State v. Santiago

• Citation: 224 Conn. 325,618 A.2d 32
• Decision Date: 29 December 1992
• Docket Number: No. 14152,14152
• Court: Supreme Court of Connecticut
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Jose SANTIAGO.

Page 32

618 A.2d 32

224 Conn. 325

STATE of Connecticut v. Jose SANTIAGO.

No. 14152.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Sept. 30, 1992.

Decided Dec. 29, 1992.

Berdon, J., concurred and dissented with opinion.

Lauren Weisfeld, Asst. Public Defender, with whom, on the brief, was G. Douglas Nash, for appellant (defendant).

Leon F. Dalbec, Jr., Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were John M. Bailey, State's Atty., and Lawrence Daly, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (state).

Before PETERS, C.J., and BORDEN, BERDON, NORCOTT and SANTANIELLO, JJ.

NORCOTT, Associate Justice.

The defendant, Jose Santiago, ¹ appeals from the judgment of conviction, after a jury trial, of the crime of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a (a). ² The trial court sentenced the defendant to a term of imprisonment of forty-five years. On appeal to this court, ³ the defendant claims that the trial court: (1) violated his constitutional right to confrontation by improperly limiting his cross-examination of one of the state's witnesses; (2) abused its discretion by denying him access to the police personnel file of one of the state's witnesses for impeachment purposes; and (3) abused its discretion by allowing the state to present evidence to establish that a stolen weapon had been used in the murder of the victim. We agree with the defendant on the first issue and, on that basis, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and direct that the case be remanded for a new trial.

The evidence at trial established the following. On August 14, 1986, at approximately 10:30 p.m., the Hartford police found the victim, Jose Vasquez, shot in the chest and the leg outside of 700 Broad Street. The victim was taken by ambulance to Hartford Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

There was a history of ill feeling between the victim and the defendant. Sometime prior to the date of the shooting, a "track player" and a bracelet had been stolen from the apartment of Alba Silva, the victim's girlfriend. The victim and his brother, Luis Vasquez, with whom he lived, suspected the defendant and Sammy Figueroa of the theft.

On the evening of August 14, 1986, a confrontation ensued in front of the victim's apartment at 700 Broad Street among the victim, the victim's brother, Figueroa, the defendant and Francisco Rodriguez, the defendant's brother. When the victim threw a punch at Figueroa, the confrontation escalated from an argument to a fistfight. At this point, the state and the defendant offered conflicting versions of what happened next.

The state presented evidence tending to show that after the victim punched Figueroa, the defendant pulled out a gun and pointed it in the victim's direction. The victim ran down an alley near the back of his apartment building. The defendant fired a shot in the victim's direction and exclaimed in Spanish, "I am going to kill you, bastard." The defendant then chased the victim toward the rear of the building and fired two additional shots, one of which caused the victim's death. Next, the defendant returned to the front of the building, fired two more shots in the direction of the third floor apartment where the victim and his brother lived, and threatened that the victim's brother would be next. The defendant ran away from the building and stopped to unload and reload the handgun.

The defendant presented evidence tending to show that it had been Figueroa who produced the gun and that Figueroa, the victim, and Luis Vasquez, who was also armed, ran down the alley leading to the back of the building. During this time the defendant remained near a fence at the entrance of the alleyway. Several shots were heard. Moments later, the victim's brother ran from the alley and into the apartment building. He was followed by Figueroa, who came out holding a gun, handed it to the defendant to safeguard, and then disappeared.

The defendant was later apprehended at 162 Oak Street, with a .38 snub-nosed Smith and Wesson handgun in the waistband of his pants and wearing a blue and white jersey with the number nine on the back. Subsequent ballistics reports linked the gun found in the defendant's waistband to shell casings from the crime scene and from a garbage can located near where the defendant had been observed unloading the handgun.

I

The defendant first claims that his constitutionally guaranteed right to confrontation ⁴ was violated when the trial court prevented him from eliciting, during cross-examination, evidence of possible motive or bias on the part of William Acevedo, a witness for the state. Specifically, the defendant argues that the trial court improperly prevented the defendant from questioning Acevedo about his present relationship with the Hartford police department. We agree.

The following facts are relevant to this claim. At trial, Acevedo was a key witness for the state. During his direct examination, Acevedo testified to the following. On the evening of August 14, 1986, at approximately 10:15 to 10:30 p.m., Acevedo was on the porch of 700 Broad Street visiting friends. On the sidewalk in front of the building, he observed a group of individuals, including the defendant and the victim, engaged in an argument. The defendant was wearing a blue football jersey with the number nine on the back.

When the altercation evolved from an argument to a shoving match, Acevedo left the porch and went to his car. He then observed the defendant push Figueroa aside, take a handgun from him, and aim it at the victim. He also observed the victim run toward the back of the alley, and saw the defendant fire the handgun at the victim, shout a threat, and chase the victim into the alley. He immediately heard two gunshots come from behind the building. Acevedo saw the defendant emerge from the alley and run to the front of the apartment building. There, the defendant threatened in Spanish, "I'm going to get you all," and fired two shots at the third floor apartment. The defendant then ran away from the building, stopping only to unload and reload the gun.

Acevedo later observed the defendant on the east side of Grand and Broad Streets, and informed a Hartford police detective that he had seen the defendant heading toward Oak Street. Acevedo was certain that it had been the defendant who fired the .38 caliber handgun at the victim earlier that night.

During cross-examination, the defendant inquired into Acevedo's employment history, specifically his association with the Hartford police department. Acevedo testified that, beginning in 1981, for approximately one and one-half years, he had been employed by the Hartford police department as a patrolman. He also testified that he knew two of the detectives who responded to the shooting. The defendant then questioned Acevedo as to what relationship, if any, he presently had with the Hartford police department. The state objected and the trial court sustained this objection. ⁵ On appeal, the defendant argues that the trial court's ruling completely precluded him from exploring whether any relationship currently existed between Acevedo and the Hartford police department from which the jury could reasonably infer that Acevedo's testimony was biased. ⁶

" 'The primary interest secured by confrontation is the right to cross-examination; Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 418, 85 S.Ct. 1074 [1076], 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965); and an important function of cross-examination is the exposure of a witness' motivation in testifying. Greene v. McElroy, 360 U.S. 474, 496, 79 S.Ct. 1400 [1413], 3 L.Ed.2d 1377 (1959). Cross-examination to elicit facts tending to show motive, interest, bias and prejudice is a matter of right and may not be unduly restricted.' State v. Lubesky, 195 Conn. 475, 481-82, 488 A.2d 1239 (1985). In order to comport with the constitutional standards embodied in the confrontation clause, the trial court must allow a defendant to expose to the jury 'facts from which the jurors, as the sole triers of fact and credibility, could appropriately draw inferences relating to the reliability of the witness.' Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 318, 94 S.Ct. 1105 [1111], 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974); State v. Lubesky, supra, 482." State v. Arline, 223 Conn. 52, 60, 612 A.2d 755 (1992).

"In determining whether a defendant's right of cross-examination has been unduly restricted, we consider the nature of the excluded inquiry, whether the field of inquiry was adequately covered by other questions that were allowed, and the overall quality of the cross-examination viewed in relation to the issues actually litigated at trial." State v. Roma, 199 Conn. 110, 116, 505 A.2d 717 (1986). Although it is axiomatic that the scope of cross-examination generally rests within the discretion of the trial court, "[t]he denial of all meaningful cross-examination into a legitimate area of inquiry fails to comport with constitutional standards under the confrontation clause." Id.; see also State v. Oehman, 12 Conn. 325, 330-31, 562 A.2d 493 (1989); State v. James, 211 Conn. 555, 573, 560 A.2d 426 (1989).

Our review of the record in this case leads us to conclude that, by precluding any examination of Acevedo's present relationship to the Hartford police department, the trial court improperly prohibited inquiry into a legitimate area of cross-examination. " 'Partiality, or any acts, relationships or motives reasonably likely to produce it, may be proved to impeach credibility.' " State v. Oehman, supra, 212 Conn. at 331, 562 A.2d 493. Although the defendant elicited the facts that the witness briefly had been a police officer in 1981, and that he knew two of the detectives who had investigated the shooting, the defendant was cut off from any further pursuit of the witness' relationship with the Hartford police department. It is always relevant to the issue of bias that a witness may have a relationship to the prosecuting authorities in a criminal case. To preclude exploration of...