State v. Daugaard
| Decision Date | 23 August 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 14859,14859 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Connecticut v. William DAUGAARD. |
Brian S. Carlow, Asst. Public Defender, with whom, on the brief, was John E. MacDonald, Certified Legal Intern, for appellant (defendant).
John A. East III, Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, State's Atty., and Mary Elizabeth Baran, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (State).
Before PETERS, C.J., and CALLAHAN, BORDEN, BERDON and NORCOTT, JJ.
The principal issue in this certified appeal is whether the improper admission by the trial court of testimony detailing the defendant's invocation of various constitutional rights was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant, William Daugaard, was convicted 1 after a jury trial of one count of sexual assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-70(a)(1). 2 He appealed from the judgment of conviction to the Appellate Court, which affirmed the judgment. State v. Daugaard, 32 Conn.App. 483, 630 A.2d 96 (1993). We granted the defendant's petition for certification. 3 We affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.
The jury could have reasonably found the following facts. At approximately 5 p.m. on May 30, 1990, the defendant, accompanied by a friend, Michael Murray, commenced an evening of bar hopping. The defendant had been drinking earlier in the day, and Murray observed that the defendant appeared close to being drunk by early in the evening, prior to visiting any bars.
From approximately 5 to 6 p.m., the two men went to three bars in the greater New Haven area. They traveled in an unregistered automobile belonging to the defendant's sister that the defendant had taken without his sister's permission. Upon leaving the third bar, Murray drove because of the defendant's intoxicated condition. During this trip, the defendant discovered in the automobile one-half gallon of vodka which he immediately started to consume.
Murray and the defendant next went to Monahan's tavern in West Haven. While drinking at Monahan's, the defendant repeatedly told Murray that he had to "get laid" that evening. Consequently, at approximately 8:30 p.m., the defendant and Murray left the tavern to visit the homes of two female acquaintances of the defendant. Neither visit achieved the defendant's stated objective: at the first home visited by the two, the defendant's female acquaintance was leaving as the two men arrived; at the second, the woman was not at home. During the trip to the homes of these two women, the defendant continued to drink vodka straight from the bottle that he had discovered in his sister's automobile.
At approximately 10 p.m., the two men returned to Murray's first floor apartment in New Haven. At Murray's apartment, the defendant continued to drink vodka directly from the bottle. A female friend of Murray's, Kristen Anderson, telephoned after the two had returned. At the instigation of the defendant, Murray invited Anderson and her roommate to his apartment. Anderson's roommate did not accept, but Anderson indicated her willingness to join the two men. Murray and the defendant left Murray's apartment to pick up Anderson at her apartment. All three returned to Murray's apartment at approximately 11 p.m.
Upon their return to Murray's apartment, the three encountered the victim, who was sitting on the front steps of the apartment building. The victim, who had previously been Murray's girlfriend, 4 was eighteen years old, and lived alone in a second floor apartment in the same building. Both Murray and Anderson were friends of the victim. The victim had never met the defendant. Murray introduced the victim to the defendant, and invited her to join the threesome in his apartment for a drink.
The victim accepted Murray's invitation. Inside the apartment, for approximately one and one-half hours, the four sat around Murray's kitchen table drinking and listening to music. During this period the victim consumed two drinks. The defendant continued to consume straight vodka from the bottle he had discovered in his sister's automobile. When the liquor ran out, the victim stated that she knew of an after-hours club, approximately thirty minutes away, where additional liquor could be purchased. After some discussion, it was decided that the defendant, who had access to an automobile, and the victim, who knew the location of the after-hours club, would go to the club to purchase additional liquor. Murray and Anderson planned to wait for them to return.
Between 12:30 and 1 a.m., the victim and the defendant left Murray's apartment bound for the after-hours club. Initially, the victim was driving the defendant's sister's automobile, because the defendant was intoxicated. After the victim had been driving for approximately five minutes, however, the defendant grabbed the steering wheel and forced the automobile to the side of the road. The defendant told the victim that he wanted to drive because his sister's automobile was unregistered. The victim then acceded to this demand, and the two switched seats in the automobile. The victim began to give the defendant directions as he drove. After a period of time, the victim noticed that the defendant was ignoring her directions. The defendant stated that he was taking a shortcut to the club.
The defendant subsequently drove onto a highway that the victim did not recognize. She became frightened and demanded that the defendant drive her back to Murray's apartment. The defendant stated that she "wasn't going anywhere" and that he was "taking her to Las Vegas to be a prostitute." The victim continued to protest. The defendant then struck her in the face, grabbed her neck and forced her head under the dashboard of the automobile. The defendant then warned the victim to keep her head down and not look where they were going.
The victim, who was terrified by this conduct, was crying and begging the defendant to release her. The defendant continually threatened the victim with physical harm. Each time the victim raised her head, the defendant struck her and forced her head back under the dashboard. He also told her that the only way she could get out of the automobile was to jump. 5 The defendant eventually left the highway, driving to a secluded location on a narrow road lined by tall weeds. The defendant drove the automobile into the weeds to conceal it. The defendant then told the victim that he was "going to fuck her and make her suck his dick and that she would enjoy it, and that she would beg for more."
The defendant then pulled the victim into the back seat of the automobile, pulled off her pants, and had forcible vaginal intercourse with her. After ejaculating, the defendant climbed off the victim and told her that he was going to kill her and leave her body in the weeds. The defendant then began to search for a place to dispose of the victim's body.
The victim begged the defendant not to kill her. She promised not to report the sexual assault to the police if the defendant did not kill her. The defendant agreed to release the victim, but threatened to kill both her and Murray if she told of her sexual assault to anyone. The defendant then told the victim "to get the hell out of here before [he] change[d] [his] mind." The victim made her way to an unfamiliar highway, and began hitchhiking. She was picked up by a man who, at her request, dropped her off on Columbus Avenue in New Haven, three houses from the building in which she lived. She did not get out in front of her building because she was afraid that the defendant might be lying in wait for her there.
Upon entering her building, the victim had no intention of telling anyone about the sexual assault. This intention was a result of her embarrassment and her fear that the defendant would kill her if she informed anyone of what had occurred. The victim went to Murray's apartment, because she knew that Murray and Anderson would be waiting for her to return, and because she did not wish to be alone. The victim had family in New Haven to whom she could have gone.
When the victim entered Murray's apartment at approximately 6 a.m., both Murray and Anderson immediately noticed that something had happened to her. The two observed that the victim was crying and shaking, she was having difficulty standing, she appeared to be in pain, she had a bruise on her face, and her clothing, hair and makeup were in disarray. Upon entering the apartment, the victim exclaimed to Murray: "nice fucking friends you got."
Murray then asked the victim if she had been raped by the defendant. The victim initially refused to tell Murray and Anderson what had occurred. After a thirty minute discussion, Anderson and Murray convinced the victim to tell them what had happened. After the victim told the two of the sexual assault, Murray called a local rape crisis center and the West Haven police department. The victim was taken by the West Haven police to the Yale-New Haven Hospital emergency room.
The victim was examined and treated by the hospital staff, including Carla Williams, a resident physician specializing in gynecology. According to Williams, the findings of her examination of the victim were consistent with sexual assault. On cross-examination, Williams indicated that her findings after examining the victim were not consistent with consensual sexual intercourse.
The victim was interviewed by two detectives from the Wallingford police department, Theodore Milewski and Patricia Miranda. Subsequent to her release from the hospital, Milewski and Miranda drove the victim around in an unsuccessful attempt to locate the scene of the sexual assault. During this drive they observed that the victim remained crouched in a fetal position, and sobbed intermittently.
The defendant was arrested at his sister's home on May 31,...
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