State v. Crenshaw

• Decision Date: 12 August 2014
• Docket Number: No. 18745.,18745.
• Citation: 95 A.3d 1113,313 Conn. 69
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Darryl CRENSHAW.

313 Conn. 69

95 A.3d 1113

STATE of Connecticut

v.Darryl CRENSHAW.

No. 18745.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 18, 2014.

Decided Aug. 12, 2014.

William B. Westcott, Westport, for the appellant (defendant).

Rocco A. Chiarenza, assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Gail P. Hardy, state's attorney, and Dennis J. O'Connor, former senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

ROGERS, C.J., and PALMER, ZARELLA, EVELEIGH, McDONALD, ESPINOSA and ROBINSON, Js.

ZARELLA, J.

The defendant, Darryl Crenshaw, appeals from the judgments of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of two counts of kidnapping in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a–94 (a), assault in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a–61 (a)(1), and murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a–54a (a). On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) the trial court abused its discretion in joining the defendant's two cases for trial, and (2) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of both counts of kidnapping in the second degree. We uphold the trial court's decision to join the cases, affirm the judgments of the trial court with respect to the first count of kidnapping in the second degree, assault in the third degree and murder, and reverse the judgment of conviction with respect to the second count of kidnapping in the second degree.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The victim, Ashley Peoples, lived with her mother and stepfather in the town of Enfield. A friend and coworker, Elisa Astacio, described the victim as “the brightest star. Everyone love[d] her, everyone loved her personality; everybody was friends with her.” In June or July, 2008, the victim began dating the defendant. Although they appeared happy at first, the defendant became more controlling as their relationship progressed. The defendant was “stubborn” and “like[d] to get his way....” He and the victim would verbally and physically fight. The victim informed Astacio in late July or early August that she wanted to end the relationship.

On August 7, 2008, at approximately 5:15 p.m., the victim arrived at the house of Shavonne Coachman, a friend, and Coachman's infant son, and, thereafter, they drove together to Supreme Clientele, a beauty salon (salon) in the city of Hartford. They arrived at the salon at around 5:30 p.m. and went inside. Coachman left various items for her son in the victim's car. While the victim and Coachman were talking and waiting for an appointment at the salon, the defendant called the victim on her cell phone. Shortly thereafter, the defendant arrived in his vehicle, entered the salon, and spoke with the victim for approximately five or six minutes. The defendant then exited the salon, got in his car and left.

Coachman and the victim resumed their conversation, only to be interrupted again by a call from the defendant. Coachman overheard the victim attempting to identify a male voice that the defendant allegedly had heard at the salon. This conversation lasted for about three minutes. After the call ended, the victim informed Coachman that the defendant was “coming back....” She then gave her cell phone to Coachman, explaining that the defendant “like[d] to break phones” when they argued.

Shortly thereafter, the defendant arrived at the salon, and the victim went outside. A patron of the salon, Timothy Freeman, who was sitting in his car in the parking lot, saw the defendant and the victim flail their arms as they argued. The victim attempted to get into the driver's side of the defendant's vehicle, but the defendant got in first, forcing the victim to walk around to the passenger side. After the victim entered the vehicle, the defendant punched her in the face and proceeded to drive away.¹ Freeman described the incident as a “sucker [punch]....” As the defendant drove away, he punched the victim in the face a second time. By the time Coachman ran to the front door of the salon, the defendant and victim were gone.

Coachman immediately began calling the defendant from the victim's cell phone. After approximately one-half hour of continuous attempts to reach the defendant, he answered. Coachman asked the defendant to bring the victim back to the salon. The defendant responded that he would “bring her back when she feels like coming back.” Coachman continued to plead for the victim's return, informing him that she had left supplies for her son in the victim's car. The defendant reiterated that he would bring the victim back when she “feels like coming back.” After the defendant ended the conversation, Coachman waited for two hours at the salon for the victim to return. The victim never came back.

At around 6 or 7 p.m. that evening, the defendant went to the apartment of Eruverto Flores, Astacio's boyfriend, at 777 Maple Avenue in Hartford. When the defendant entered Flores' apartment, Flores realized that the victim was trailing behind the defendant. The victim “had a blood clot in her eye,” the inside of her left eye was “red” and “bloodshot,” and the area under her eye was swollen. Flores testified that it was “obvious” that the defendant had hit the victim.

The defendant was yelling and appeared upset. He exclaimed that the victim had “disrespected” him because she was flirting with another man at the salon. He claimed that the victim “disrespected [him] on [his] side of town in front of all [his] peoples, [and he was] not [going to] let no girl disrespect [him] and make [him] look bad in front of everybody.” At some point, the defendant “mushed [the victim] in the head,” meaning that he used an open hand to push her head away from him. Flores then jumped in between the defendant and the victim and told him to “chill out” and not engage in such actions in his apartment.

The victim then went into the bathroom. After Flores spoke to the defendant in an attempt to calm him down, Flores went to check on the victim. The victim was wiping tears from her eyes. Flores offered to take the victim to her car, to call her parents, or to help in any other way he could. The victim declined. When the victim left the bathroom, she sat about twenty feet away from the defendant. Flores testified that the victim “was pretty much sitting there with her head down ... not really interacting with anybody, just sitting there.” She did not participate in the conversation. About fifteen or twenty minutes later, the defendant and the victim left together.

At some point during the evening of August 7, the defendant called Teosha Sease, a woman whom he had met the week before, about going on a first date the next day to Six Flags New England amusement park (Six Flags) in Agawam, Massachusetts. Sease observed that the defendant seemed “upset” during this conversation.

Between 2 and 3 a.m. on August 8, 2008, the defendant's next door neighbor, Guy Maynard, saw the defendant pull up in his vehicle to the front of the defendant's residence at 65 Church Street in Enfield. Maynard testified that, “after the car stopped and the lights went off, the [defendant] got out and ... walked around the front of the car to the [passenger] side, where he opened the door and picked up somebody out of the front seat of the car.” The defendant “cradled” the individual “like you would hold a child,” with both arms underneath, and “[c]arried [her] towards the front of the house.” Maynard could tell that the person being carried was “slight” and African–American, and he believed the person was probably a female. He thought at the time that the defendant was carrying this person because she was inebriated. The defendant carried the person into his apartment. After some time had passed, Maynard saw the flickering of lights from a television in the defendant's apartment. ² Maynard did not hear any screaming or arguing.

Around the same time, the victim's mother was concerned about the victim's whereabouts. At 2:30 a.m. on August 8, she sent a text message to the victim's cell phone indicating that she had not heard from the victim all day and asking where she was.

Later, during the early morning hours of August 8, Astacio received a call from the defendant after she arrived at work. The defendant informed Astacio that he had “fucked up” and that he and the victim had gotten into an argument during which he “slapped her....” He told Astacio that he was angry at the victim because she had cheated on him. Astacio asked the defendant if she could speak to the victim, and he said that she was sleeping. The defendant then told Astacio that he had to put her on hold because the victim was calling him. When he resumed his conversation with Astacio, the defendant said that the victim could not come to work that day and asked her to make up an excuse for the victim. Astacio stated that she could not do so, because the victim had just returned from vacation and was needed for the 1 p.m. shift. She asked the defendant to call back at noon and she would “see what [she] could do.” The defendant agreed but never called Astacio back.

After this conversation, Astacio attempted to call the victim, eventually reaching Coachman, who still possessed the victim's cell phone. Coachman told Astacio what had occurred at the salon. Coachman then called the victim's parents, who reported to the police that the victim had been kidnapped.

At approximately 9 or 10 a.m. that same day, the defendant met Sease and brought her to Six Flags. At one point while they were at Six Flags, the defendant became upset and exclaimed that he “saw her face” and “she wasn't breathing.” When Sease asked the defendant what he was talking about, he stated that “he's not a murder[er]; he's a good person....” The defendant and Sease remained at the park until 10 or 10:30 p.m., when Torchy Colvin, an acquaintance of the defendant, came to pick them up. After returning to Hartford, the defendant, Colvin and Sease “stood outside and just...