes. Santos testified that, after speaking with Soto, she asked the defendant if the victim was dead and he responded affirmatively. Santos then testified that she, Soto and the defendant left her apartment, and the defendant deposited the bag of bloody clothes behind an abandoned building. When Soto and Santos parted ways with the defendant, they decided to call 911.
Two additional witnesses provided information on the "large sword" Santos described in her statement to the police. Ivan Pagan testified that, on the day of the murder, the defendant came to his house and took a "Pakistani sword" that he was holding for a relative. Ivan Pagan testified that the defendant returned approximately one hour later, in different clothes, and gave the sword back to him with a dent in the tip, covered in fresh blood and hair. The defendant told Ivan Pagan that "he [had] killed [Hector from] up the street." Ivan Pagan took the sword, cleaned it with alcohol and a rag, wrapped it in tape and placed it in his closet. Later that evening, he hid the sword "on the roof by the side of [his] house" covered in branches. Ivan Pagan testified that his fear of the defendant prompted him to take the sword and hide it for him as instructed. Danny Pagan, Ivan Pagan's brother, testified that he saw the defendant speak to Ivan Pagan on April 22, 1996. He testified that he observed the defendant meet Soto up the street, and then place the "Pakistani knife" in his pants.9 When Danny Pagan asked the defendant where he was going, the defendant answered that he was going up the block "on a mission" with Soto.10 Later that day, Danny Pagan saw the defendant return to their neighborhood and speak to his brother. Ivan Pagan later told Danny Pagan that the defendant revealed to him that he had killed the victim. The next day, Danny Pagan saw the defendant speak to the police and deny that he was "Cujo," a name the police had learned the defendant was called on the street. After speaking with the police, the defendant approached Danny Pagan and told him that he and Soto had killed somebody with the sword, and he instructed Danny Pagan to move it from its initial hiding place. Danny Pagan testified that after his conversation with the defendant, he moved the sword from the roof where his brother had hidden it, wrapped it in a black plastic bag and placed it in a nearby abandoned garage.
Mark Deal, a Waterbury police officer, took a statement from the defendant that was read into the record at trial. In his statement, the defendant stated that he met Soto on Hillside Avenue in Waterbury on April 22, 1996. Soto, a member of the Latin Kings gang, told the defendant that the victim had "disrespected the [Latin Kings] nation" and that they had to "work him over." The defendant stated that he and Soto approached the victim and asked him if he wanted to smoke a "blunt," or a marijuana cigarette, in an abandoned building on Ridgewood Street. The defendant walked into the building before Soto and the victim, but turned around when he heard the victim say, "Oh Kevin, why did...
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