State v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 21 November 1978
• Citation: 407 A.2d 948,176 Conn. 257
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Ronald JACKSON.

Page 948

407 A.2d 948

176 Conn. 257

STATE of Connecticut v. Ronald JACKSON.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Oct. 3, 1978.

Decided Nov. 21, 1978.

Thomas Corradino, New Haven, for appellant (defendant).

Ernest J. Diette, Jr., Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were Arnold Markle, State's Atty., and John J. Kelly, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (state).

Before COTTER, C. J., and LOISELLE, BOGDANSKI, LONGO and PETERS, JJ.

BOGDANSKI, Associate Justice.

On November 8, 1974, between 4:30 and 4:45 p. m., two young black men armed with handguns and wearing stocking masks over their faces held up the Reliable Liquor Store on Dixwell Avenue in New Haven. One of the men was wearing a black leather jacket. The only persons in the store at the time of the holdup were the proprietor and his wife, Charles and Amelia Signore. As the men were leaving the store they both opened fire with their handguns and one of the shots struck the proprietor in the chest. He was taken to the hospital where he died one week later.

It is in connection with that robbery and the shooting death of Charles Signore that the defendant, Ronald Jackson, was tried and found guilty of one count of felony murder, in violation of § 53a-54c of the General Statutes. ¹ After the jury returned their verdict, the defendant moved to set it aside on the ground of insufficient evidence. The court denied the motion and the defendant has appealed, assigning error in the denial of his motion to set aside the verdict.

It is axiomatic that the state, in a criminal case, has the burden of proving every essential element of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. DeCoster, 147 Conn. 502, 504, 162 A.2d 704; State v. Newman, 127 Conn. 398, 400, 17 A.2d 774. In order to meet that burden in this case the state was required to introduce evidence establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Ronald Jackson, was a participant in the November 8 robbery of the Reliable Liquor Store and that the defendant or another participant in that robbery caused the death of the proprietor.

At the trial, Mrs. Signore testified to the November 8 robbery and the shooting of her husband, but because of the stocking masks worn by the participants she was unable to identify any of them. On the issue of the cause of the victim's death, the state offered the evidence of three medical doctors, each of whom testified that the victim died as a direct result of the gunshot wound received during the holdup.

The state then called John Gates as a witness. Gates testified that on May 13, 1976, he entered a plea of guilty to murder in connection with his part in the November 8 robbery and the shooting death of the proprietor. He also testified that in exchange for his plea the state agreed to recommend a minimum sentence of ten years to life. Gates then invoked the fifth amendment and refused to testify further, leaving the state with the burden of establishing by other means that the defendant Jackson was the other participant in that robbery.

The state's case on the issue of the defendant's involvement in the November 8 robbery consists almost entirely of the testimony of two witnesses, Irish Wright and Nancy Creach. ² Irish Wright testified that she had known the defendant Jackson for about three years, that she had known John Gates for about the same period of time, and that during the time that she had known these men, they were frequently together. She further testified that sometime in the latter part of October or early November of 1974, Jackson came to her house and asked if she had a pair of ladies stockings which he could have. When she told him that she did not, he left. With the defendant at the time of this conversation was a Mr. McLean, generally referred to as "Bunky." ³ Although she could not recall the exact date of this conversation with Jackson, she did say that it was on the same day as a conversation which she had with her friend, Nancy Creach. She testified that Nancy Creach came to her house between 7:30 and 8:00 p. m. of the same evening that Jackson had asked her for the stockings. She also stated she was certain that the conversation about the stockings took place after she got home from work and that she usually got home between 4:30 and 4:45 p. m. She admitted that the conversation could have occurred as much as a half hour or an hour after she got home. When asked about the date of this conversation, she admitted that it could have taken place in October, November or December.

Nancy Creach testified that one evening she heard on television that a liquor store had been held up by three black men in stocking caps and that she went to Irish Wright's house to tell Irish about what she had heard. She stated that she and Irish Wright discussed their suspicions about the robbery. She never testified as to the date of the news program on which she first heard about a robbery. She also could not recall whether it was on the six or eleven o'clock news. In response to further questions she stated at one point that "I am not sure if it was the six o'clock news or what. I don't think so," and, later, "When I gave this statement (to the police) I said I wasn't actually sure was it the six o'clock or eleven o'clock. I don't think it was the six o'clock because it happened after that. It was dark outside and it usually is after that time."

Although Nancy Creach's testimony on this next point was vague and confusing, it appears that she had two or possibly three conversations later that same evening with the defendant Jackson. She never testified as to the exact or even approximate times of those conversations. She did say that after talking with Irish she went back home and that later that evening Jackson and McLean came to her house and talked with her about her talking with Irish Wright. She stated that the defendant told her that "just talking with anybody could start something up."

At one point she testified that when she spoke with Jackson he was wearing a rolled-up stocking cap under a hat. She later testified that when he came to her house "he did not have on a hat and the stocking thing, he had a long black leather that was all." Elsewhere in her testimony she stated that she saw Three men that night. When asked whether all three men had on stocking masks, she stated, "No, I am not saying all three men, no. Because I am not quite sure."

At one point Nancy Creach stated that while talking with Jackson about the robbery she "asked him did the man die, and that is when he said he did not think so that night." At another point she testified that "I was talking about the liquor store holdup and I was talking about the guy getting shot and what might happen, and I asked him (the defendant) and he in a confused manner he told me he didn't know but he think he did shoot the man." On cross-examination she stated that this...