State v. Ibraimov
Decision Date | 15 June 1982 |
Citation | 446 A.2d 382,187 Conn. 348 |
Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
Parties | STATE of Connecticut v. Milaim IBRAIMOV. |
Murray J. Kessler, Sp. Public Defender, for appellant (defendant).
Douglas M. Karp, Sp. Deputy State's Atty., with whom were Carl Schuman, Asst. State's Atty. and, on the brief, Walter D. Flanagan, State's Atty. and Richard Arconti, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (state).
Before SPEZIALE, C. J., PETERS, ARTHUR H. HEALEY, PARSKEY and SHEA, JJ.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty on both counts of an information charging the defendant with sexual assault in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-71 and unlawful restraint in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-95. In his appeal from the judgment the defendant claims error (1) in the admission of evidence of other sexual misconduct on his part; (2) in the denial of his motion to suppress evidence of an identification of him made by the victim from photographs; (3) in allowing the state to present additional testimony after it had rested and after final arguments had been completed; and (4) in refusing to allow the defendant to present further evidence after the jury had begun to deliberate but before they reached a verdict. We agree with the first claim of error and order a new trial. We disagree with the second claim. We shall not consider the third and fourth claims because the problems presented are unlikely to arise upon the retrial which is necessary.
The briefs indicate no substantial dispute over the facts which the jury might reasonably have found from the evidence. On March 1, 1979, at about 8 p. m. the victim of the crimes, a girl fourteen years of age, entered the automobile of a man she had never seen before in order to direct him to the Danbury fairgrounds. He had requested such directions when he stopped his car on Main Street in Danbury where she was walking to her home. After showing him the location she was driven to some remote area near Danbury where she was sexually assaulted by the driver, whom she later described to the police as a man of medium height and build with dark curly hair, brown eyes, a moustache, and a very light beard. Her assailant drove the victim back to Danbury, picking up a female hitchhiker enroute. The victim got out of the car in Danbury and later reported the incident to the police. The hitchhiker, who was a witness at the trial, testified that she was driven past her destination and that the operator of the car then offered her money to have sexual relations with him. After she refused he drove her back to the place she had requested.
At trial the principal issue was the identity of the victim's assailant. In addition to the testimony of the victim and the hitchhiker, the state was permitted to present the testimony of a sixteen year old girl that on May 10, 1979, more than two months after the date of the crimes charged, she entered the car of the defendant on Main Street in Danbury when he offered her a ride. She had been sitting on a wall in front of the courthouse after leaving a party earlier that evening. She knew the defendant as a result of having met him previously through a friend, and she thought he recognized her. She asked to be driven to a point near her home, but the defendant took her to a remote area in New Milford where he made sexual advances which she resisted. He also offered her money, marijuana, and something to drink. Another car came along as they were parked and the girl pressed the horn of the defendant's vehicle. When the approaching car stopped she exited from the defendant's car. She told the people in the other car what was happening. The man driving that car emerged holding a gun which he pointed at the defendant who quickly drove away.
The trial court, after hearing the proffered testimony in the absence of the jury, concluded that any prejudicial effect was outweighed by its probative value on the issue of identification. The state claimed the evidence was admissible because it indicated that the defendant used a particular modus operandi in his attempt to have sexual relations with the sixteen year old girl which was also used in committing the offenses against this fourteen year old victim. The defendant objected that the similarities between the two incidents were insufficient to make this evidence of any significant probative value on the identity issue and duly excepted to the court's ruling.
Evidence of other misconduct, although not ordinarily admissible to prove the bad character or criminal tendencies of the accused, may be allowed for the purpose of proving many different things, such as intent, identity, malice, motive or a system of criminal activity. State v. Falby, 187 Conn. 6, 23, 444 A.2d 213 (1982); State v. Barlow, 177 Conn. 391, 393, 418 A.2d 46 (1979). "That evidence tends to prove the commission of other crimes by the accused does not render it inadmissible if it is otherwise relevant and material." State v. Marshall, 166 Conn. 593, 600, 353 A.2d 756 (1974). Where such evidence is offered in proof of an issue in the case, and not merely to show an evil disposition on the part of the accused, the trial court must still consider whether its prejudicial tendency outweighs its probative value before ruling upon its admissibility. State v. Holliday, 159 Conn. 169, 173, 268 A.2d 368 (1970). In this case the trial court performed this balancing test and decided to admit the evidence. Our review is limited to whether this ruling exceeded the latitude accorded to the exercise of judicial discretion. State v. Falby, supra; State v. Barlow, supra, 394, 418 A.2d 46; State v. Brown, 169 Conn. 692, 702, 364 A.2d 186 (1975).
The significance of the second incident in establishing the identity of the man who attacked the victim of the crimes charged two months earlier depends upon the extent of the similarity between the two occurrences. Both of the girls were young, the victim being fourteen and the second girl sixteen ; both were on Main Street in Danbury when they encountered the defendant; both said the defendant thrust some money at them in the course of seeking sexual relations, that he expressly or impliedly offered them marijuana and some alcoholic beverages, and that he took them to remote areas where he became physically aggressive. Beyond these comparisons the resemblances cease. The victim had no previous acquaintance with the defendant and was induced to enter the car upon the pretext that the driver was unable to find a particular location. The second girl was previously acquainted with the defendant and entered his car upon the offer of a ride to a place near her home. There is no evidence that the locus of the second incident was anywhere near the place where the victim testified she was assaulted. The victim's assailant grabbed her by the hair, held a knife to her throat, and said he would kill her if she did not submit. The second girl did not indicate that any weapon was used or that any threat was made by the defendant. Although each girl described the car in which she was driven as a large grey two-door automobile with a maroon interior, testified that the driver spoke with a foreign accent, and described him similarly, the admissibility of such evidence as relevant to identity would not justify the admission of testimony concerning the attempted sexual misconduct with the second girl. This innocuous evidence of the defendant's characteristics and his vehicle at the time of the occurrence was not so intertwined with the evidence of his misconduct that no separation was possible and the testimony of the second girl could have been so limited. To qualify for admission the act of prior misconduct itself must have special significance upon the issue of identity. The policy against such evidence cannot be overcome by the fact that the witness who can testify to the misconduct may also be able to provide other relevant evidence in the case.
Evidence of other crimes or misconduct of an accused is admissible on the issue of identity where the methods used are sufficiently unique to warrant a reasonable inference that the person who performed one misdeed also did the other. Much more is required than the fact that the offenses fall into the same class. "The device used must be so unusual and distinctive as to be like a signature." McCormick, Evidence § 157. Although the state claims that such evidence has commonly been admitted in sexual offense cases, in most of the cases relied upon there has been a rather unusual pattern of behavior exhibited in each incident which might be regarded as distinctive. See State v. Hauck, 172 Conn. 140, 146-47, 374 A.2d 150 (1976); annot., 2 A.L.R.4th 395, § 11. Because of its prejudicial character, we have been reluctant to allow evidence of other crimes of the same class as the offense charged even within such a relatively narrow category as murder by poisoning. State v. Gilligan, 92 Conn. 526, 536, 103 A. 649 (1918). In the case before us none of the common features of the two sexual assaults can fairly be characterized as sufficiently distinctive to support a reasonable belief that the same person committed both. The number of times that young girls have been induced to enter automobiles upon similar pretexts and with similar consequences is just too great according to general experience to narrow the circle of possible suspects significantly. Offers of money, liquor and, in this day and age, marijuana as enticements are only slightly more unique than the use of a gun as a tool of the trade by a robber. We conclude that the trial court erred in admitting the evidence of the defendant's sexual misconduct with the second girl.
The claim of the defendant that evidence of the victim's identification of him from an array of photographs presented to her out of court should have been...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
State v. O'Neill
...v. Williams, 190 Conn. 104, 108, 459 A.2d 510 (1983); State v. Howard, 187 Conn. 681, 684, 447 A.2d 1167 (1982); State v. Ibraimov, 187 Conn. 348, 352, 446 A.2d 382 (1982); State v. Barlow, 177 Conn. 391, 393, 418 A.2d 46 (1979); 1 Wigmore, Evidence (3d Ed.) §§ 215-18. Evidence of other mis......
-
State v. Nardini
...such a method for the George Street building, thus supporting another witness for the state who so testified. Cf. State v. Ibraimov, 187 Conn. 348, 446 A.2d 382 (1982). Where evidence is relevant to show a common plan or an unusual technique used to commit a crime, we see no reason to exclu......
-
State v. Gethers
..."critical stage" of the proceeding. Coleman v. Alabama, 399 U.S. 1, 7, 90 S.Ct. 1999, 2002, 26 L.Ed.2d 387 (1970); State v. Ibraimov, 187 Conn. 348, 357, 446 A.2d 382 (1982); State v. Canady, 187 Conn. 281, 289, 445 A.2d 895 (1982); 3 Wharton, Criminal Procedure (12th Ed. Torcia 1975) § 411......
-
State v. Campbell
...The device used must be so unusual and distinctive as to be like a signature." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Ibraimov , 187 Conn. 348, 354, 446 A.2d 382 (1982). The state always has the burden to prove identity as an element of the offense, and the prior misconduct testimony ......
-
Uncharged - Misconduct Evidence and the Issue of Intent: Limiting the Need for Admissibility
...213 Conn. 422, 428-429, 568 A.2d 448, 451 (1990) State v. Perry: 195 Conn. 505, 521, 488 A.2d 1256, 1265 (1985); State v. Ibraimov, 187 Conn. 348,446 A.2d 382, 384 (1982) (uncharged-misconduct evidence, although generally inadmissible to prove bad character or criminal propensity, may be al......