State v. DeJesus

• Decision Date: 05 March 1996
• Docket Number: No. 14921,14921
• Citation: 236 Conn. 189,672 A.2d 488
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Oscar Martinez DeJESUS.

Page 488

672 A.2d 488

236 Conn. 189

STATE of Connecticut v. Oscar Martinez DeJESUS.

No. 14921.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Dec. 6, 1995.

Decided March 5, 1996.

Elizabeth M. Inkster, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant (defendant).

Jack W. Fischer, Assistant State's Attorney, with whom, on the brief, were James E. Thomas, State's Attorney, and Herbert E. Carlson, Jr., Assistant State's Attorney, for appellee (State).

Before PETERS, C.J., and CALLAHAN, BERDON, NORCOTT and PALMER, JJ.

CALLAHAN, Associate Justice.

The defendant, Oscar Martinez DeJesus, appeals ¹ from the judgment of conviction of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a(a) and carrying a dangerous weapon in violation of General Statutes § 53-206(a), ² rendered following a trial to a three judge court. The defendant claims that: (1) the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to kill the victim, Adeleida Ramos; (2) the evidence that he presented established his defense of insanity or, in the alternative, his defense of extreme emotional disturbance by a preponderance of the evidence; and (3) the burden imposed upon him to prove his insanity defense by a preponderance of the evidence pursuant to General Statutes § 53a-13(a) violates the state constitution. We disagree and affirm the trial court's judgment.

The court could reasonably have found the following facts. On May 21, 1991, shortly after 6 p.m., the victim, the defendant's estranged girlfriend with whom he had fathered a daughter, went to the defendant's apartment, located at 2357 Main Street in Hartford, to pick up some groceries. She was accompanied by two of her children, Hiram and Orlando. Upon arrival at the defendant's apartment building, the victim rang the bell, notifying the defendant of her presence. The defendant permitted the victim entry into the building and she proceeded to his apartment, followed by Hiram. After the victim arrived at the defendant's floor, a fight broke out between the defendant and the victim on the stairway outside the defendant's door. During the altercation, the defendant repeatedly struck the victim. ³ The defendant then entered his apartment and returned with a bag of groceries, which he gave to the victim. The victim and Hiram then left the defendant's apartment building.

Once outside, the victim stopped to talk to a friend, while Hiram and Orlando played ball with a neighborhood child. When the victim finished conversing with her friend, she returned to the defendant's apartment building and again rang the door bell. This time, however, the defendant did not permit the victim entry into his building. Instead, he opened a window and asked why she had rung the bell again. At this point a brief exchange of unpleasantries occurred, during which the defendant called the victim a "bitch" and she referred to him as a "cabron." ⁴ The defendant thereafter placed two 911 phone calls to the Hartford police department, asking to speak with Officer Juan Morales. ⁵ Upon being told that Morales was unavailable, the defendant informed the dispatcher and a police officer that he needed the police to intervene because the victim was bothering him and he did not want to harm her. The officer told him that the police would respond to his complaint.

Rather than wait for the police, however, the defendant armed himself with a machete and went in search of the victim. The victim was still in the area when the defendant left the building. Upon locating the victim, the defendant walked directly toward her with the grip of the machete in his hand and the blade up the back of his arm so as to conceal the weapon. Noticing the defendant coming toward her, the victim pleaded with the defendant not to strike her. The defendant ignored her pleas, however, and rained several vicious blows on the victim with the machete. After the attack, the defendant turned and started back toward his apartment.

When the victim pleaded for help, however, the defendant returned and renewed his attack. During this second assault, the defendant held the victim's head up by grasping her hair with his left hand while at the same time striking her in the neck with the machete several more times, killing her. ⁶ While attacking the victim, the defendant stated, "It's time for you to die." During the assault, Hector Alvardo, who witnessed the incident while driving past the area, exhorted the defendant to stop. The defendant, however, ignored Alvardo's entreaty, and asked, instead, whether because of his interference, Alvardo wanted the same thing to happen to him. After the defendant discontinued his second assault on the victim, he returned to his apartment.

Shortly thereafter, several police officers arrived at the scene to investigate the incident. From information obtained from persons in the large crowd that had gathered, Sergeant Anthony Camilleri learned that the defendant was the assailant and that he had returned to his apartment building. To ensure that the defendant did not flee the area, Officer Daniel Albert proceeded to the rear of the defendant's building, while Camilleri stationed himself near the front door. As Albert was watching the rear exit, the defendant opened the back door, and, upon seeing Albert, immediately shut the door and bolted it. Shortly thereafter, the defendant exited the apartment building through the front door and walked directly toward Camilleri, shouting, "Take me, I did it; take me, I did it." The police officers then arrested the defendant. While being driven to police headquarters, the defendant, without being questioned, acknowledged that he had killed the victim with a machete.

In a substitute information, the state charged the defendant with one count of murder, one count of carrying a dangerous weapon and two counts of risk of injury to a minor, in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1991) § 53-21. ⁷ The trial court found the defendant guilty of murder and carrying a dangerous weapon, but acquitted him of both counts of risk of injury to a minor. Thereafter, the trial court sentenced the defendant to sixty years imprisonment on the murder conviction and three years on the conviction of carrying a dangerous weapon. The court ordered that the sentences run consecutively. This appeal followed.

I

The defendant first claims that the trial court improperly found him guilty of murder because the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had the specific intent to cause the death of the victim. ⁸ We disagree.

"In reviewing [a] sufficiency [of the evidence] claim, we apply a two-part test. First, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. Second, we determine whether upon the facts so construed and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom the [finder of fact] reasonably could have concluded that the cumulative force of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.... State v. Greenfield, 228 Conn. 62, 76, 634 A.2d 879 (1993)...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Mejia, 233 Conn. 215, 223-24, 658 A.2d 571 (1995). Our "review is the same whether the trier is a judge, a panel of judges, or a jury." State v. Perez, 182 Conn. 603, 606, 438 A.2d 1149 (1981). Moreover, "[t]his court will construe the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the trial court's [judgment] and will affirm the conclusion of the trier of fact if it is reasonably supported by the evidence and the logical inferences drawn therefrom...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Patterson, 229 Conn. 328, 339, 641 A.2d 123 (1994); see also State v. Steiger, 218 Conn. 349, 378-79, 590 A.2d 408 (1991).

In evaluating evidence that could yield contrary inferences, the trier of fact is not required to accept as dispositive those inferences that are consistent with the defendant's innocence. State v. Sivri, 231 Conn. 115, 132-33, 646 A.2d 169 (1994). The trier may "draw whatever inferences from the evidence or facts established by the evidence it deems to be reasonable and logical...." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. As we have often noted, proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond all possible doubt; State v. Ford, 230 Conn. 686, 693, 646 A.2d 147 (1994); State v. Patterson, supra, 229 Conn. 328, 641 A.2d 123; State v. Little, 194 Conn. 665, 671-72, 485 A.2d 913 (1984); nor does proof beyond a reasonable doubt require acceptance of every hypothesis of innocence posed by the defendant that, had it been found credible by the trier, would have resulted in an acquittal. State v. Sivri, supra, 231 Conn. at 134, 646 A.2d 169. "On appeal, we do not ask whether there is a reasonable view of the evidence that would support a reasonable hypothesis of innocence. We ask, instead, whether there is a reasonable view of the evidence that supports the jury's verdict of guilty." Id.

"The specific intent to kill is an essential element of the crime of murder." Id., at 126, 646 A.2d 169. "In order to establish that the defendant had the requisite intent to commit murder, the state bears the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant caused the death of another with the conscious objective to do so. General Statutes §§ 53a-3(11) and 53a-54a. That the defendant acted with the specific intent to kill may be proven solely by circumstantial evidence, as long as that evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had the conscious objective to take the life of another. State v. Rasmussen, [225 Conn. 55, 74, 621 A.2d 728 (1993) ]; State v. Zdanis, 182 Conn. 388, 396, 438 A.2d 696 (1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1003, 101 S.Ct. 1715, 68 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981). The defendant's intent to kill, therefore, may be inferred from evidence of the defendant's use of a deadly weapon, the manner in which the weapon was used, and the nature and number of wounds inflicted....