State v. Sinchak

• Decision Date: 22 June 2021
• Docket Number: AC 42348
• Citation: 256 A.3d 671,205 Conn.App. 346
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Anthony SINCHAK
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals

205 Conn.App. 346

256 A.3d 671

STATE of Connecticut

v.Anthony SINCHAK

AC 42348

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued October 6, 2020

Officially released June 22, 2021

W. Theodore Koch III, assigned counsel, for the appellant (defendant).

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

Lavine, Elgo and Palmer, Js.^*

PALMER, J.

The defendant, Anthony Sinchak, appeals from the judgment of the trial court, Hon. Ronald D. Fasano , judge trial referee, denying his motion to correct an illegal sentence, which, he claims, was imposed in violation of his right to due process guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution.¹ The defendant contends that the trial court

improperly rejected his claim that the ninety-six year prison sentence he received in 1995, after a jury found him guilty of murder and kidnapping, was imposed in retaliation for his refusal to forgo a trial and accept a plea deal, offered at a judicial pretrial conference by the judge who conducted the conference, pursuant to which he would be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of thirty years if he agreed to plead guilty to the murder charge. We disagree with the defendant's claim and, accordingly, affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The following undisputed facts and procedural history are relevant to our resolution of this appeal. On August 4, 1992, the state charged the defendant with one count of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a and two counts of kidnapping in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-92 (a) (2) (B) ; the defendant subsequently pleaded not guilty to all three counts. On September 23, 1992, a probable cause hearing was held on the murder charge, following which the court, Kulawiz, J. , made a finding of probable cause to proceed on that charge. A judicial pretrial conference was conducted on January 24, 1995, at which Judge Kulawiz extended a plea offer to the defendant of a sentence of thirty years of imprisonment in exchange for his guilty plea to murder. The defendant rejected the offer, however, and it was withdrawn. Several days later, the case proceeded to a trial by jury, Murray, J. , presiding.

At trial, the state adduced evidence that, in the early morning hours of July 27, 1992, the defendant was at the Freight Street Social Club, an illegal after-hours social club in Waterbury, when he shot and killed Kathleen Gianni, a bartender there, because he suspected Gianni of being a police informant against several members of the Helter Skelter Motorcycle Club, of which the defendant was a member. In an effort to secure the silence of two witnesses to the shooting, Jo Orlandi and Laura Ryan, the defendant threatened and abducted

them at gunpoint and did not release them until the next day. The defendant later disposed of Gianni's body and attempted to burn down the social club. On the basis of that evidence, the jury found the defendant guilty as charged, and Judge Murray rendered judgment in accordance with the jury's verdict.

The defendant's sentencing hearing took place on July 20, 1995. Before imposing sentence, Judge Murray reviewed a five page written statement signed and submitted by the defendant that made three primary points: (1) the defendant was innocent of the charges notwithstanding the guilty verdicts; (2) the state's case against him was unreliable and based on knowingly false and coerced testimony; and (3) a sentence greater than the thirty years that, he asserted, he had been offered by the state in return for pleading guilty to murder, would constitute impermissible retaliation for exercising his right to a trial.²

Judge Murray then heard remarks from the state as well as from Gianni's mother and daughter. On behalf of the state, the prosecutor first made reference to the presentence investigation report (PSI), explaining that it conveyed "a sense of [the defendant as] a man who possesses a most dangerous combination of character traits ... in that [he] appears to be set off with little or no provocation ... he appears obsessed with weapons, and ... he appears to repeatedly put himself above the law." The PSI also revealed that the defendant had compiled a lengthy criminal record over more than two decades, which, the prosecutor explained, consisted of a "variety of offenses primarily involving weapons and assaultive, violent behavior," some of which entailed "armed ... attack[s] [against] defenseless individuals," including "complete strangers ... who

simply had the misfortune of running into the defendant on the street." According to the prosecutor, the defendant's record "illustrates a ... man [who is] not a stranger to the court system. He has been given the opportunity to straighten out his life time and time again. He's been fined a total of nine times. He has been given probation five times. He has had a taste of jail twice. All of those to no avail. The first step in rehabilitation ... is to admit your wrongdoing and accept responsibility for your actions. To this day, the defendant has not even taken that first step. ... [H]is refus[al] to do so in the face of the evidence against him and the rarity of having two eyewitnesses [Orlandi and Ryan] ... relate [to the jury] the horrific details of his crimes, illustrate[s] most clearly his continuing refusal to acknowledge his antisocial behavior."

The prosecutor next spoke about the offenses of which the defendant had been convicted, explaining that they included the defendant's "brutal ambush" of Gianni, whom he shot multiple times. As the prosecutor further explained, when the defendant learned, from Gianni's moaning, that the first shots had not killed her, he walked closer to her, stood directly over her body, and fired three more shots. At that point, realizing that Orlandi and Ryan had witnessed the entire incident, the defendant turned his gun on them and threatened to kill them if they said anything about the shooting. Although they tried to convince the defendant that they would not do so, the defendant abducted and held them and did not free them until the next day.

The prosecutor concluded his remarks by stating: "The defendant's actions on that day speak of a total disregard of human life. Not only for the life he took but for the lives of [Gianni's family] that were devastated and the lives of the eyewitnesses who are now permanently [scarred] by having to relive this murderous nightmare forever. Jo Orlandi and Laura Ryan related their ordeal at the trial and have made their

remarks in the PSI. Both indicated their positive belief that they would be the next to be killed. And three years later as we look at their lives they ... both have lives where they must continuously look over their shoulders. ...

"Kathleen Gianni was a woman in the prime years of her life. She was close to her family. She had friends and she had every reason and every right to live out all of the years to which she was entitled. At the time of her death Miss Gianni had a seventeen year old daughter, a daughter who testified at trial, a daughter that has been left to forge into the world without her mother's advice, without her care and without her guiding hand. Kathleen Gianni may never have realized what she lost because of the defendant, but it's her family which lives that loss and suffers the consequences and anguish every day."

Gianni's mother and daughter next addressed the court. They spoke lovingly of her and poignantly of their unbearable loss, explaining how their lives and the lives of other family members had been profoundly and permanently affected by her shocking, senseless and tragic death at the hands of the defendant. Both women requested that the defendant be sentenced to the maximum term of imprisonment of 110 years.

The prosecutor then spoke again briefly, underscoring that the defendant's "crimes could not be more heinous or offensive to our judicial process" and expressing the state's view that a severe sentence was warranted because, inter alia, the defendant had killed Gianni for "speak[ing] up and cooperat[ing] against criminal activity ...." The prosecutor further informed Judge Murray that the state also was seeking the imposition of the maximum possible sentence of 110 years. He stated that he hoped that such a sentence would "bring some sense of peace for the family of Kathleen Gianni, some sense of security for Jo Orlandi and

Laura Ryan and some protection for all of the people who [comprise] the city of Waterbury."

Finally, the prosecutor stated with respect to the statement that the defendant had submitted to the court: "[T]he defendant refers to a plea agreement which was offered to him by the state and that agreement never occurred. It was never offered by the state. That particular [thirty year] amount which is stated was offered by one of the courts that was involved in plea agreement negotiations and it is my belief that that is a matter that should not be considered by the sentencing court who'll make his determination on the facts and the evidence that were presented and not on the interest in moving cases prior to their trial."

Judge Murray then asked the defendant if he wished to address the court. The defendant declined, stating only that, "I have nothing to say outside of what's in my statement there." Judge Murray responded: "I've read your statement and I understand what you say. I'll rely upon the body of evidence that I received and that the jury has deemed credible in terms of rendering these verdicts here against you."³

Before imposing sentence, Judge Murray made the following statement: "Well then, Mr. Sinchak, it becomes my awesome duty to impose sentence here in the case involving the rendition of verdicts of murder and kidnapping against you—kidnapping in the first degree. The evidence presented during this trial,...