State v. Haggood

• Decision Date: 07 February 1995
• Docket Number: No. 13629,13629
• Citation: 36 Conn.App. 753,653 A.2d 216
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Ricky HAGGOOD.

Page 216

653 A.2d 216

36 Conn.App. 753

STATE of Connecticut v. Ricky HAGGOOD.

No. 13629.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued Nov. 7, 1994.

Decided Feb. 7, 1995.

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

Leon F. Dalbec, Jr., Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, State's Atty., and Gary Nicholson, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (state).

Before DUPONT, C.J., and HEIMAN and SCHALLER, JJ.

HEIMAN, Judge.

The defendant appeals ¹ from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of arson in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-111(a)(1) ² and conspiracy to commit arson in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-48 ³ and 53a-111(a)(1). The defendant was found not guilty of a third count of criminal attempt to commit arson in the first degree. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) denied his motion for judgment of acquittal when the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions, (2) admitted into evidence the statements of two alleged coconspirators, and (3) permitted the assistant state's attorney to make improper closing arguments to the jury. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury could reasonably have found the following facts. In August, 1987, Harold Dozier and Debra Dozier purchased a house located at 97 Carmel Street in New Haven from Gladis Lee. They moved into the house with their three young children, and Gladis Lee moved into a house across the street. Gladis Lee's sons, Dean and Mark, no longer lived with their mother but were often seen at her residence. The defendant, a friend of the Lees, was also frequently seen outside the Lee house.

Shortly after moving to Carmel Street, the Doziers became involved in a block watch group organized to unify the neighborhood and to instill a sense of security in its occupants. The group also discussed ways of improving the community, including creating solutions to the area's drug problem. As time went on, Harold Dozier assumed a leadership role in the neighborhood block watch organization.

For several months prior to June 19, 1990, both Harold Dozier and Debra Dozier observed what they considered to be drug transactions occurring in front of the Lee residence. The Doziers observed the defendant, Mark Lee, Dean Lee and Anthony Hill participate in the transactions. Harold Dozier reported these observations to the New Haven police.

During this same period of time, Sergeant William White of the criminal intelligence division of the New Haven police department, received information that drug transactions were occurring on Carmel Street. He was informed that the defendant, Hill, Mark Lee, Dean Lee and Andre Thomas were among the persons participating in this illegal activity. White undertook surveillance of the area on several occasions and observed each of these men engage in what White concluded, on the basis of his observations of their conduct, were drug transactions.

On Friday, June 15, 1990, White participated in a police raid on an apartment house located at 561 Winthrop Avenue, New Haven, which is directly behind the Lee residence on Carmel Street. Narcotics were found at the apartment, and Mark Lee was subsequently arrested and charged with a narcotics violation. The Doziers were unaware of the fact that a raid had been conducted, or that Mark Lee had been arrested, until they were told of the occurrence by Judith Monk, a neighbor on Carmel Street. ⁴ Dean Lee believed, however, that the Doziers and Monk were responsible for his brother's arrest and told the defendant and Thomas of his suspicions.

Subsequent to the raid at 561 Winthrop Avenue and Mark Lee's arrest, three windows at the Dozier house were simultaneously smashed by three bricks. When the Doziers looked to see what had happened, they observed the defendant running from the area of their house toward the Lee residence.

On Saturday June 16, 1990, Harold Dozier took the windows for repair. When he returned to the house, he saw the defendant, Hill, and Dean Lee leaning against a car about five houses away. An argument ensued between Hill and Harold Dozier, and Hill yelled: "[Y]ou took our house, we're gonna fuck you up, we're gonna get you."

Later on Saturday, a neighborhood festival with an antidrug theme was sponsored by the block watch group. The festival took place on Percival Street, between Carmel Street and Sherman Avenue, which was blocked off for the event. At the festival, Harold Dozier made a speech against drugs in the neighborhood. The defendant, Dean Lee, and Hill were in attendance at the festival and were present when Harold Dozier spoke.

The next day another brick was thrown at the Dozier home. Neither Debra Dozier nor Harold Dozier observed who threw the brick.

On Monday June 18, 1990, the defendant went to the Taurus Bar with Hill, Thomas, Mark Lee, Dean Lee and Tim Best for drinks. After a period of time, the friends decided to return to Carmel Street. Thomas dropped off the defendant, Hill and Dean Lee in front of Gladis Lee's house and left the area to bring Mark Lee to his girlfriend's house. Best also left the Carmel Street area to go home. When Thomas returned, the defendant, Hill, Dean Lee and a juvenile were in front of the Dozier home. They were setting off M-80 firecrackers and smoking "dust," a narcotic substance. Thomas told the group to go home before the police were called. The group did not heed Thomas' advice, but Thomas left the scene so as not to jeopardize his parole.

The Doziers heard the M-80 firecrackers shortly after they had retired for the evening. Debra Dozier looked out the window and observed the defendant, Hill, Dean Lee and a person whom she did not recognize in front of the house. After about one-half hour, the Doziers called the police to complain about the activity in front of the house. Shortly thereafter, a police cruiser drove by the house and the noise ceased.

About thirty minutes after the cruiser had passed the house, the setting off of firecrackers resumed. The Doziers recognized the voices of the defendant, Hill, and Dean Lee coming from the front of the house, the area where the firecrackers were being ignited. The Doziers also heard a rumbling noise from the area of their front porch. After hearing the rumbling noise, Debra Dozier again looked out of the front bedroom window and observed the defendant, Dean Lee and Hill roughhousing on the Dozier property.

Debra Dozier returned to bed and about one minute later she and Harold Dozier heard a whooshing sound coming from the front porch and discovered that the porch was on fire. Harold Dozier called the police while Debra, with their three children, vacated the house. Harold Dozier grabbed a fire extinguisher and was able to extinguish the fire before the fire department arrived. At this point, Harold Dozier saw that the grass in front of Monk's house had also been set on fire. Harold Dozier immediately ran to Monk's residence as soon as he had extinguished the fire on his porch.

Captain Robert Callahan of the New Haven fire department arrived at the scene at approximately 1:35 a.m. and noted an odor of gasoline coming from the grass and front porch areas of the Dozier house. A plastic container that gave off the odor of gasoline was found near the Doziers' front porch and the arson squad was notified. Pour patterns on the Dozier porch indicated that a flammable liquid and accelerant were used to start the fire and that the fire was incendiary in nature. Another plastic container was found on the lawn of the Monk house. This container also smelled of gasoline.

The following day, Thomas learned of the fire at the Dozier home when he picked up Mark Lee for their daily trip to a gym and Thomas saw detectives and news crews outside the Doziers' house. Later that day, at approximately 3:30 p.m., Thomas went to Mark Lee's third floor apartment at 627 Dixwell Avenue. He found Hill and Dean Lee at the apartment, but the defendant was not present. When Thomas arrived at the apartment, Dean Lee had just come out of the shower and Hill was removing his clothing to take a shower. The clothes that Hill was removing were the ones that he had been wearing the night before. Thomas noted that they smelled of smoke and gasoline.

At the apartment, Hill stated that he, the defendant, Dean Lee, and a fourth person had thrown plastic bottles containing gasoline on the Dozier house and on the Monk property and had set them on fire. He stated that he and the unnamed fourth person had set the fire at the Dozier house while the defendant and Dean Lee had set the fire at the Monk house. He also stated that they would claim as an alibi that they were all at the Branford Inn if they were questioned concerning the fires.

A warrant was issued for the arrest of the defendant, Hill, and Dean Lee as a result of these fires. On June 22, 1990, the police learned that the defendant was in the vicinity of 627 Dixwell Avenue. When the police arrived, the defendant was sitting on the porch of those premises. When the defendant saw the police, he ran into the back entrance of the building, up to the apartment of Mark Lee. The police found him hiding behind a false wall in that apartment.

I

The defendant first claims that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions of arson in the first degree and conspiracy to commit arson in the first degree. We are unpersuaded and conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support both convictions.

We begin our analysis by restating the principles that guide and define the scope of our review. When called on to review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, we undertake a two part analysis. State v. Sivri, 231 Conn. 115, 126, 646 A.2d 169 (1994); State v. Wideman, 36 Conn.App. 190, 202, 650 A.2d 571 (1994). "First we construe the evidence in light most...