State v. Plourde

• Decision Date: 02 August 1988
• Docket Number: No. 12918,12918
• Citation: 545 A.2d 1071,208 Conn. 455
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Galen PLOURDE.

Page 1071

545 A.2d 1071

208 Conn. 455

STATE of Connecticut v. Galen PLOURDE.

No. 12918.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued June 2, 1988.

Decided Aug. 2, 1988.

C. Douglas Nash, Asst. Public Defender, with whom, on the brief, was Joette Katz, Public Defender, for appellant (defendant).

Judith Rossi, Deputy Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were Timothy Liston, Asst. State's Atty., and Jack W. Fischer, Legal Intern, for appellee (state).

Before PETERS, C.J., and ARTHUR H. HEALEY, SHEA, GLASS and HULL, JJ.

PETERS, Chief Justice.

The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the admission into evidence of the defendant's silence following his receipt of Miranda warnings violated his right to due process of law. A jury found the defendant, Galen Plourde, guilty of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a(a). ¹ He appeals from the judgment sentencing him to forty years imprisonment. We find error and remand for a new trial.

On the morning of December 16, 1983, the body of the victim, Ada Plourde, was found in her automobile, which was parked in the parking lot of My Brother's Place Cafe in Cromwell. The state's theory of the case was as follows: On the evening of Thursday, December 15, the victim left her husband, the defendant, and their two young daughters at home in Berlin to attend a data processing class at Avon High School. Following her usual practice, she drove to the house of a friend, Bernice Prusacyk, in Farmington. The two of them then drove together to the class. Since the final exam was scheduled for that evening, class let out earlier than usual. After doing some Christmas shopping, Prusacyk and the victim went to Chuck's Restaurant in Farmington for drinks and chips. The two returned to Prusacyk's home by 11 p.m. and the victim departed. When she returned home, the victim and the defendant became involved in an argument. During an ensuing physical struggle, the defendant strangled the victim to death. The defendant placed the victim's body and the bags containing her purchases in her car. He then removed the victim's jewelry and tore up the shopping bags to create the appearance of a robbery. He drove the car to the parking lot of My Brother's Place Cafe, which was located about a mile from his house. After walking home he made several phone calls to the police reporting his wife's absence in order to establish an alibi. To suggest a possible motive, the state presented evidence that the defendant and the victim had had marital difficulties and that the defendant had become involved with another woman.

On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court erred in: (1) denying his motion for acquittal based on the insufficiency of the evidence; (2) admitting his post-Miranda silence on December 17 and on December 18 into evidence and instructing the jury to use that silence to infer guilt; (3) admitting his post-Miranda statements and conduct; and (4) suppressing evidence of the defendant's willingness to take a polygraph test. ² We agree with the defendant that the court erred in admitting his post-Miranda silence of December 18 and accordingly remand for a new trial.

I

Because success on his insufficiency of the evidence claim would entirely shield the defendant from further criminal proceedings; State v. Pellegrino, 194 Conn. 279, 294, 480 A.2d 537 (1984); we turn to this issue first. At the close of the state's evidence and again at the close of all the evidence, the defendant filed motions for acquittal, both of which the trial court denied. On appeal, the defendant renews his claim that there was insufficient evidence to establish his identity as the killer. In particular, he argues that the evidence failed to show that the victim returned home on the evening in question. He also assails the other evidence produced to establish his guilt. We are not persuaded that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction.

Review of the defendant's claim of insufficiency requires us to undertake a two part inquiry: " 'We first review the evidence presented at the trial, construing it in the light most favorable to sustaining the jury's verdict. We then determine whether, upon the facts thus established and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom, the jury could reasonably have concluded that the cumulative effect of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.... In this process of review, it does not diminish the probative force of the evidence that it consists, in whole or in part, of evidence that is circumstantial rather than direct.' " State v. Rollinson, 203 Conn. 641, 665-66, 526 A.2d 1283 (1987), quoting State v. Sinclair, 197 Conn. 574, 576, 500 A.2d 539 (1985).

The state produced the following evidence to establish that the victim had returned home after leaving Prusacyk's house: Prusacyk testified that it was the victim's habit to go directly home after she left Prusacyk's home on Thursday nights. On the evening in question, the two became tired and decided to go home early because they were not enjoying themselves. ³ In addition, Heather Plourde, who at the time of her mother's death was seven years old, testified that, subsequent to the murder, she had told the police that late that Thursday night, she had come downstairs, found her mother asleep on the couch and kissed her good-night. She added, however, that she had gotten her "days mixed up." On cross-examination, she testified that she had arisen that night to go to the bathroom but had not gone downstairs and that her statement to the police had been mistaken. Under the circumstances, the jury could have believed that the later version of the events represented Heather Plourde's attempt to exculpate her father. Accordingly, the jury could reasonably have credited the first version given to the police. ⁴ On the basis of Prusacyk's and Heather Plourde's testimony the jury could reasonably have found that the victim had returned home the night of her death.

The state lent further support to its case against the defendant by its introduction of evidence of multiple cuts on his face and torso, which it claimed were a result of his physical struggle with the victim. Ronald Cornell, a Cromwell police officer, testified that during a phone conversation on December 16, the defendant had volunteered that while taking out the trash the prior evening he had received a cut on his lip from some wood protruding from a barrel. The following day, when Cornell picked up the defendant to drive him to the morgue for identification of the victim, he noticed the cut on the defendant's lip. Charles MacIntyre, a state police detective, testified that, during the subsequent interview, he had also observed the cut on the defendant's lip as well as scratches on the defendant's neck. At this time, the defendant, contradicting his previous statement to Cornell, explained that the scratch on his lip had occurred on Wednesday, December 14, while he was moving around some trash barrels. During the interview, the defendant stated that he had received the scratches on his torso the same day when an aluminum ladder had fallen on him in the garage. To discredit the defendant's explanations of the scratches, the state introduced evidence that coworkers who had been with the defendant on Thursday, December 15, had not noticed any cuts on his face and that no traces of blood had been found on the ladder. Although the defendant presented both lay and expert testimony to the contrary, ⁵ the jury was free to disregard this testimony and could reasonably have found that the scratches resulted from a fight between the defendant and the victim.

The state's proof also emphasized the defendant's behavior and statements during the police interviews. According to MacIntyre's testimony, at one point in their conversation, the defendant indicated that his wife had scratched him while they had been making love. When asked to display the scratch, he pulled aside his sweater and shirt and began to scratch himself until told to stop. Later during the same interview, MacIntyre informed the defendant that he believed the defendant had killed his wife. The defendant did not deny the accusation and after further discussions indicated that he wanted to speak to a lawyer. The defendant's claim to the contrary notwithstanding, we conclude that the jury could reasonably have viewed this evidence as supporting the defendant's guilt.

The state introduced the results of forensic tests that were consistent with the defendant's guilt. Examination of a green fiber found on the victim's lip revealed microscopic characteristics very similar to a doily from the top of a table in the victim's house. Serological exams of the victim's blood indicated that the victim had type B blood and was a secretor, meaning that B and H antigens could be detected in her body fluids. The defendant had type A blood and was a nonsecretor. Blood discovered on the defendant's watch band contained A, B and H antigens. Blood smears found under the armrest in the victim's car and on a sales slip found in the back seat likewise contained all three antigens. Even though other explanations of these results might have been plausible, the jury could reasonably have credited the state's interpretation, that the smears represented a mixture of the victim's and the defendant's blood. ⁶

Finally, the state presented evidence to suggest a possible motive. Several witnesses testified to earlier marriage difficulties between the defendant and the victim. In addition, Regina Rentz testified that the defendant had called her several times at work the week of December 12, 1983. According to her testimony, the defendant and she began to see each other four months after the victim's death.

From our review of this record, we conclude that, while not overwhelming, the evidence, when taken together, was sufficient to allow the jury reasonably to find the defendant guilty beyond...