State v. Ledbetter

• Decision Date: 27 September 2005
• Docket Number: No. 17307.,17307.
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Laquan LEDBETTER.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

881 A.2d 290

275 Conn. 534

STATE of Connecticut v. Laquan LEDBETTER.

No. 17307.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued April 12, 2005.

Decided September 27, 2005.

Lisa J. Steele, special public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Nancy L. Chupak, assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were James E. Thomas, state's attorney, and Thomas Garcia, assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Michael A. Fitzpatrick, Tanina Rostain and Barry Scheck, pro hac vice, filed a brief for the Innocence Project, Inc., et al. as amici curiae.

SULLIVAN, C.J., and BORDEN, NORCOTT, KATZ and ZARELLA, Js.

BORDEN, J.

The defendant, Laquan Ledbetter, appeals from the trial court's judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of two counts of robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-134(a)(3)¹ and 53a-8(a),² and two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-48(a)³ and 53a-134(a)(3). The defendant raises the following two claims of error, each pertaining to separate counts of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery: (1) the evidence was insufficient to prove the counts of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery associated with Docket No. HHDCR01181112T beyond a reasonable doubt; and (2) the trial court improperly admitted the victim's identification of the defendant into evidence on the counts of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery associated with Docket No. HHDCR01181111T. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The defendant was charged with four counts each of robbery in the first degree in violation of §§ 53a-134(a)(3) and 53a-8(a), and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of §§ 53a-48(a) and 53a-134(a)(3). The jury found the defendant guilty of two counts each of robbery in the first degree and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree.⁴ The trial court rendered judgment of conviction in accordance with the verdict. This appeal followed.⁵ The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. Around 11 p.m. on November 30, 2001, Stephanie Mace was walking on Whiting Road in East Hartford when a black car, traveling in the same direction as she, stopped at the curb a few feet in front of her. Four males, wearing hooded sweatshirts, exited the vehicle; a fifth male remained in the driver's seat of the vehicle. After Mace had walked past the four males, she was grasped by her shirt and pulled backwards. She was then turned around, and one of the males punched her in the eyebrow, causing her to fall to the ground. The four males surrounded Mace. When she started screaming, one of the males produced a knife and, holding it close to her face, told her that, if she continued to scream, they would cut her throat.

The assailants demanded money. Mace initially denied having any money, but then recalled that she had $150 in a white plastic bag she was carrying that also contained some baby clothes and other items. When she told the assailants that they could take the money from the bag, they took the bag and its contents. They also searched Mace's pockets, tearing the pants she was wearing in the process. The four males then ran back to and entered the vehicle. After the vehicle made a U-turn, one of the occupants warned Mace not to get up or to call the police.

Mace waited for the vehicle to reach the corner of Whiting Road and Mercer Avenue before she got up and ran to her mother's home, which was less than a minute away. While Mace was attempting to explain what had happened, her mother called the police and for an ambulance.

Also around 11 p.m. that night, Brian Leonard, while walking down Sisson Street to a convenience store at the corner of Sisson Street and Main Street in East Hartford, observed a black, four door sedan pull into a driveway approximately thirty to forty feet in front of him. Two black males exited the vehicle and approached Leonard quickly, side by side, one slightly in front of the other. As they approached, Leonard noticed that the one in front held a knife in his hand. That assailant struck Leonard, while, at the same time, Leonard, in an attempt to defend himself, seized the assailant's hand that held the knife. As Leonard attempted to disarm the first assailant, the second assailant knocked Leonard's feet out from under him, causing him to fall to the ground along with the first assailant. During the ensuing struggle, the assailants threatened to cut or stab Leonard.

As Leonard was struggling with the assailants, the black sedan approached them. When the vehicle stopped, a male exited the driver's side of the vehicle, advanced toward Leonard and began kicking him. Leonard indicated that he had money that he would give to the assailants, if they would allow him to get up off the ground. When the assailants allowed Leonard to stand up, he pulled $5 from his pocket and threw it to the ground. At approximately the same time, a noise or a light startled the assailants, causing them to return to their vehicle and flee. As the vehicle traveled in reverse down Sisson Street toward Main Street, Leonard noticed that it contained five black males.

Leonard then proceeded to the convenience store, where he telephoned the police. During the telephone call, he explained what had happened and described the vehicle, its occupants and its direction of travel. Shortly thereafter, Officer Daryl Droun of the East Hartford police department arrived at the convenience store. Leonard walked out of the convenience store and joined Droun in his cruiser. Leonard sat in the backseat; Droun sat in the driver's seat. After refusing Droun's offer to get him medical care for some bruising and bleeding on his face, Leonard described his assailants and their vehicle; Droun broadcast the descriptions over his radio. As Leonard and Droun continued to talk, they heard over Droun's radio that five individuals in a vehicle matching the description given by Leonard had been stopped by police at the corner of Main Street and Pitkin Street in East Hartford. After hearing this information over the radio, Leonard requested the opportunity to attempt to identify his assailants.

Droun drove Leonard to the location where the vehicle had been stopped. When Droun and Leonard arrived, the five black males that had occupied the vehicle were lined up in front of a police cruiser with police officers on either side of them and the light from the headlights of several police cruisers shining on them. Some of the police cruisers also had their overhead emergency lights on. Droun stopped his cruiser approximately fifty to 100 feet from the suspects, with the light from its headlights shining on them. Droun instructed Leonard to remain in the cruiser. After verifying that Leonard could see the suspects clearly, Droun exited the cruiser and walked to the rear door on the driver's side. When Droun leaned into the open window of the cruiser, Leonard immediately identified two of the suspects, one of which was the defendant, as his initial assailants. He also made a tentative identification of the third assailant but could not be "100 percent positive...." All five suspects were subsequently arrested. Droun also returned to Leonard a $5 bill recovered at the scene of the identification.

A search of the suspects' vehicle, conducted at the scene, revealed a knife under the floor mat of the front passenger seat. A subsequent inventory search of the vehicle, conducted after it had been towed to the police department evidence lockup, revealed two skull caps,⁶ one black and one gray, and a black scarf. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

The state filed charges against the defendant in four separate long form informations pertaining to each of four separate victims who were robbed on November 30, 2001.⁷ Each information contained one count of robbery in the first degree and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree. The four informations were consolidated for trial, but each victim's testimony was not cross admissible. The defendant subsequently was tried before a jury and found guilty of the charges contained in the two informations pertaining to Mace and Leonard. The trial court rendered judgment on the verdicts and sentenced the defendant to imprisonment for twenty years, execution suspended after twelve years, and five years probation.

I INSUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

With respect to the convictions pertaining to the robbery of Mace, the defendant claims on appeal that the state failed to present sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had conspired to commit robbery in the first degree and had committed robbery in the first degree. Specifically, the defendant contends that, in light of the deficiencies in the case against him, Mace's identification at trial of the knife recovered from the seized vehicle as the weapon used to threaten her was insufficient to sustain a conviction. The defendant identifies the following deficiencies: (1) Mace was unable to identify her assailants; (2) Mace testified that her assailants were wearing ski masks, but the police recovered no ski masks from the vehicle; (3) the police recovered none of Mace's stolen possessions from either the vehicle or its occupants; (4) Mace did not identify the vehicle, either directly or by photograph; (5) although Mace testified that the vehicle used by her assailants had a metallic stripe, the state did not introduce evidence that the seized vehicle had such a stripe; (6) Mace did not testify that the vehicle used by her assailants was missing its rear bumper, a distinguishing feature of the seized vehicle; (7) the state did not produce any physical evidence connecting the defendant to the robbery of Mace; (8) none of the other occupants of the seized vehicle testified that the defendant participated in robbing Mace; (9) Mace was unable to...