State v. Ferguson
| Decision Date | 28 May 2002 |
| Docket Number | 15964 |
| Parties | STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. GEOFFREY K. FERGUSON15964 THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
Lauren Weisfeld, assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant).
Harry Weller, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom were Walter D. Flanagan, state's attorney, and, on the brief, Patricia M. Froehlich, state's attorney, for the appellee (state).
Sullivan, C. J., and Norcott, Katz, Palmer and Vertefeuille, Js.
Opinion
The defendant, Geoffrey K. Ferguson, following a jury trial, was convicted of five counts of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a (a), 1 two counts of capital felony in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54b (8), 2 one count of arson in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-111 (a) (1), 3 and one count of arson in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-112 (a) (1) (B). 4 The trial court, Nigro, J., merged the predicate murder convictions into their respective capital felony convictions and imposed two concurrent sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of release. 5 The court also imposed a sentence of twenty-five years imprisonment for the crime of first degree arson, to run concurrently with one of the capital felony convictions, and twenty years imprisonment for the crime of second degree arson, to run concurrently with the other capital felony conviction. On appeal, the defendant raises six challenges to the validity of his convictions. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The defendant owned property at 166 Portland Avenue in the Georgetown section of Redding, Connecticut. Located on this property was a single-family residence that the defendant had enlarged and converted into three apartments. The first floor of the building consisted of two apartments with the entirety of the second floor serving as the third apartment. A two-story glass atrium was attached to one side of the building and a spiral stairway inside the atrium provided access to the apartment from the ground. In April, 1995, the second floor apartment was occupied by Scott Auerbach, David Froehlich and Jason Trusewicz. Laureen Spear and her five year old son lived in the front first floor apartment, and the rear first floor apartment was occupied by Freddi Altamirano, an immigrant from Costa Rica. Altamirano lived with three other men in this apartment. The defendant served as the tenants' landlord, but he resided in Powell's Point, North Carolina.
In March, 1995, the upstairs tenants were late paying their rent to the defendant. The defendant asked a friend, Christopher Given, to attempt to collect the rent from the upstairs tenants. The tenants told Given that the rent would be forthcoming and Given relayed this information to the defendant. The defendant was dissatisfied with this arrangement and shortly thereafter informed Given that the defendant was going to evict these tenants.
On March 29, 1995, the defendant drove from North Carolina to Connecticut. He entered the upstairs apartment. The defendant then removed the upstairs tenants' belongings and placed some of them in the glass atrium and others outside the building. Altamirano helped the defendant carry out one of the upstairs beds. In addition to removing the tenants' clothing, furniture and other belongings, the defendant also removed the toilet and the thermostat. The defendant then nailed a large piece of plywood over the entrance to the apartment.
Later that day, the tenants returned to their apartment. They called the police and reported that they had been locked out of the apartment. The police conducted an investigation to determine whether the defendant had lawfully evicted the tenants. The police concluded that the tenants had the right to re-enter the apartment because the defendant had not properly evicted the tenants. After receiving this information from the police, the tenants reentered the apartment by pulling off the plywood barrier.
As a result of the lockout, two of the tenants instituted small claims actions against the defendant. Redding officials also notified the defendant of several possible building code violations. The defendant was also ordered to appear before the Redding conservation commission on April 18, 1995, to respond to an alleged environmental violation on the property. The Redding fire marshal also informed the defendant of several possible fire code violations at the building. Finally, on April 17, 1995, a member of the Redding police department applied for an arrest warrant charging the defendant with criminal lock out.
That same day, the defendant rented a champagne colored Ford Tempo from U-Save Auto Rental in Harbinger, North Carolina. The defendant told the rental agent that he would be using the car to visit his wife in South Carolina. The defendant removed the U-Save Auto Rental license plate from the front of the car.
The defendant left the rental agency at approximately 4:15 p.m. on April 17, and traveled north to Connecticut. At approximately 12:20 p.m. the next day, Spear left her first floor apartment and walked to the end of the driveway to get her mail. From the end of the driveway, Spear spotted the defendant driving the rental car. When Spear saw the defendant, he was turning the car into a synagogue parking lot that abutted his property. At the last moment, however, the defendant returned to his lane of travel and proceeded straight along the road. As the car drove past her, the defendant turned his head away from her so that Spear was able to see only the back of his head and his grey ponytail. Spear also noted a North Carolina license plate on the rear of the car. Later that afternoon, the defendant parked the rental car in the synagogue parking lot. The car was parked with the tailgate against a wall that separated the synagogue from the defendant's property, effectively hiding from view the car's North Carolina license plate.
Around 4 p.m., Altamirano was in his apartment watching television. The screen went blank. Altamirano adjusted the cable box, but he could not correct the problem because the defendant had cut the cable and telephone lines to the building. At several points and through various windows of his apartment, Altamirano observed the defendant walking outside the building. Altamirano had a clear view of the defendant. At one point, as Altamirano watched through a window in his bathroom, he saw the defendant from a distance of only a few feet as the defendant bent down at an oil tank pipe coming out of the ground at the base of the building. Altamirano knew who the defendant was because they had met on two prior occasions: first, when Altamirano had placed a deposit on the apartment, and second, as noted previously, when Altamirano helped the defendant remove some of the upstairs tenants' belongings. A ladder was placed beside one of Altamirano's windows and provided access to the roof over his apartment. From the roof area, entry to the second floor apartment could be obtained through a sliding glass door.
The defendant entered the second floor apartment through the sliding glass door. Once inside the apartment, the defendant shot Froehlich and David Gartrell. Froehlich was shot twice and Gartrell was shot three times. All gunshots were to the head. Altamirano heard the gunshots, as did two neighbors. The defendant then placed both bodies in the bathroom, laying Gartrell's body on top of Froehlich's.
Auerbach, Trusewicz and Sean Hiltunen all worked in Stamford. They left work on April 18, 1995, at some point between 5 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. The travel time between their office in Stamford and the apartment in Redding was approximately thirty-five minutes. The three men entered the apartment and the defendant shot each one. Hiltunen was shot twice, once in the head and once in the neck. Trusewicz was shot once in the head. Auerbach was shot twice in the head.
The defendant poured an accelerant on four of the bodies and set them ablaze. The defendant also used an accelerant to set fires in various areas of the basement and second floor apartment. Neighbors found the fifth victim hanging from the spiral staircase in the glass atrium. He was pulled, still alive, from the burning building, although he later died at the hospital. Each of the victims died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head. The shots were fired from a.22 caliber semiautomatic pistol owned by the defendant. The gun, however, was never recovered.
After killing the victims and setting fire to their bodies and the building, the defendant left the scene and drove south. The defendant stopped in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where he called his father-in-law in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The defendant continued on to his father-in-law's condominium, arriving there late in the afternoon on the day following the murders. After a brief visit, he spent the night at a motel in Wade, North Carolina. He returned the Ford Tempo to U-Save Auto Rental in Harbinger, North Carolina on April 20, 1995. After backing the car into a space at the rental lot, the defendant reinstalled the U-Save license plate on the front of the car. Over the three day rental period, the defendant had driven 1929 miles in the car. Forensic tests of a piece of a victim's charred clothing and of a floor mat in the rental car indicated that both had been exposed to the same type of petroleum based accelerant. Additional facts will be stated as necessary.
The defendant makes six claims on appeal. He contends that the trial court improperly: (1) precluded the cross-examination of a prosecution witness in violation of the defendant's right to confront a witness pursuant to both the sixth amendment 6 to the United States constitution and article first, § 8, of the constitution of Connecticut, 7 as well as interfered with the defendant's right to present a...
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Miller v. Barber, No. 455605 (CT 5/20/2005)
... ... In addition, the court took judicial notice of the opinions of the Appellate Court in State v. Miller, 59 Conn.App. 406, 757 A.2d 69 (2000), cert. denied, 255 Conn. 942, 769 A.2d 60 (2001), and State v. Jones, 60 Conn.App. 866, 761 A.2d 789 ... Reynolds, 264 Conn. 1, 836 A.2d 224 (2003), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 908, 124 S.Ct. 1614, 158 L.Ed.2d 254 (2003); State v. Ferguson, 260 Conn. 339, 796 A.2d 1118 (2002); State v. Valentine, 240 Conn. 395, 692 A.2d 727 (1997), appeal after remand, 255 Conn. 61, 762 A.2d 1278 ... ...
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State v. Bonner, No. 17628.
... ... 498 ... Our inquiry, however, cannot end here. Even relevant evidence may be excluded if it has a tendency to prejudice unduly the minds of the jurors. "Relevant evidence is excluded ... when its probative value is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice." State v. Ferguson, 260 Conn. 339, 359, 796 A.2d 1118 (2002); see also Conn.Code Evid. § 4-3. "To be unfairly prejudicial, evidence must be likely to cause a disproportionate emotional response in the jury, thereby threatening to overwhelm its neutrality and rationality to the detriment of the opposing party." ... ...
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State v. James G.
... ... Ferguson, 260 Conn. 339, 359-60, 796 A.2d 1118 (2002), quoting State v. DeMatteo, supra, 702-703 ... We note that "[a]ll adverse evidence is [by definition] damaging to one's case, but [such evidence] is inadmissible only if it creates undue prejudice so that it threatens an injustice were it to be ... ...
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