State v. Hafford, (SC 16089)

• Citation: 746 A.2d 150,252 Conn. 274
• Decision Date: 07 March 2000
• Docket Number: (SC 16089)
• Court: Supreme Court of Connecticut
• Parties: STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. CHRISTOPHER HAFFORD

252 Conn. 274

746 A.2d 150

STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. CHRISTOPHER HAFFORD

(SC 16089)

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued November 3, 1999.

Officially released March 7, 2000.

McDonald, C. J., and Borden, Norcott, Katz, Palmer, Sullivan and Spear, Js. Mark Rademacher, assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Harry Weller, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were James E. Thomas, state's attorney, and Rosita M. Creamer, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Opinion

MCDONALD, C. J.

The defendant, Christopher Hafford, was tried before a three judge panel, Barry, Norko and Langenbach, Js., and convicted of capital felony in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54b (7), felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54c, murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a, robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (1) and (3), burglary in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-101 (a) and sexual assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-70 (a).¹ Pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1991) § 53a-46a,² the panel conducted a penalty hearing. The panel concluded that the state had proved an aggravating factor³ and that the defendant had proved a mitigating factor.⁴ Accordingly, the panel imposed a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the capital offense. See General Statutes § 53a-46a (f). The panel also imposed two twenty year sentences for the burglary and robbery convictions, to run consecutive to each other and to the life sentence, for a total effective sentence of life plus forty years.⁵ The defendant appealed from the judgment of conviction directly to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (b) (3).⁶

The panel reasonably could have found the following facts. On July 14, 1991, the defendant arrived at Grillo's Shell Station, a convenience store and gas station in Windsor Locks, sometime after 7 a.m., planning to commit a robbery. When all the customers had left the store, the defendant put on a pair of latex gloves, armed himself with a knife and entered the station. The defendant approached the lone station attendant, Theresa Ann Rafferty, the victim, displayed his knife and demanded the money in the cash register. The victim gave the defendant the cash in the register, which totaled approximately $85. The defendant then forced the victim into a back room of the station, ordered her to take off her clothes, and sexually assaulted her. The defendant then slashed the victim with the knife and beat her with a shovel. She sustained massive head injuries, and died from a combination of the stab wounds and the trauma to her head.

At 7:30 that morning, Richard O'Brien arrived at the gas station. When O'Brien entered the station, he saw bloody footprints on the floor, leading toward the back room. O'Brien followed the footprints into the back room and saw the victim's naked and bloody body. O'Brien exited the store to call the police. As he was leaving, O'Brien met Frederick Britschock, who was driving up to the station. O'Brien told Britschock not to enter the store because a crime had been committed. O'Brien quickly drove home and called the police. Britschock also called the police from the pay telephone outside the station. When O'Brien returned, he and Britschock waited in front of the station for the police to arrive.

At that time, the defendant, who was still inside the three bay area of the station, threw a fire extinguisher through a glass door to escape from the building. O'Brien heard the crash of glass. He and Britschock looked toward the noise and saw the defendant exit the building, get into his car and begin to drive away. They ran after the car, pointing at it. David Clark, an off-duty Windsor Locks police officer, was driving by the station when he saw the two men gesturing toward the car that was leaving it. Clark heard O'Brien shout "That is him!" Clark chased the defendant's car north toward Massachusetts, but ended his chase because he did not have radio contact with the Windsor Locks police department. At 7:38 a.m., Clark telephoned the Windsor Locks police and gave a description of the defendant, his car, and the Massachusetts license plate number of the car. The dispatcher relayed that information to police departments in both Connecticut and Massachusetts.

James Donovan III, a police officer in Agawam, Massachusetts, saw the defendant's car parked in front of a convenience store in Agawam at 7:50 a.m. Donovan pulled his cruiser behind the defendant's car and called for assistance. When the defendant came out of the convenience store, Donovan asked him if the car was his. The defendant answered "yes," and Donovan pointed his pistol and ordered the defendant to put his hands on the hood of the cruiser. Agawam Police Officers Mark Pfau and Steven Grasso then arrived at the scene, at which time Pfau read the defendant his Miranda⁷ rights. Agawam Police Sergeant Gary Nardi also read the defendant these rights, and the defendant said that he understood them. Windsor Locks Police Officer Thomas Malcolm arrived on the scene and read the defendant his Miranda rights a third time, and the defendant indicated that he understood those rights. Pfau and Grasso then placed the defendant in their cruiser and drove him to the Agawam police department. During his arrest, the defendant, after being advised of his rights, volunteered four or five times, "I did it."

The defendant was placed in a holding cell at the Agawam police department. Around 9:30 p.m., Connecticut State Police Detectives Ronald Ruel and Harold McDermott executed a search warrant for evidence from the defendant's person. McDermott read the defendant his Miranda rights before executing the search warrant, and the defendant indicated that he understood those rights. McDermott then collected samples of hair, blood and saliva from the defendant and seized some of the defendant's clothing. Later examination revealed that: the bloody footprints at the gas station matched the impression of the defendant's boots; glass samples found in the defendant's boots matched the broken glass from the gas station garage; a hair found near the victim's body was microscopically consistent with the defendant's pubic hair; and blood stains on the defendant's boots, on the left cuff of the defendant's pants, on the defendant's shirt and on the knife found in the defendant's car, all matched the victim's blood type.

On appeal, the defendant makes five claims. First, he claims that the trial court improperly denied his motion to suppress his confession, which the defendant claims had been obtained in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966). Second, the defendant argues that he is entitled to a new trial because the three judge panel failed to obtain a waiver of his right to trial by jury. Third, the defendant claims that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the charge of felony murder predicated on sexual assault in the first degree because there was never a finding of probable cause as to that offense. Fourth, the defendant argues that there was insufficient evidence of a burglary to support the charges of burglary in the first degree and felony murder based upon a predicate felony of burglary. Fifth, the defendant claims that the three judge panel improperly admitted into evidence, in violation of the corpus deliciti rule, his confession that he had sexually assaulted the victim. We reject each of the defendant's arguments, and we affirm his convictions.

I

The defendant first claims that the court improperly denied his motion to suppress his confession to Ruel, one of the Connecticut state police detectives. The following additional facts are necessary to resolve this issue. At 10 a.m. on July 14, 1991, shortly after the defendant's arrest, Robert Koistinen, a Windsor Locks police officer, went to the Agawam police station to obtain a statement from the defendant. At that time, however, Koistinen did not speak with the defendant.⁸

At approximately 9:30 p.m. that evening, while executing a search warrant upon the defendant's person, Ruel asked the defendant if he wanted to make any statements regarding his arrest. The defendant answered that he did not want to make any statements at that time and that he thought he would call his mother because she might have called a lawyer. Ruel told the defendant that the Agawam police officers would allow him to make that call. Without any further conversation, Ruel and McDermott left the defendant to return to Connecticut.

At 10:30 p.m., Officer Stanley Chmielewski, Jr., of the Agawam police, was fingerprinting the defendant in the booking room of the Agawam police department. The defendant asked Chmielewski what would happen to him next. Chmielewski answered that he did not know because the Connecticut state police were in charge of the investigation. The defendant then told Chmielewski that he would like to talk to the Connecticut police. Chmielewski relayed this information to his lieutenant.

Ruel was getting into his car to leave the Agawam police station when an officer called him back into the building, saying that the defendant had asked to speak with the Connecticut police. Later, Ruel entered the defendant's cell, read the defendant his Miranda rights, and the defendant signed an advisement card. The defendant then asked Ruel what would happen to him during the entire arrest process. Ruel told the defendant that he would appear in court in Springfield, Massachusetts, the next day as a fugitive from justice, and that he then would be extradited to Connecticut to stand trial. The defendant told Ruel that he wanted to tell the police what had happened and that he wanted to get it "off his chest." Ruel advised the defendant of his rights once again. The defendant...