State v. Colton
| Decision Date | 17 August 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 14309,14309 |
| Citation | 227 Conn. 231,630 A.2d 577 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Connecticut v. Murray S. COLTON. |
Kenneth Rosenthal, with whom, on the brief, were Steven D. Ecker, Bonnie Patton, Christine Perra and Marie A. Casper, for appellant (defendant).
Susan C. Marks, Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, State's Atty., and James G. Clark, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (state).
Before PETERS, C.J., and BORDEN, BERDON, NORCOTT and SANTANIELLO, JJ. NORCOTT, Justice.
After a jury trial, the defendant, Murray Colton, was convicted of the crime of murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-54a and 53a-8. 1 The trial court sentenced the defendant to a term of imprisonment of fifty years. The defendant appealed to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199(b)(3).
The defendant claims on appeal that the trial court: (1) violated the defendant's constitutional right to confront witnesses by precluding him from admitting certain evidence showing motive and bias of the state's chief witness; (2) improperly permitted an unrepresentative viewing of the crime scene by the jury; (3) abused its discretion by making certain evidentiary rulings; (4) improperly instructed the jury on consciousness of guilt and reasonable doubt; (5) improperly denied the defendant's pretrial motions for discovery and production of exculpatory information regarding the identity of other persons having a motive to harm the victim, and improperly failed to sanction the state for untimely disclosure of such information; and (6) failed to follow proper procedures in denying the defendant's request for access to medical and psychiatric records of the state's chief witness. We agree with the defendant on the first issue and, on that basis, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case for a new trial.
On January 13, 1987, the body of the victim, Patricia Konesky, was discovered in the third base dugout of the Kimberly Avenue baseball field in New Haven. The victim had suffered severe blunt trauma to the head and had been stabbed approximately 248 times in the face, neck and chest. The exact time of the victim's death could not be established, but she had last been seen alive on the night of January 12, 1987.
At the time of her death, the victim was a drug addict, who lived on the streets and operated as an informant for the New Haven police department. According to the testimony of one of the victim's police contacts, the victim had been providing information on narcotics activities in the Kimberly Avenue and Hill sections of New Haven for approximately nine months prior to her death. At least fifteen people, including the defendant's father, had been arrested and prosecuted as a result of that information.
The police investigation in the months following the victim's death never culminated in an arrest. The crime remained unsolved for more than one year. On February 5, 1988, the state posted notices in the Kimberly Square neighborhood offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the victim's murder. Several weeks later, while at the New Haven police station under arrest for prostitution, Janice Tourangeau, who had previously given a statement relating to the victim's murder to the police in January, 1987, stated for the first time that she had been at the scene of the crime at the time of the victim's murder.
Tourangeau's statement to the police placed the defendant with the victim at the scene of the crime and implicated him, together with another individual who was never located, in the murder. At that time, Tourangeau expressed no interest in receiving the reward money. On the basis of this information, the police revitalized the investigation and focused on the defendant, who had never been considered a suspect in the initial investigation in 1987. In June, 1988, the defendant was arrested and charged with the victim's murder. The state's theory was that the defendant had killed the victim in retaliation for the victim's informing the police of alleged narcotics activity of the defendant's father, which had led to his father's arrest and conviction. 2
The defendant's first two trials, conducted in 1989 and 1990, resulted in hung juries. After a third jury trial conducted in 1991, the defendant was convicted of murder and was sentenced to fifty years in prison. Shortly thereafter, Tourangeau collected $14,000 from the state, which represented her share of the reward. Further facts will be discussed as they become relevant.
The defendant first claims that the trial court violated his right to confront witnesses and to present a defense under the sixth and fourteenth amendments to the United States constitution by precluding the admission of certain evidence tending to show the motive, bias or interest of Tourangeau, the state's chief witness. The defendant claims that the exclusion of this motive evidence in a case in which the credibility of Tourangeau was a critical issue was harmful and warrants a new trial. We agree.
At trial, Tourangeau gave the following account of her activities on the night of the victim's murder. On the night of January 12, 1987, Tourangeau had been dropped off on Kimberly Avenue by her friend, Cathleen Jones. Tourangeau was looking for the victim because she wanted the victim to obtain drugs for her. Tourangeau found the victim at Don Phillips Cafe, a bar owned by the defendant's father. The victim agreed to take drugs with Tourangeau, but told Tourangeau that Tourangeau would have to wait because she had something to do first.
The victim told Tourangeau that she had to meet someone on Kimberly Avenue and, after Tourangeau persisted in asking to go along, the victim agreed that Tourangeau could accompany her as long as she remained unseen. The two separated briefly and were to meet on Kimberly Avenue near Saint Peter's Church. Tourangeau arrived at the church and, shortly thereafter, saw the victim on the corner of Kimberly Avenue and Second Street. Tourangeau approached the victim and asked if she had the drugs yet. The victim responded that she had to go to Saint Peter's Street and reminded Tourangeau to remain out of sight. The victim and Tourangeau took separate routes to Saint Peter's Street. Tourangeau walked down Kimberly Avenue to a path that led to the baseball field, which was located at the end of Saint Peter's Street. She walked several steps out from the path onto the field when she saw the victim standing with the defendant by a manhole cover. Tourangeau backed up to some bushes at the edge of the field to stay out of sight, and observed the victim and the defendant walk to the third base dugout and sit on the dugout bench. At this point Tourangeau was positioned approximately 190 feet from the third base dugout.
Tourangeau observed the defendant suddenly stand up and pull the victim by her hair. Tourangeau then saw another man come from the side of the dugout and hit the victim on the side of the head. She described this man as having dark hair and a mustache, wearing tan boots and probably being Hispanic because he had dark skin. On cross-examination Tourangeau testified that when the victim had been struck she had seen something squirt out of the victim's head and had heard a "squishing sound." As a result of this blow, the victim was knocked forward facing the ground. Tourangeau then saw both the defendant and the second man kick the victim.
At this point Tourangeau ran from the area. The second man noticed Tourangeau and yelled after her. Tourangeau kept running and sensed someone running behind her. She ran out onto Kimberly Avenue where she flagged down a car and jumped in. The driver of the car drove Tourangeau to her home. Tourangeau claimed that she then went into the bathroom and lay down in the bathtub until dawn, "put[ting] it together."
Tourangeau did not learn that the victim had been killed until she watched the evening news on television later that day. During both the 6 p.m. and the 11 p.m. news broadcasts reporting the discovery of the victim's body, Tourangeau stated to her companions, "That's Patty," although neither broadcast had mentioned the name of the victim. 3 Tourangeau covered up for knowing the identity of the person on the news by saying that she had recognized the victim's boots. She never told anyone about her presence at the field the night before because she was afraid of retaliation and of being known as a snitch on the street and therefore being unable to get drugs. When Tourangeau was interviewed by the police one week later, she did not mention what she had seen, and provided no information about the murder until March, 1988. 4
The defendant denied any involvement in the murder. He admitted in 1987, and again after his arrest in 1988, that he had seen the victim at his father's bar on the night before her body was discovered. 5 He testified that he had gone to a concert on the night of January 12, 1987, and had arrived home at approximately 10:30 p.m. The defendant testified further that he had spoken to the victim in his father's bar, and that his last contact with her had been on the street outside the bar. The defendant testified that, after the bar closed around 12 a.m., he had asked his father if he could borrow his father's car to see his girlfriend. Concerned that the defendant was too drunk to drive, his father had driven him to his girlfriend's house, had convinced him not to go to the door because of the lateness of the hour, and had then driven him home. The defendant testified that, once home, he had passed out in front of the television. 6
The state conceded at trial that in order to convict the defendant of murder, the jury would have to credit the testimony of Tourangeau. 7 The credibility of Tourangeau's account of the night...
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