State v. Sinclair

• Citation: 500 A.2d 539,197 Conn. 574
• Court: Supreme Court of Connecticut
• Decision Date: 12 November 1985
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. John SINCLAIR.

Page 539

500 A.2d 539

197 Conn. 574

STATE of Connecticut v. John SINCLAIR.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Oct. 1, 1985.

Decided Nov. 12, 1985.

Joette Katz, Public Defender, with whom, on brief, were Joseph G. Bruckmann, Asst. Public Defender, and Robert Johnson, for appellant (defendant).

Roland D. Fasano, Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on brief, was Arnold Markle, State's Atty., for appellee (state).

Before PETERS, C.J., and HEALEY, SHEA, DANNEHY and SANTANIELLO, JJ.

PETERS, Chief Justice.

The dispositive issue on this appeal is whether the trial judge erred in failing to instruct the jury, as General Statutes § 54-84(b) ¹ requires, that the jury may draw no unfavorable inferences from the defendant's failure to testify in his own behalf. After a trial to a jury, the defendant, John Sinclair, was convicted of burglary in the second degree, in violation of General Statutes § 53a-102, ² and was sentenced to imprisonment for eight years.

In his appeal from this conviction, the defendant raises four claims of error: (1) that the evidence presented was insufficient to support the verdict; (2) that evidence of his prior misconduct was erroneously admitted; (3) that the instructions to the jury inadequately informed the jury about intent as an essential element of the crime charged; and (4) that the instructions to the jury failed to include the statutory warning against drawing unfavorable inferences from the defendant's failure to testify. We find error only on the last of these claims.

I

The defendant's first claim of error is that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support the jury verdict. Appellate analysis of such a claim requires us to undertake a well defined, twofold task. 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. State v. Braxton, 196 Conn. 685, 691, 495 A.2d 273 (1985); State v. Cimino, 194 Conn. 210, 211, 478 A.2d 1005 (1984); State v. Stepney, 191 Conn. 233, 255, 464 A.2d 758 (1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1084, 104 S.Ct. 1455, 79 L.Ed.2d 772, reh. denied, 466 U.S. 954, 104 S.Ct. 2163, 80 L.Ed.2d 547 (1984). 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. Braxton, supra; State v. Haddad, 189 Conn. 383, 390, 456 A.2d 316 (1983); State v. Perez, 183 Conn. 225, 227, 439 A.2d 305 (1981). "It is not one fact, but the cumulative impact of a multitude of facts which establishes guilt in a case involving substantial circumstantial evidence." State v. Perez, supra, 227, 439 A.2d 305; State v. Cimino, supra, 194 Conn. 211, 478 A.2d 1005.

In this case, the jury could reasonably have found the following facts. During the evening of April 19, 1982, two Yale University students reported to police that they had noticed an unknown man trying doors in a suspicious manner inside a student residence hall. Within minutes, a Yale police officer investigating their complaints entered a student suite in the residence hall and found the defendant hiding in a closet in the rear bedroom. The students who resided in that suite had not given him permission to be there. Upon being discovered, the defendant knocked down the police officer who had found him, ran out into the courtyard, and attempted to escape over the fence. When the defendant was subsequently apprehended, he resisted violently, requiring three police officers to subdue him.

In light of this evidence, the defendant concedes that there was sufficient proof of the illegality of his presence in the Yale residence hall. ³ He maintains, however, that the evidence was insufficient to establish that, while there, he intended to commit a crime. Such an intent, as he argues, is what distinguishes the crime of burglary in the second degree, with which he was charged, from the lesser crime of criminal trespass. This issue was properly raised in the trial court by timely motions for acquittal. We agree with the trial court's denial of these motions.

Review of the evidence in this case reveals that the jury could reasonably have found that the defendant had the intent requisite to a finding of guilty of burglary in the second degree. His unlawful and surreptitious presence in the student suite and closet, his flight and his struggle with the police upon his apprehension are all indicative of criminal purpose. The jury was entitled to apply its own knowledge and experience of human nature to this evidence; State v. Little, 194 Conn. 665, 674, 485 A.2d 913 (1984); and to infer therefrom that the defendant was not merely trespassing. State v. Zayas, 195 Conn. 611, 617, 490 A.2d 68 (1985); State v. Smith, 194 Conn. 213, 217-20, 479 A.2d 814 (1984). That the jury might have drawn other possible inferences from these facts is not sufficient to undermine its verdict, since proof of guilt must be established beyond a reasonable doubt, not beyond a possible doubt. State v. Morrill, 193 Conn. 602, 610-11, 478 A.2d 994 (1984). This claim of error is therefore unpersuasive.

II

The defendant in his second claim of error maintains that he is entitled to a new trial because of the trial court's erroneous ruling permitting a police officer to testify about the defendant's previous arrests. ⁴ The defendant now characterizes this evidence as inadmissible because it was evidence of prior misconduct whose strong prejudicial impact far outweighed its minimal probative value. At trial, however, the defendant objected to this evidence solely on the ground of relevance. ⁵

Our review of evidentiary rulings made by the trial court is limited to the specific legal ground raised in the objection. Practice Book §§ 3063, 288; ⁶ State v. Rothenberg, 195 Conn. 253, 262, 487 A.2d 545 (1985); State v. Braman, 191 Conn. 670, 684-85, 469 A.2d 760 (1983). The reason for this rule is clear: it is to alert the trial court to an error while there is time to correct it; State v. Rothenberg, supra, 195 Conn. 263, 487 A.2d 545; State v. Jones, 193 Conn. 70, 88, 475 A.2d 1087 (1984); and to give the opposing party an opportunity to argue against the objection at trial. To permit a party to raise a different ground on appeal than was raised during trial would amount to "trial by ambuscade," unfair both to the trial court and to the opposing party. State v. Brice, 186 Conn. 449, 457, 442 A.2d 906 (1982); State v. DeGennaro, 147 Conn. 296, 304, 160 A.2d 480, cert. denied, 364 U.S. 873, 81 S.Ct. 116, 5 L.Ed.2d 95 (1960).

The defendant acknowledges that the erroneous admission of prior misconduct evidence, even if established, does not rise to the level of a constitutional violation depriving him of a fair trial. Consequently, this claim does not fall under the narrow "exceptional circumstances" exception articulated in State v. Evans, 165 Conn. 61, 69-71, 327 A.2d 576 (1973). Since the claim of error raised in this appeal is not the same claim raised in the trial court, ⁷ we, therefore, decline to consider it.

III

The defendant's third claim is that the trial court's instruction on the elements of the crime was erroneous because it did not include the statutory definition of intent. ⁸ The defendant took no exception to this portion of the charge at trial. Ordinarily such a failure would render the claim unreviewable on appeal. Practice Book § 854. ⁹ However, because the failure adequately to instruct the jury on each essential element of the crime charged, including intent, might result in a due process violation implicating the fairness of his trial, we will consider this issue. State v. Zayas, supra, 616, 490 A.2d 68; State v. Smith, supra, 194 Conn. 217, 479 A.2d 814; State v. Kurvin, 186 Conn. 555, 558, 442 A.2d 1327 (1982).

The extent of our review of a constitutional issue raised for the first time on appeal is limited. We must determine whether, "considering the substance of the charge rather than the form of what was said, it is reasonably possible that the jury was misled." State v. Zayas, supra, 195 Conn. 617, 490 A.2d 68.

Reviewing the charge in its entirety, we conclude that the jury was adequately instructed on the element of intent. The trial court read General Statutes § 53a-102, which defines burglary in the second degree, in its entirety. The court carefully instructed the jury that a conviction on this charge required the jury to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that not only had the defendant entered the building unlawfully, but also that he had done so with intent to commit a crime therein. Although the trial court did not recite the statutory definition of intent, it did equate intent with criminal purpose.

Jury instructions are calculated to give the jurors a clear understanding of the elements of the crime charged, and to afford them proper guidance for their determination of whether those elements were present. State v. Smith, supra, 194 Conn. 219-20, 479 A.2d 814. As long as the charge as given achieves these goals, it is constitutionally adequate. In the present case, the trial court's failure specifically to define intent, at least in the absence of a request or exception by the defendant, was not reversible error because it is not reasonably possible that the jury was misled as to its meaning. The word intent was used in its ordinary sense, in a manner which clearly conveyed what had to be proved by the state to justify a conviction. "[W]hen a word contained in an essential element carries its ordinary meaning, failure to give the statutory definition will not constitute error." State v. Kurvin, supra, 186 Conn. 562, 442 A.2d 1327. Considering the charge as a whole we conclude that the jury...