State v. Maner

• Decision Date: 28 January 2014
• Docket Number: AC 35109
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. TAMARIUS MANER

STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. TAMARIUS MANER

AC 35109

COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

Argued September 23, 2013

Officially released January 28, 2014

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The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears on the Commission on Official Legal Publications Electronic Bulletin Board Service and in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publications, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut.DiPentima, C. J., and Keller and Mihalakos, Js.

(Appeal from Superior Court, judicial district of

Waterbury, Prescott, J.)

Auden Grogins, assigned counsel, for the appellant (defendant).

Robert J. Scheinblum, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Maureen Platt, state's attorney, and John J. Davenport, supervisory assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Opinion

DiPENTIMA, C. J. The defendant, Tamarius Maner, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54c, home invasion in violation of General Statutes § 53a-100aa (a) (1), burglary in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-101 (a) (3), and attempt to commit assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-49 (a) (2) and 53a-59 (a) (5). On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) the trial court improperly admitted into evidence a firearm and testimony related to that firearm, (2) the court improperly admitted into evidence the testimony and written statement of a witness, and (3) he was deprived of the right to a fair trial as a result of prosecutorial impropriety. We are not persuaded by the defendant's claims on appeal and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On October 26, 2008, Maria Guadalupe Orzuna-Sanchez, who was dating the defendant, encountered Joseph Samaba on a street corner in Waterbury. Orzuna-Sanchez, Samaba, the defendant, and another individual went to the apartment of the victim, James Caffrey. Orzuna-Sanchez and Samaba smoked marijuana while the defendant spoke with the victim about purchasing marijuana from him. The victim retrieved some marijuana from his bedroom and sold the defendant seven grams. Later in the evening, the defendant announced that he had to leave in order to take a train to return home to Bridgeport.

The victim lived with his girlfriend, Samantha Bright, and a roommate, Ray Ramos, in a second floor apartment. The victim's mother lived in the first floor apartment beneath the victim. At some point, the victim and Bright went to sleep. Bright heard the doorbell ring about 1:15 in the morning, and the victim went to the door, turning on lights in the living room, kitchen and hallway. Bright heard a brief conversation, followed by a single gunshot. Before she could get out of the bed, the defendant, wearing a khaki sweatshirt, and Calvin Bennett,¹ wearing a gray sweatshirt, appeared in the doorway, and both were holding small black guns. Bennett approached Bright, placed his gun to the back of her head and asked where the money and marijuana was. She indicated that it was in the top dresser drawer. As the defendant opened the drawer, the victim's mother, Emilia Caffrey, who had come upstairs and into the second floor apartment, began screaming. Caffrey saw her son face down on the floor and "full of blood." The defendant and Bennett exited the bedroom and the defendant shot at Caffrey, who fell to the floor.

Francis Brevetti, a Waterbury police officer, received a call from the police dispatch of possible gunshotsfired at the victim's apartment. After he arrived at the scene, Brevetti turned the victim over and observed a bullet wound in the victim's head and a spent .45 caliber casing. Brevetti provided medical aid to the victim until paramedics arrived. The victim later died, and it was determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.²

After an investigation, the police arrested the defendant. Following a trial, the jury found the defendant guilty of felony murder, home invasion, burglary in the first degree and attempt to commit assault in the first degree. The jury failed to reach a verdict with respect to a charge of murder, which the court subsequently dismissed. The court sentenced the defendant to seventy years incarceration. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

I

The defendant first claims that the court improperly admitted into evidence a firearm and testimony related to that firearm. Specifically, he argues that the court abused its discretion in admitting that evidence and that such error was harmful. We conclude that the court improperly admitted the firearm into evidence, but that the defendant has failed to sustain his burden of establishing harmful error.

The following additional facts and procedural history are relevant to our discussion. On December 29, 2009, the defendant filed a motion in limine to preclude the state from entering the firearm into evidence, arguing that any probative value was "far outweighed" by its prejudicial effect.³ On January 4, 2011, just prior to the start of the trial, the court heard argument on the defendant's motion. The court confirmed with defense counsel that this firearm had been seized pursuant to a search warrant from Bennett's apartment and contained Bennett's DNA on it. The court understood that the state's purpose of using the firearm as evidence was to corroborate eyewitness testimony that both individuals who entered the victim's apartment at the time of the shooting were armed and that this firearm, seized from Bennett's apartment, was not the same weapon used to kill the victim and shoot at Caffrey. Defense counsel acknowledged the probative value of the firearm, conceded that it was relevant, but argued that this particular firearm could not be connected to the defendant. He stated the issue as follows: "How closely or how definite can we say that the gun . . . was the actual gun that was in the apartment? It was not seized off [Bennett's] person. It was seized in [Bennett's] apartment in a suitcase with shells that other people have access to."⁴ Counsel also claimed that the admission of the actual firearm under these circumstances was unduly prejudicial. The court denied the motion in limine.

During her testimony at the defendant's trial, Bright described the weapons held by the defendant and Bennett as "handguns, little black guns." She also admitted that she was not familiar with guns in any way and that she did not know the difference between a pistol and a revolver. At this point, the prosecutor showed her the firearm that had been seized from Bennett's apartment, and Bright said that she had seen a "gun like that" when the victim had been killed. She could not, however, describe the weapon shown to her in any other way except as a small black handgun.

During cross-examination, Bright stated that she "[didn't] know anything about guns" and that if shown photographs of eight different guns, she would only be able to identify the one used by the defendant if it was one that could be held in your hand, little and black. Finally, during redirect examination, Bright noted that if she were shown photographs of eight similar guns, she would not be able to tell one from the other if they looked alike, but that Bennett had held a gun to her head and that the one used by the defendant was similar to the one that she had been shown in court.

Joseph Rainone, a Waterbury police officer and firearm toolmark examiner, testified that he examined the firearm seized from Bennett's apartment.⁵ He determined that the two casings found in the victim's apartment were fired from the same gun. He also concluded that those casings did not come from the firearm seized from Bennett's apartment. Christine Roy, a forensic science examiner, testified that Bennett's DNA could not be eliminated as a contributor to the DNA recovered from the handle area, muzzle area and slide area of the firearm seized from his apartment. Roy also noted that the defendant was eliminated as a contributor to the DNA samples recovered from this firearm.

On appeal, the defendant argues that the evidence relating to this firearm had a minimal nexus to him and to the offenses charged, and was not relevant because the firearm was immaterial to the proceedings. He further contends that this error was harmful. The state counters that a sufficient nexus existed, the firearm was relevant, and that even if the firearm was admitted into evidence improperly, such error was harmless.

A

Our first task is to determine whether the court abused its discretion in admitting the firearm found in Bennett's apartment into evidence. We begin our analysis by setting forth our standard of review. "Our analysis of the [defendant's] . . . [claim] is based on well established...