State v. Lemoine

• Decision Date: 13 June 1995
• Docket Number: No. 14957,14957
• Citation: 233 Conn. 502,659 A.2d 1194
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Kenneth LEMOINE, Jr.

Page 1194

659 A.2d 1194

233 Conn. 502

STATE of Connecticut v. Kenneth LEMOINE, Jr.

No. 14957.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 15, 1995.

Decided June 13, 1995.

Marjorie Allen Dauster, Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, State's Attorney, Maxine Wilesky, Asst. State's Atty., and Trisha Morris, Law Student Intern, for appellant (State).

Paul T. Edwards, Sp. Public Defender, for appellee (defendant).

Before PETERS, C.J., and CALLAHAN, BERDON, NORCOTT and KATZ, JJ.

CALLAHAN, Associate Justice.

The dispositive issue in this certified appeal is whether the trial court, in its jury instructions in a criminal trial, has a constitutional obligation to refer to the evidence relating to the crimes charged in the information. The defendant, Kenneth Lemoine, appealed to the Appellate Court from judgments of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of sexual assault in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-72a(a)(1)(B), ¹ risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes § 53-21, ² and two counts of assault of a peace officer in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1991) § 53a-167c(a)(1). ³ The Appellate Court reversed the defendant's convictions and ordered a new trial. State v. Lemoine, 33 Conn.App. 743, 754, 641 A.2d 131 (1994). ⁴ The Appellate Court determined that the trial court's jury instructions had been constitutionally deficient because the court had failed sufficiently to relate the evidence elicited at trial to the various charges contained in the information, thereby denying the defendant his right to due process of law as guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution and article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution. State v. Lemoine, supra, at 749-54, 641 A.2d 131. We granted the state's petition for certification to appeal. State v. Lemoine, 230 Conn. 909, 644 A.2d 920 (1994). ⁵ We reverse the judgment of the Appellate Court.

By way of background, the Appellate Court determined that the jury reasonably could have found the following facts. "On June 20, 1991, the victim, his mother, the defendant, Barbara Tirado and her daughter went to a lake. The victim was eight years old at the time. After staying at the lake, they drove to the home of the defendant's mother, then to the home of his sister and then to Tirado's home located on Maple Street in Meriden. The victim's father later joined the group and the adults all began drinking. The victim fell asleep on the couch in Tirado's home wearing his pants, shirt and underpants. The victim's father was asleep on a chair near the couch and the victim's mother was asleep in another room. The victim awoke to find the defendant placing his hands between the victim's legs on the outside of the victim's pants. The defendant was attempting to pull down the victim's pants. The defendant was behind the victim on the couch and the victim was facing away from the defendant. The defendant told him to be quiet. The victim took off his pants while the defendant continued to touch the outside of the underpants between the legs and then the defendant cut the victim's underpants. The victim was scared and ran to his mother's room and told her what had just occurred.

"The victim's mother ran into the living room to wake the victim's father. In the meantime, the defendant, who was wearing only a tee shirt, ran down the stairs and out the backdoor. Tirado caught the defendant outside and asked him 'why he did it' and the defendant responded that he was sorry and the drugs made him do it. Tirado brought the defendant back upstairs. The victim's father and the defendant then fought while the victim's mother took off the victim's underpants and dressed him. ⁶ The victim then went downstairs with his parents and got into a van. The victim's father began to drive on Main Street in Meriden to the police station when he observed the defendant driving a truck with Tirado as a passenger on Maple Street. The victim's father blocked the defendant's vehicle and the two vehicles collided. The victim and his mother exited the van and proceeded to the side of the road.

"Officers Michael Merrigan, Mark Masse and Grant Treiber of the Meriden police department arrived at the scene in uniform shortly thereafter. Merrigan approached the father and was informed by him about the events that occurred at Tirado's home. Masse and Treiber approached the defendant's vehicle and asked him to exit it. As they attempted to open the door of the defendant's vehicle and take the keys, the defendant hit Treiber in the face and drove the vehicle in reverse. The officers at that point were hanging onto the doors of the vehicle. The truck veered to the right and almost hit a building on Maple Street. Treiber fell off the side of the truck and Masse hit a door attached to the building with sufficient force to break a hole in the door. Masse sustained lacerations to his right hand, right forearm, shoulder and back. Treiber sustained bruises and injured his right hand. Treiber then placed the defendant under arrest.

"At the crime scene, Robert Pocobello, a Meriden police detective, seized a pair of scissors and underpants. He discovered the scissors on a coffee table near the couch and the underpants on the couch. Pocobello processed the scissors for fingerprints. The processing revealed the presence of fingerprints that were not clear enough to be identified.

"Ted Standish, another Meriden police detective, employed by the department's sexual assault unit, interviewed the victim on June 21, 1991. The victim stated that after arriving at Tirado's home, she told him to sleep on the couch, where the defendant was already sleeping. The victim further told Standish that he awoke when the defendant placed his hands on the victim's 'dinky' ⁷ and that the defendant pulled at the victim's pants. The victim also told Standish that the defendant told the victim to take off his pants and keep quiet. The victim then told Standish that the defendant tried to make him take off his underpants and when he refused, the defendant cut the underpants with scissors.

"The defendant disputed the facts. He testified on his own behalf that he, the victim, Tirado and the victim's mother arrived at Tirado's home after they had spent the day at the lake. The defendant also testified that he left Tirado's at 11 p.m., just after the victim's father arrived, returned at around 4:30 or 5 a.m., and found Tirado and the victim's father drinking and the victim asleep on the couch. The defendant also stated that he fell asleep on the couch, 'opposite the victim' and awoke to find the victim's father with his hand in the pocket of the defendant's pants, which the defendant had on, and thought that the victim's father was attempting to steal money. The defendant then testified that he tried to get up and that the victim's father jumped on him and hit him in the face. The defendant then testified that Tirado offered to drive him to the hospital and that he accepted Tirado's offer. He further testified that as Tirado drove him to the hospital, the victim's father forced their vehicle to a stop on Maple Street. The defendant then testified that he moved into the driver's seat, placed the truck in reverse and police officers tried to grab him, causing the truck to move in reverse." State v. Lemoine, supra, 33 Conn.App. at 744-47, 641 A.2d 131.

After considering the defendant's claim that the trial court had failed to make sufficient reference to the evidence in its jury instructions, the Appellate Court concluded that "a complete lack of facts in the jury charge creates a reasonable possibility, as a matter of law, that the jury was misled." Id., at 753-54, 641 A.2d 131. On appeal to this court, the state claims that the Appellate Court incorrectly concluded that reference to the evidence in the trial court's jury charge was constitutionally mandated. The state argues that the Appellate Court's decision improperly created a per se rule that a jury charge given without a detailed reference to the evidence constitutes, as a matter of law, a constitutional due process violation and reversible error. See id.

"In reviewing a constitutional challenge to the trial court's instructions, we must consider the jury charge as a whole to determine whether it is reasonably possible that the instruction misled the jury. State v. Avila, 223 Conn. 595, 607, 613 A.2d 731 (1992); State v. Santangelo, [205 Conn. 578, 595 n. 11, 534 A.2d 1175 (1987) ]; State v. Ruiz, 171 Conn. 264, 273, 368 A.2d 222 (1976). The test is whether the charge as a whole presents the case to the jury so that no injustice will result.... State v. Utz, 201 Conn. 190, 196-97, 513 A.2d 1191 (1986)." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Campbell, 225 Conn. 650, 661, 626 A.2d 287 (1993). We will reverse a conviction only if, " 'in the context of the whole, there is a reasonable possibility that the jury was misled in reaching its verdict.' " State v. Scognamiglio, 202 Conn. 18, 28, 519 A.2d 607 (1987); State v. Shannon, 212 Conn. 387, 408, 563 A.2d 646, cert. denied, 493 U.S. 980, 110 S.Ct. 510, 107 L.Ed.2d 512 (1989); State v. Fleming, 198 Conn. 255, 268-69, 502 A.2d 886, cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1143, 106 S.Ct. 1797, 90 L.Ed.2d 342 (1986).

"A jury instruction is constitutionally adequate if it provides the jurors with a clear understanding of the elements of the crime charged, and affords them proper guidance for their determination of whether those elements were present.... State v. Usry, 205 Conn. 298, 316, 533 A.2d 212 (1987); State v. Sinclair, 197 Conn. 574, 581, 500 A.2d 539 (1985); see State v. Wood, 208 Conn. 125, 132, 545 A.2d 1026, cert. denied, 488 U.S. 895, 109 S.Ct. 235, 102 L.Ed.2d 225 (1988). An instruction that fails to satisfy these requirements would violate the defendant's right to due process of law as guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the...