State v. James

• Decision Date: 16 February 1999
• Citation: 725 A.2d 316,247 Conn. 662
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: (Conn. 1999) STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. LATONE JAMES 15932, 15933

725 A.2d 316 (Conn. 1999)

STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. LATONE JAMES

15932, 15933

Connecticut Supreme Court

Argued September 29, 1998

February 16, 1999

Louis S. Avitabile and Karen Diebolt, special public defenders, for the appellant (defendant). Judith Rossi, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom were Maureen Keegan, supervisory assistant state's attorney, and, on the brief, John Connelly, state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Callahan, C. J., and Borden, Berdon, Norcott, Katz, Palmer and Peters, Js.

Norcott, J.

OPINION

This opinion addresses two appeals. The principal issues in these appeals are whether, with respect to a judgment of conviction, there was sufficient evidence adduced at the trial from which the jury reasonably could have found the defendant guilty of robbery in the first degree, and whether the state is barred by the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment to the United States constitution,¹ or by the principles of collateral estoppel, from retrying the defendant for felony murder after the jury found the defendant guilty of robbery, but could not decide unanimously that he was guilty of the crime of felony murder.

The two appeals arose in the following manner. The defendant, Latone James, was charged with the crimes of felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54c, ² robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (2), ³ and two counts of assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-59 (a) (5). ⁴ The information charged that the defendant was a principal in the commission of all of the crimes. The defendant pleaded not guilty to all counts of the information and elected a jury trial. The jury found the defendant guilty of robbery in the first degree, but was deadlocked as to the remaining counts. The trial court accepted the guilty verdict as to the robbery count and declared a mistrial as to the rest of the counts. Subsequently, the defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal on the robbery count pursuant to Practice Book § 42-51, ⁵ and on the remaining counts pursuant to Practice Book § 42-50. ⁶ The trial court denied the defendant's motions and rendered a judgment of conviction according to the verdict. The defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction claiming that the trial court abused its discretion in not granting: (1) the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal, or alternatively modifying the judgment, as to the robbery in the first degree count; and (2) the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal as to the remaining counts.

After the defendant was sentenced, the state filed a revised substitute information seeking to retry the defendant for felony murder. ⁷ The defendant moved to dismiss the information on the grounds of double jeopardy and collateral estoppel. The trial court denied the defendant's motion, and the defendant filed an interlocutory appeal. In his interlocutory appeal, the defendant claims that: (1) a retrial in this case would violate the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment to the United States constitution; (2) the state is collaterally estopped from relitigating the robbery count; and (3) given the verdict and the evidence in this case, the state is collaterally estopped from charging the defendant as an accessory to the felony murder. We affirm the judgment of conviction and the ruling of the trial court denying the motion to dismiss.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. At 5:15 a.m., on February 26, 1995, the defendant, armed with two loaded handguns, entered the La Cabana Club, an after-hours club located on Mill Street in Waterbury. With his guns drawn, the defendant approached the bar and demanded money from the bartender, Angel Perez. Before Perez could comply with the defendant's demand, the defendant shot him in the arm. Perez eventually put an undetermined amount of money on the bar. The defendant grabbed the money, shoved it into his pocket, and began to step back toward the door while shooting his guns rapidly. After the robbery, the defendant bragged to his friends about having robbed the club and having shot someone.

In addition to Perez, two patrons, Annibal Sanchez and Luis Melendez, were shot. Sanchez and Perez survived the shootings, but Melendez died from a gunshot wound to the head.

During an autopsy, a .38 caliber bullet was recovered from Melendez's body. The police also recovered several .22 caliber and .38 caliber empty shells from the crime scene. Further police investigation produced a .22 caliber handgun and a .38 caliber handgun. The defendant admitted that he had been carrying these guns after the robbery, and that he had managed to dispose of them through his friends. The state's expert was able to match the .22 caliber shells to the .22 caliber handgun, but was unable to determine conclusively that the .38 caliber shells and the bullet that killed Melendez came from the .38 caliber handgun.

At trial, the defendant testified that he had participated in the robbery with a man named Eddy Garcia. The defendant claimed that he was only the lookout, while Garcia was the man who had robbed Perez and had shot the others. Although the defendant admitted that he was armed with two .38 caliber handguns, he claimed that he could not have killed Melendez because he did not fire his weapons.

Despite the defendant's testimony, the trial court instructed the jury that it could find the defendant guilty of all counts only if it determined that he had been the principal in the commission of the felony murder, the robbery, and the two assaults, namely, that he in fact had shot all of the victims. ⁸

I.

In his appeal from the judgment of conviction, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly denied his posttrial motion for judgment of acquittal as to the robbery in the first degree count, and as to the remaining counts on which a mistrial had been declared. We disagree. ⁹

With respect to the robbery in the first degree count, the defendant contends that, although the evidence was sufficient for the jury to have found him guilty of robbery in the third degree, there was inadequate evidence for the jury to have found him guilty of robbery in the first degree because it could not have found that he was armed with a deadly weapon. To support his claim, the defendant argues that because the jury found him guilty of robbery but was deadlocked as to the remaining counts, the jury necessarily must have found that he was the lookout, not the robber in the bar. The defendant further argues that because the guns carried by the lookout were never found, there was no evidence demonstrating that these guns were capable of firing shots. The defendant, therefore, claims that the jury could not have found that he was armed with a deadly weapon.

This argument is based entirely on the defendant's posttrial recasting of the jury's finding of facts, and his interpretation of the jury's decision-making process. The defendant's attempt to exploit the apparent inconsistency in the jury's behavior is, however, unavailing because the jury's inability to agree does not imply acquittal or any other particular finding of fact. United States v. Sanford, 429 U.S. 14, 15-16, 97 S. Ct. 20, 50 L. Ed. 2d 17 (1976); State v. Aparo, 223 Conn. 384, 388, 614 A.2d 401 (1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 972, 113 S. Ct. 1414, 1415, 122 L. Ed. 2d 785 (1993), habeas corpus granted on different grounds, Aparo v. Superior Court, 956 F. Sup. 118 (D. Conn. 1996), aff'd, 129 F.3d 113 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S. Ct. 414, 139 L. Ed. 2d 317 (1997); State v. Daniels, 207 Conn. 374, 388, 542 A.2d 306, following remand, 209 Conn. 225, 550 A.2d 885 (1988), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1069, 109 S. Ct. 1349, 103 L. Ed. 2d 817 (1989). To determine that the defendant was not entitled to a judgment of acquittal pursuant to Practice Book §§ 42-50 and 42-51, the trial court was obligated to decide only whether there was sufficient evidence on which the jury reasonably could have concluded that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes charged. The fact that the jury did not reach a consistent result with respect to all of the counts was not a factor that the trial court should have considered in ruling on the defendant's motion. The trial court was not required to draw any factual inferences from the jury's indecision with regard to the mistrial on certain counts. State v. Daniels, supra, 388. Accordingly, the trial court's denial of the defendant's motions could be improper only if the evidence did not "reasonably permit a finding of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. . . ." Practice Book §§ 42-50 and 42-51.

With respect to the verdict, the trial court was obliged to determine only "whether the jury could reasonably have concluded, upon the facts established and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom, that the cumulative effect of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." State v. Chetcuti, 173 Conn. 165, 172, 377 A.2d 263 (1977); see also Feir v. Hartford, 141 Conn. 459, 463, 106 A.2d 723 (1954). In the present case, there was ample evidence from which the jury could have found that the defendant was armed with a deadly weapon while robbing the bartender. Similarly, there was evidence that reasonably could have permitted a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt as to the remaining counts. See Practice Book § 42-50. We conclude, therefore, that the trial court properly denied the defendant's motions for judgment of acquittal. In addition, having found the verdict supported by the evidence, the trial court properly denied the defendant's motion for modification of the verdict.

II.

In his interlocutory appeal, ¹⁰ the defendant claims that the trial court improperly denied his motion to dismiss the state's revised substitute information. Specifically, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly concluded...