State v. Jose V.
Decision Date | 26 May 2015 |
Docket Number | No. 35836.,35836. |
Citation | 116 A.3d 833,157 Conn.App. 393 |
Court | Connecticut Court of Appeals |
Parties | STATE of Connecticut v. JOSE V. |
Glenn W. Falk, assigned counsel, Madison, for the appellant (defendant).
Rocco A. Chiarenza, assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Gail P. Hardy, state's attorney, and Adam B. Scott, supervisory assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).
DiPENTIMA, C.J., and ALVORD and PELLEGRINO, Js.
The defendant, Jose V., appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of sexual assault in the fourth degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a–73a (a)(1)(A) and risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes § 53–21(a)(2). On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly considered his handwritten letter, which included incriminating remarks,1 when it imposed his sentence. Specifically, the defendant claims that the court's consideration of the letter (1) violated his constitutional privilege against self-incrimination and deprived him of his right to the effective assistance of counsel, and (2) was improper because the contents were protected by the attorney-client privilege. The defendant requests this court to exercise its supervisory authority to remand the matter to the trial court for resentencing by another judge without consideration of his letter. We disagree with all of the defendant's claims and, accordingly, affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The defendant is a native of Ecuador. He was married to the grandmother of the victim and lived in New York, but he visited the victim and her family in Connecticut on weekends. In October, 2009, when the victim was four years old, the defendant inappropriately touched her during one of his visits. The victim disclosed the incident to her mother, who contacted the Manchester Police Department. The defendant provided a statement to Detective A.J. DeJulius, in which he denied making inappropriate contact with the victim and explained that she may have mistakenly thought he had done so while he was tickling her.
The defendant was arrested and charged with the offenses for which he was convicted. At trial, the defendant testified on his own behalf and denied ever touching the victim in her vaginal area. He further testified that he occasionally tickled his daughters and the victim, but that he never touched the victim inappropriately. After the jury returned a verdict of guilty as to both charges, the court scheduled a date for sentencing. During the period of time between the verdict and the sentencing, defense counsel provided a number of letters to the court and to the state's attorney on behalf of the defendant. One of the letters, which had been provided only to the state's attorney, was handwritten in Spanish by the defendant.2
At the beginning of the sentencing proceeding, defense counsel stated that he had provided the court, through the clerk's office, with several letters in English that were either handwritten or typed. He further stated that he had received two additional letters that were handwritten in Spanish. Defense counsel explained that, although he had given copies of those letters to the state's attorney, he had removed the letters in Spanish from the submission to the court because they had not been translated into English, and he did not want “to burden” the court with “something that was incomprehensible.”
Defense counsel then represented to the court that he had just that day discerned that one of the handwritten letters in Spanish had been signed by the defendant. He reported that when he made that discovery, he asked the interpreter to translate the contents of the letter, and that he now was making the following request of the court: “[The defendant] wishes not to present that letter to Your Honor, and instead to speak to the best of his ability from his mind and his heart to Your Honor today....” The court interrupted defense counsel, stating that it generally gave the state's attorney the initial opportunity to make a presentation with respect to sentencing.
The state's attorney then proceeded to tell the court that he was “shocked” by the defendant's letter, which he earlier had translated by a different interpreter as soon as he received it. He read certain portions of the letter into the record3 and concluded with the following remarks: The state's attorney requested that the court sentence the defendant to twenty-five years incarceration, execution suspended after twelve years, and ten years probation.4
In response to the remarks of the state's attorney, defense counsel stated: 5
Defense counsel then told the court that he met with the defendant after the interpreter translated the contents of the letter, and he asked the defendant if he now was admitting to the offenses. According to defense counsel, the defendant looked at him “quizzically,” and he “explained to me that the reason he admitted it in this letter that was intended for Your Honor is that ... some of the men in the jail told him that if you don't admit what you are convicted of, the judge will give you a harsher sentence.” Defense counsel said that the defendant After offering the court what he considered to be mitigating factors, defense counsel requested that the court sentence the defendant to twenty years incarceration, execution suspended after the mandatory minimum of five years, and ten years probation.
The defendant's wife and daughter, in their brief remarks to the court, asked for leniency on behalf of the defendant. At that point, the defendant exercised his right of allocution. After thanking the court for allowing him to speak “from the bottom of my heart,” the defendant made the following statement:
In imposing the defendant's sentence, the court made the following remarks:
After a few additional comments, the court returned to the subject of the defendant's letter. The court stated: The court imposed a total effective sentence of twenty-five years incarceration, execution suspended after ten years, followed by ten years probation with special conditions. This appeal followed.
The defendant's first claim is that the court's...
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State v. Scott
...the rights of a defendant who waives his right to a jury trial and the integrity of the judicial system; see State v. Jose V., 157 Conn.App. 393, 408–409, 116 A.3d 833 (2015) ; and we therefore decline to exercise our supervisory authority.The judgment is affirmed.In this opinion the other ......
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State v. D'Amato
...on whichever condition is most relevant in the particular circumstances.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Jose V., 157 Conn.App. 393, 402, 116 A.3d 833, cert. denied, 317 Conn. 916, 117 A.3d 854 (2015).11 The following colloquy occurred:“[Defense Counsel]: Mr. Spaulding, if I w......
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State v. D'Amato
...on whichever condition is most relevant in the particular circumstances." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Jose V., 157 Conn. App. 393, 402, 116 A.3d 833, cert. denied, 317 Conn. 916, 117 A.3d 854 (2015). 11. The following colloquy occurred: "[Defense Counsel]: Mr. Spaulding, if......
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State v. Leon
...134, 151–52, 874 A.2d 750 (2005), cert. denied, 548 U.S. 926, 126 S.Ct. 2981, 165 L.Ed.2d 988 (2006) ; see also State v. Jose V., 157 Conn.App. 393, 404–405, 116 A.3d 833, cert. denied, 317 Conn. 916, 117 A.3d 854 (2015). Furthermore, “[t]he transcript of the proceedings in the trial court ......