State v. Hines

• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: BISHOP, J.
• Citation: State v. Hines, 89 Conn.App. 440, 873 A.2d 1042 (Conn. App. 2005)
• Decision Date: 07 June 2005
• Docket Number: (AC 24382).
• Parties: STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. DANNY HINES

89 Conn. App. 440

873 A.2d 1042

STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. DANNY HINES

(AC 24382).

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued February 7, 2005.

Officially released June 7, 2005.

Bishop, DiPentima and Gruendel, Js.

Deborah G. Stevenson, special public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Melissa L. Streeto, deputy assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, state's attorney, Robert J. O'Brien, supervisory assistant state's attorney, and Roger S. Dobris, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Opinion

BISHOP, J.

The defendant, Danny Hines, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-59 (a) (5).¹ He also appeals from the judgments, rendered after a trial to the court, finding him guilty of violation of probation in contravention of General Statutes § 53a-32.² On appeal, the defendant claims: "The [trial] court improperly denied the [defendant's] motion for acquittal when the state conceded it could not prove that the [defendant] assaulted the victim, when the [defendant] was not charged with accessory liability, when the state failed to prove accessory liability, when the court improperly instructed the jury on accessory liability, and when the jury was misled by the court's instructions." From this statement, we glean that the defendant claims that (1) the evidence was insufficient to convict him as either an accessory or a principal, and, thus, the court improperly denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal, (2) the court improperly instructed the jury on accessory liability when the defendant was not charged in the information as an accessory and (3) the court's jury instruction on accessory liability confused the jury.³ After analyzing the defendant's claims as we have reframed them, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On the evening of June 13, 2001, as Raphael Chestnut and Mary Hartsfield were sitting on the porch of their home at 128 Read Street in New Haven, they noticed the defendant walking along Read Street in front of their home. The defendant left the area and then returned a few moments later riding a white bicycle in the street near the sidewalk closest to their home. As he rode by their house, he pointed a handgun and fired in the direction of Chestnut and Hartsfield. At about the same time, Chestnut and Hartsfield saw a second individual walking in the street in front of their home. After the defendant fired a gunshot from his handgun, the second individual also began shooting a handgun toward the porch. Chestnut was shot in the arm as he grabbed Hartsfield and dove toward the floor of the porch while covering his head with his right arm. Chestnut and Hartsfield heard a total of five or six gunshots, but they could not determine which gun fired the bullet that injured Chestnut. The defendant escaped on his bicycle while the second individual ran away.

Charles Gargano, an officer with the New Haven police department, quickly arrived at the scene. He found Hartsfield standing on the front porch and Chestnut lying on the porch grabbing his chest. Gargano observed that Chestnut had been shot in the upper right arm just above the elbow and noticed bullet holes through the front of the house. When Gargano approached, Hartsfield stated that the defendant was the perpetrator. She provided Gargano with a physical description of the defendant as well as his clothing and the bicycle. The police interviewed the defendant that evening, but did not arrest him at that time.

Prior to the incident, Hartsfield and Chestnut had spoken with the defendant and told him to stop selling drugs in front of their home. In response, the defendant stated that he owned the neighborhood and would sell drugs wherever he chose. He then threatened to blow their house "off the hinges."

In connection with the investigation of the incident, the police also questioned Dakema Conyers, Hartsfield's niece. At the time of the incident, Conyers lived next door to Chestnut and Hartsfield at 126 Read Street. When she initially was questioned, Conyers told the police that on the night of the shooting, she was on the porch with Hartsfield and Chestnut and saw the defendant ride by on a bicycle. She told the police that as the defendant passed in front of the house for the last time, she saw a gun in his hand and heard gunshots. Additionally, she told the police that she saw a second individual who also fired a handgun toward the house. At trial, Conyers withdrew most of the statement she had given to the police, asserting that much of it was untrue. She testified that she actually was in her second floor apartment at the time of the shooting and that she heard what sounded like four or five gunshots coming from outside. She could not, however, identify the shooter from her vantage point. Nevertheless, she claimed that she did, in fact, see someone who generally matched the description of the defendant running from the direction of Chestnut's and Hartsfield's home.

The defendant was charged in an amended information with assault in the first degree. At the close of the state's case, the defendant made a motion for a judgment of acquittal, which the court denied. No interrogatories were submitted to the jury. On January 28, 2003, the defendant was convicted of assault in the first degree. Neither party moved for a jury poll. After the verdict, the defendant filed motions for a judgment of acquittal and for a new trial, which the court denied. On January 29, 2003, the court held a violation of probation hearing regarding two unrelated convictions that occurred in 1998 and found, by a fair preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant had violated a condition of probation in each of the two unrelated cases. On May 30, 2003, the court sentenced the defendant to twenty years incarceration to be served on the count of assault in the first degree. The court also revoked the defendant's probation, revoked the suspended sentence on both of the unrelated cases and committed the defendant to the custody of the commissioner of correction for a period of two years to be served for violation of probation. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

I

The defendant claims that the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he was guilty, either as an accessory or as a principal, of assault in the first degree in violation of § 53a-59 (a) (5). Specifically, he claims that the court improperly denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal. We disagree.

"The standard of appellate review of a denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal has been settled by judicial decision. . . . The issue to be determined is whether the jury could have reasonably concluded, from the facts established and the reasonable inferences which could be drawn from those facts, that the cumulative effect was to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. . . . The facts and the reasonable inferences stemming from the facts must be given a construction most favorable to sustaining the jury's verdict." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Vasquez, 68 Conn. App. 194, 204, 792 A.2d 856 (2002).

We analyze the issue by setting forth each of the essential elements of § 53a-59 (a) (5) and by determining whether the state proved each element beyond a reasonable doubt. In undertaking this analysis, we are mindful that "although it is within the province of the jury to draw reasonable, logical inferences from the facts proven, they may not resort to speculation and conjecture. . . . [I]n viewing evidence which could yield contrary inferences, the jury is not barred from drawing those inferences consistent with guilt and is not required to draw only those inferences consistent with innocence. The rule is that the jury's function is to draw whatever inferences from the evidence or facts established by the evidence it deems to be reasonable and logical." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.

To sustain the conviction under § 53a-59 (a) (5), the state must demonstrate with proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant (1) intended to cause physical injury to another person, (2) caused such injury to such person or to a third person and (3) did so by means of the discharge of a firearm. In the present case, although the state charged the defendant as a principal actor under the statute, the court properly instructed the jury that it could find the defendant guilty under a theory of accessorial liability pursuant to General Statutes § 53a-8. See part II.

General Statutes § 53a-8 (a) provides: "A person, acting with the mental state required for commission of an offense, who solicits, requests, commands, importunes or intentionally aids another person to engage in conduct which constitutes an offense shall be criminally liable for such conduct and may be prosecuted and punished as if he were the principal offender." "Since under our law both principals and accessories are treated as principals . . . if the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict, establishes that [the defendant] committed the [crime] charged or did some act which forms . . . a part thereof, or directly or indirectly counseled or procured any persons to commit the offenses or do any act forming a part thereof, then the [conviction] must stand." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Conde, 67 Conn. App. 474, 484, 787 A.2d 571 (2001), cert. denied, 259 Conn. 927, 793 A.2d 251 (2002). The accessory statute establishes an alternative means by which a particular crime may be committed. State v. Delgado, 247 Conn. 616, 622, 725 A.2d 306 (1999). Therefore, for the purposes of determining criminal liability, it is of no consequence whether one is labeled an accessory or...