State v. Osimanti

• Decision Date: 23 December 2008
• Docket Number: No. 28258.,28258.
• Citation: 111 Conn.App. 700,962 A.2d 129
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Jason J. OSIMANTI.

962 A.2d 129

111 Conn.App. 700

STATE of Connecticut v. Jason J. OSIMANTI.

No. 28258.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued September 22, 2008.

Decided December 23, 2008.

Lauren Weisfeld, assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Frederick W. Fawcett, supervisory assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Jonathan C. Benedict, state's attorney, and Joseph J. Harry, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

BISHOP, ROBINSON and MIHALAKOS, Js.

BISHOP, J.

The defendant, Jason Osimanti, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of manslaughter in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-55(a)(1). On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court (1) denied him his constitutional and statutory rights to present relevant self-defense evidence, (2) improperly instructed the jury on self-defense, (3) failed to inquire adequately into alleged juror bias and (4) improperly instructed the jury on reasonable doubt. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury heard the following evidence from which it reasonably could have made factual determinations. On July 14, 2005, the defendant was at Custom Creations, an auto body shop owned by Orlando Rodriguez located at 68 Elizabeth Street, Bridgeport. Rodriguez' apartment, located at 39 Elizabeth Street, was across the street. Adjacent to the shop was an empty lot. The defendant, a painter, had just returned from Rodriguez' apartment, where the defendant was monitoring the progress of two painters who were working for him. While at the shop, the defendant had been drinking alcohol, but he did not appear to be intoxicated. At one point, Rodriguez asked the defendant to pick up John Barnum, the victim, and to bring him to the shop. Rodriguez had been friendly with the defendant and the victim for "a couple of years."

When the defendant returned to the shop with the victim, both men appeared to be angry, and they were arguing. The victim accused the defendant of driving erratically on the way back to the shop. The argument between the defendant and the victim increased to the point that the victim threw things at the defendant and tried to fight him. Concerned that the argument was escalating, Rodriguez stepped between the defendant and the victim and told them to take their argument outside.

After the defendant and the victim went into the empty lot adjacent to the shop, their argument turned physical. At trial, Rodriguez could not recall who threw the first punch. Cynthia Morales, Rodriguez' live in girlfriend,¹ indicated that as she was returning home from the grocery store, she saw the altercation. She and Rodriguez told the defendant to get into his car, which was parked in front of the shop, and to go home. Once Rodriguez was eventually able to separate the two men, he told the defendant again to leave, and Rodriguez pushed the victim into his shop and he positioned himself at the shop's front door to prevent the victim from going outside.

At this point, the defendant went to his car, from which he retrieved a four inch long painter's hook. This was the first time that Rodriguez had seen either man with a weapon. Upon seeing the defendant with the hook, the victim took a mallet² from the shop and returned to the empty lot where he used the mallet to strike the defendant in the back. Rodriguez took the mallet from the victim and pushed the victim back inside his shop, but the victim immediately exited the shop through a side door and returned to the lot where a second physical altercation ensued between the victim and the defendant. At this point, Rodriguez separated the two men, told the defendant to go home and began walking the victim toward the apartment he shared with Morales. As Rodriguez was pushing the victim along the street toward his apartment, the victim was screaming at the defendant and trying to break free from Rodriguez' grasp while the defendant, in turn, was antagonizing the victim to fight with him. Morales, who had since returned to the apartment, could see Rodriguez and the victim approaching. Once Rodriguez and the victim had reached the apartment driveway, Morales came downstairs, where she and Rodriguez calmed the victim down. At that point, the victim was no longer arguing with the defendant.

George Castellini, who lived across the street from Custom Creations, saw the defendant approach Rodriguez and the victim as they were walking away from the lot. He heard Rodriguez tell the defendant to leave and the victim to go into his apartment. The victim, however, refused to go into the apartment because Rodriguez' children were inside and the victim had to "put a stop to [the defendant]."

As the defendant neared, Rodriguez observed that he was carrying a Sheetrock knife.³ The victim, in turn did not have any weapons. Castellini heard Rodriguez say, "Don't you dare come over here," and he heard the victim say, "What are you going to do with that knife?" The defendant stopped following Rodriguez and the victim after Rodriguez shouted for him to stay away. At this point, the defendant was approximately forty-five feet from his vehicle and sixty to seventy feet from the victim and Rodriguez. The victim then walked back into the road and toward the defendant where the two men continued arguing. The victim charged the defendant, and the two men began wrestling in the street near the empty lot. The defendant then swung the Sheetrock knife at the victim to keep him at bay. Rodriguez returned to the lot and separated the men again, both men moving to opposite sides of the street. As the defendant bent down to pick up the knife that had fallen to the ground, Rodriguez charged him, knocking the defendant to the ground. While Rodriguez had the defendant pinned to the ground, the victim began kicking the defendant. The defendant claimed that as Rodriguez got off of him and separated him and the victim, the defendant grabbed the Sheetrock knife and tried to stand up because he did not want to be struck again and he feared that if he did not get up, Rodriguez and the victim would kill him. As the defendant was attempting to regain his footing, he and the victim resumed fighting. As the defendant arose, he swung the Sheetrock knife at the victim, stabbing him twice in the chest. Bleeding, the victim fell to the ground and died soon thereafter.

Immediately after the stabbing, the defendant walked to his car and left, taking the Sheetrock knife with him. He was subsequently arrested at his home and taken to the police station, where he admitted that he stabbed the victim but asserted that he acted in self-defense. The defendant was charged with one count of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a(a). On September 18, 2006, after a jury trial, the defendant was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser included offense of manslaughter in the first degree in violation of § 53a-55(a)(1).⁴ On October 23, 2006, the defendant was sentenced to the custody of the commissioner of correction for a period of twelve years, and upon completion of this sentence, to a term of five years special parole. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

I

The defendant first claims that certain of the court's evidentiary rulings constituted an abuse of discretion and deprived him of his constitutional right to present a claim of self-defense as guaranteed by the fifth, sixth and fourteenth amendments to the United States constitution and article first, § 8, of the constitution of Connecticut. He argues, also, that the court's limitation of his cross-examination of the victim's former girlfriend, Angela Giglio, obstructed his constitutional right to confrontation. We disagree.

The following additional facts are relevant to our resolution of the defendant's claim. During voir dire of Giglio, outside the presence of the jury, the state limited its direct examination regarding her interactions with the victim to the period of February, 2005, to July 14, 2005. In response, the defendant made an offer of proof, on the basis of police reports concerning arguments between Giglio and the victim that occurred prior to February, 2005, in an effort to demonstrate, by cross-examination of Giglio, that the victim had a propensity for violence when intoxicated. In response to questioning by the defendant, Giglio testified that she did not remember the incident described in an October, 2003 police report that was shown to her, but she did recall getting into arguments with the victim at times and calling the police because he would not leave her house. She further testified that during the 2003 time frame, she occasionally feared that her arguments with the victim would become physical, and, in response to the defendant's questioning, Giglio acknowledged that the victim had violated a protective order that she had obtained from the court. When the defendant asked Giglio if she remembered telling the police that when the victim drank he became violent, she answered affirmatively but noted that the victim did not get violent every time he drank. On the basis of this testimony elicited during voir dire, the defendant requested that he be permitted to question Giglio, before the jury, about incidents that occurred prior to February, 2005. Specifically, the defendant sought to question Giglio about comments she had made to police officers that the victim was "nice when he's not drinking alcohol" and her fear that the victim would be "violent to her." The court denied the defendant's request. Thereafter, Giglio testified before the jury that she had known the victim for nine years and was the mother of his children. In response to the state's question on direct examination as to whether Giglio had contact with the victim between February and July, 2005, she indicated that she had approximately sixty contacts with the victim during that period. She...