State v. Lafountain

• Citation: 16 A.3d 761,127 Conn.App. 819
• Decision Date: 12 April 2011
• Docket Number: No. 31549.,31549.
• Court: Appellate Court of Connecticut
• Parties: STATE of Connecticutv.Krista LaFOUNTAIN.

127 Conn.App. 819

16 A.3d 761

STATE of Connecticut

v.Krista LaFOUNTAIN.

No. 31549.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued Dec. 7, 2010.Decided April 12, 2011.

Adele V. Patterson, senior assistant public defender, with whom, on the brief, was Kent Drager, former senior assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant).Harry Weller, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, was Scott J. Murphy, state's attorney, for the appellee (state).DiPENTIMA, C.J., and BEAR and PETERS, Js.DiPENTIMA, C.J.

The defendant, Krista LaFountain, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a–48 and 53a–134 (a)(2), attempt to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a–49 (a)(2) and 53a–134 (a)(2), felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a–54c and assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a–59 (a)(5). On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) there was insufficient evidence adduced at trial to sustain her conviction of (a) first degree assault on a theory of Pinkerton ¹ liability and (b) felony murder, and (2) the prosecutor committed reversible impropriety by (a) failing to enter into evidence statements that she had given to police upon her arrest, and (b) vouching for the credibility of the state's two key witnesses and stating during final argument to the jury that their incarceration at the time of trial was punishment for their role in the alleged crimes. We disagree, and, accordingly, affirm the judgment of the trial court.

On the basis of the evidence presented at trial, the jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On the night of November 30, 2006, Walter Smykla, his good friend, Jonathan Martin, and an acquaintance, Sean Bodamer, from whom the two friends had purchased cocaine, met the defendant at an E–Z Mart Gulf gasoline station in Bristol. After socializing for a while, the defendant accompanied Smykla, Martin and Bodamer to Smykla's apartment. At Smykla's apartment, the four listened to music, ingested cocaine and drank beer and brandy. The defendant generally appeared to be happy and intoxicated and was seen laughing, joking, flirting, touching, kissing and being affectionate with Bodamer.

When the cocaine had been consumed entirely, Bodamer, Smykla, Martin and the defendant sought to acquire more. The defendant proposed that they steal cocaine from some teenagers at the home of her friend, Brandy Davis, in Plymouth. The idea appealed to Bodamer, who told the defendant that he had an AK–47 at home that he wanted to get.² The defendant and Bodamer eventually persuaded Martin, the only one at Smykla's apartment with a car, to drive them to Plymouth. Smykla, not wanting to let his good friend go alone, also agreed to go to Plymouth.

After exiting Smykla's apartment and on the way to Martin's car, the defendant told Smykla that she sought to exact revenge for having been raped the previous night at Davis' apartment. Smykla, Martin, Bodamer and the defendant then got into Martin's vehicle and went to Bodamer's residence where Bodamer retrieved an AK–47 that he put in the trunk of Martin's car. Martin then drove, while Bodamer provided him with directions to Plymouth, and the defendant provided directions to Davis' home at 2 Benedict Street in Terryville.

Once on Benedict Street, the defendant instructed Martin to stop the car, and turn off the engine and lights. Bodamer and the defendant exited the vehicle, and Bodamer retrieved his AK–47 from the trunk of the car. The defendant instructed Martin to turn his car around and wait for them. Bodamer was wearing gloves, a dark coat or hoodie and made a further attempt to conceal his identity by putting a bandana around his forehead. The defendant asked Martin for a mask, which Martin did not have, and she then asked for Martin's hat, which Martin refused to provide. Thereafter, Bodamer and the defendant walked up Benedict Street and climbed the back stairs at 2 Benedict Street to Davis' apartment door located on the third floor landing. Their presence outside Davis' back door activated the outside lights that were on a motion sensor.

Hearing a knock at the back door, Davis' brother, Daniel Davis, Jr., who was visiting his sister, went to the door and asked who was there. The defendant replied: “It's the bitch.” Having sold drugs to the defendant previously, Daniel Davis, Jr., recognized her voice and opened the door halfway. Daniel Davis, Jr., saw the defendant standing approximately three feet away with Bodamer standing behind her. Bodamer then jumped out from behind the defendant with the AK–47, and Daniel Davis, Jr., kicked the door closed and locked it. Bodamer shouted, “open the door, motherfucker,” before smashing out one of the kitchen windows, located beside the back door, with the butt of the AK–47. At this time, directly on the other side of the kitchen window, the siblings' father, Daniel Davis, Sr., and Timothy Dunn were seated at the kitchen table playing cards. Bodamer then stuck his AK–47 through the broken window into the apartment and fired two gunshots.

One of the gunshots struck and killed Daniel Davis, Sr. The other gunshot struck and injured Todd Hall, a friend of Daniel Davis, Sr., who had arrived moments earlier and was passing through the kitchen. Upon hearing the gunshots, Smykla and Martin decided to leave before Bodamer and the defendant could return to the vehicle; however, after driving away and taking two successive left turns, they encountered Bodamer in the middle of the street signaling them to stop. Bodamer and the defendant got into the backseat of Martin's car, and the four drove back toward Bristol.

The four drove past a police car heading the opposite direction back toward Benedict Street at a high rate of speed with its police lights activated. Bodamer stated that he had shot someone with his “infamous [AK–47]” and that the police car that had passed was because of him. Bodamer also said that he could not wait to read the morning newspaper. The defendant asked Bodamer who was shot and stated that if it was the person who had raped her, he deserved to be shot. Bodamer replied that he did not know who he had shot, and the defendant told him that no one had ever done anything like that for her. During the drive back to Bristol, the defendant was laughing, kissing and talking with Bodamer in the backseat.

Bodamer instructed Martin to drive to Bodamer's residence in Bristol, and once there, Bodamer dropped off the AK–47. Martin then dropped Smykla, Bodamer and the defendant at Smykla's apartment before he drove home. Back at Smykla's apartment, Bodamer and the defendant continued kissing and being intimate until Bodamer left sometime between 3 and 4 a.m. The defendant then began to cry and told Smykla that although what Bodamer did was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her, she was unsure if the right person had died at the apartment. When Smykla woke up at noon the next day, he made the defendant leave his apartment.

That day, December 1, 2006, the defendant was arrested and later charged with conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of §§ 53a–48 and 53a–134 (a)(2), attempt to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of §§ 53a–49 (a)(2) and 53a–134 (a)(2), felony murder in violation of § 53a–54c and assault in the first degree in violation of § 53a–59 (a)(5). After a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to a total effective term of fifty-five years incarceration. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth where necessary.

I

The defendant first claims that the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to support her conviction of (a) assault in the first degree in violation of § 53a–59 (a)(5) under a theory of Pinkerton liability and (b) felony murder in violation of § 53a–54c. Specifically, the defendant asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support her conviction of (1) assault in the first degree because the state failed to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Bodamer committed the crime of assault in the first degree, and (2) assault in the first degree and felony murder because there was no evidence that the gunshots fired by Bodamer were “in furtherance of” either the conspiracy or attempt to commit robbery in the first degree. We disagree.

We first set forth the well settled principles that govern our review. “Appellate analysis of [a sufficiency of the evidence claim] requires us to undertake a well defined, twofold task. We first review the evidence presented at the trial, construing it in the light most favorable to sustaining the jury's verdict. We then determine whether, upon the facts thus established and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom, the jury could reasonably have concluded that the cumulative effect of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.... [P]roof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond all possible doubt ... nor does proof beyond a reasonable doubt require acceptance of every hypothesis of innocence posed by the defendant that, had it been found credible by the [jury], would have resulted in an acquittal.... [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....

“On appeal, we do not ask whether there is a reasonable view of the evidence that would support a reasonable hypothesis of innocence. We ask, instead, whether there is a reasonable view of the evidence that supports the jury's verdict of guilt.... In this process...