State v. Northrop
| Decision Date | 09 January 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 13513,13513 |
| Citation | 568 A.2d 439,213 Conn. 405 |
| Parties | STATE of Connecticut v. Scott A. NORTHROP. |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
Antonio B. Braz, with whom was Scott P. Moser, Hartford, for appellant (defendant).
Carolyn K. Longstreth, Asst. State's Atty., with whom were Patrick Clifford, Asst. State's Atty., and, on the brief, Michael Dearington, State's Atty., for appellee (State).
Before PETERS, C.J., and SHEA, CALLAHAN, COVELLO and HULL, JJ.
The defendant, Scott Northrop, was charged with the crime of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a. 1 He was tried to a jury and consvicted. The trial court subsequently sentenced him to a term of imprisonment of forty-five years. The defendant does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction. He claims, rather, that the trial court erred in failing to suppress statements he made to the New Haven police and in failing to suppress tangible evidence derived therefrom. He also claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial because of the impropriety of the state's closing argument.
The record reveals that the charge against the defendant arose out of the murder of Edward DuPaul, a thirty-four year old New Haven fireman, who was shot to death at approximately 11:15 p.m. on May 18, 1987, as he sat in his automobile talking to Mary Ann Shusta, while parked on a dirt road in a marshy area of New Haven near the New Haven-East Haven border. While the victim and Shusta were conversing, a person wearing dark clothing approached the driver's side of DuPaul's car and fired three shots from a .38 caliber revolver into the victim's head and body through the driver's side window. DuPaul died the following afternoon in a New Haven hospital.
On May 19, 1987, in the course of their investigation of the incident, New Haven detectives learned that the defendant had been seen the previous night, with a pistol in his possession, at a convenience store near the site of the shooting. Consequently, that evening, Detective James Ponteau, with two East Haven police officers, went to the defendant's residence at 29 Stoddard Road in East Haven to talk to him. The house at 29 Stoddard Road, where the defendant lived with his grandmother and aunt, is near the dirt road where the shooting occurred.
At the house Ponteau informed the defendant that the police wished to talk to him because they were investigating a shooting that had taken place the previous night in New Haven and that they had a report that he had been seen with a gun prior to the shooting, at a store in the area. The defendant told the detective that he had indeed been at the store but he denied having a gun or having anything to do with the shooting.
After this brief exchange, at Ponteau's request, the defendant agreed to go with the detective to New Haven police headquarters to give a statement. The defendant's aunt, Georgeann Pecoraro, asked to accompany her nephew, and Ponteau agreed. Thereafter, the three drove to New Haven in Ponteau's unmarked police car, the defendant in the front passenger seat and his aunt in the rear. The defendant was not handcuffed or otherwise restrained during the trip.
At police headquarters the defendant was taken to an interview room while his aunt, despite her expressed desire to remain with the defendant, was directed to sit in another area of the detective bureau. 2 Ponteau and the defendant were joined in the interview room at approximately 7 p.m. by Detective Mel Cartocetti. Cartocetti introduced himself to the defendant and informed him that he was not under arrest and that he could leave police headquarters whenever he wished to do so. Cartocetti, thereafter, read the defendant his Miranda rights 3 and then explained them to him sentence by sentence. The defendant stated that he understood his rights and that he was willing to give a statement. He then signed a printed waiver of rights form.
Cartocetti and Ponteau thereafter conversed with the defendant for approximately thirty-five or forty minutes about his activities on May 18. Subsequently, a tape recorder was activated and Cartocetti again read the defendant his Miranda rights. He then interviewed the defendant on tape concerning the events of the previous night. During the recorded interview the defendant reiterated that he had been at the convenience store on the night of May 18 but denied having a gun or having anything to do with the shooting. He also acknowledged during the taped interview that he had come to the police station voluntarily to try to assist the police, that he understood all the questions, that he had been treated fairly, that he knew he was not under arrest, that he was not kept against his will, and that he had been told he could stop and walk out of headquarters at any time. Further, he refused to undergo a polygraph examination or consent to a search of his residence. At the conclusion of the interview at approximately 9:15 p.m., Cartocetti drove the defendant and his aunt to their house in East Haven.
After driving the defendant and his aunt home, Cartocetti parked 75 to 100 feet away and remained in his car. In approximately fifteen minutes, he received a radio call informing him that a search warrant had been issued for the residence of the defendant at 29 Stoddard Road. At that point he left his car, approached a side door of the house and informed the defendant's grandmother and aunt, who were inside, that a warrant had been procured to search their home and that it would be executed shortly. Although invited in, he chose to remain on the porch and await the arrival of other officers. Other detectives and uniformed officers were on the scene shortly. When the search warrant arrived at about 10 p.m., a copy was given to the defendant's grandmother and a search was commenced.
Shortly after the search was under way, Detective Sergeant Michael Sweeney arrived at the premises and asked the defendant if he would walk outside and speak with him. The defendant agreed to do so and he and Sweeney walked down the driveway towards Sweeney's unmarked car. During this time Sweeney did not search the defendant or restrain him in any manner, and he did, once again, advise him of his Miranda rights. When the two arrived at Sweeney's car the defendant agreed to speak with Sweeney but declined his invitation to sit in the automobile.
Standing next to the car, Sweeney asked the defendant if he had shot the victim. The defendant denied doing so but displayed no reluctance to discuss the incident. After a short period the defendant left Sweeney and unaccompanied went back into the house to obtain a jacket. When he returned he continued the conversation with Sweeney and soon thereafter admitted that he had shot DuPaul.
After the defendant's admission, Sweeney requested that the defendant return with him to New Haven police headquarters to give a statement. The defendant refused to do so, stating that he was afraid and wished to stay at home. He did, however, agree to give a taped statement in Sweeney's car. Sweeney, therefore, sent to New Haven for a tape recorder, which was delivered in about fifteen minutes. When the tape recorder arrived, Sweeney and the defendant entered the front seat of Sweeney's car and Detective Sergeant Robert P. Lillus sat in the rear. When the tape recorder was turned on, the defendant stated that he was voluntarily giving the statement, that he was not under the influence of liquor or drugs, that he was not being detained, that he had been advised of, and understood, his constitutional rights and that he had signed a waiver of those rights. He, thereafter, again confessed to having shot the victim. Shortly after the statement was completed the defendant was arrested and taken to New Haven police headquarters.
The search of the defendant's home on May 19 yielded a .357 caliber handgun. A ballistics test revealed that it was not the gun used in the shooting. Subsequent to May 19, the police obtained another search warrant for the defendant's residence. During the execution of the second warrant they discovered and seized a .38 caliber revolver. A ballistics test proved that the .38 caliber revolver had fired the bullets that had killed the victim.
At the time of the events in question the defendant was eighteen years old and was employed as a roofer for a company in East Haven. His mother, who lived in Florida and had seen the defendant only twice in the previous two years, 4 testified that she was not sure the defendant had completed the ninth grade and that she "believed" that he was at a fifth or sixth grade level at the time he terminated his formal education. She also testified that the defendant had difficulty reading and writing and in comprehending things that were read or said to him. She stated that the defendant had been diagnosed as having a learning disability and had been in special education classes since the first grade. The defendant had acknowledged, when questioned by Cartocetti during his first visit to police headquarters, however, that he could read, write and understand English.
Prior to trial, the defendant filed a motion to suppress his statements to the police and to suppress any evidence seized pursuant to the search warrants, including the .38 caliber handgun found to be the murder weapon, because the search warrants had been issued on the basis of his allegedly illegally obtained statements. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 486, 83 S.Ct. 407, 416, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). The trial court denied the defendant's motion in its entirety and allowed the state at trial to introduce the statements made to Cartocetti and Sweeney as well as the evidence seized pursuant to the search warrants. 5
The defendant claims in this appeal that the trial court erred in denying his suppression motion because his statements were...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- State v. Morel-Vargas
-
State v. Wilkins
...... See State v. Greenfield, 228 Conn. 62, 68-69, 634 A.2d 879 (1993); State v. Damon, 214 Conn. 146, 154, 570 A.2d 700, cert. denied, 498 U.S. 819, 111 S.Ct. 65, 112 L.Ed.2d 40 (1990); State v. Northrop, 213 Conn. 405, 414, 568 A.2d 439 (1990). . The defendant does not challenge as clearly erroneous the facts as set forth in the trial court's summary of the incident. Nor does he contest the legality of the initial stop, or Ciesinski's decision to order him out of the vehicle. ......
-
State v. Breton
......Medina, 228 Conn. 281, 294, 636 A.2d 351 (1994); State v. Smith, 200 Conn. 465, 478, 512 A.2d 189 (1986); or the seizure of a defendant. State v. Greenfield, 228 Conn. 62, 68-69, 634 A.2d 879 (1993); State v. Northrop, 213 Conn. 405, 414, 568 A.2d 439 (1990)." State . Page 1036 . v. Ross, supra, 230 Conn. at 259, 646 A.2d 1318. However, "[e]ven with the heightened appellate scrutiny appropriate for a death penalty case, the defendant's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence of aggravating ......
-
State v. Coleman
......v. Board of Tax Review, 228 Conn. 23, 41, 633 A.2d 1368 (1993). "When a factual issue implicates a constitutional claim, however, we review the record carefully to ensure that its determination was supported by substantial evidence. State v. Northrop, 213 Conn. 405, 414, 568 A.2d 439 (1990) (reviewing factual findings in fourth amendment claims)." State v. Greenfield, 228 Conn. 62, 68-69, 634 A.2d 879 (1993). Upon review, we conclude that the trial court correctly denied the motion to suppress. . The trial court found that ......
-
Prosecutorial Misconduct in Connecticut: a Review
...State v. Richardson, 214 Conn. 752, 574 A.2d 182 (1990); State v. Somerville, 214 Conn. 378, 572 A.2d 944 (1990); State v. Northrop, 213 Conn. 405, 568 A.2d 439 (1990); State v. Oehman, 212 Conn. 325, 562 A.2d 493 (1989); State v. Ruscoe, 212 Conn. 223, 563 A.2d 267 (1989); State v. James, ......