State v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 11 January 2011
• Docket Number: No. 30757.,30757.
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Christopher TAYLOR.

10 A.3d 1062
126 Conn.App. 52

STATE of Connecticut
v.
Christopher TAYLOR.

No. 30757.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued Sept. 8, 2010.
Decided Jan. 11, 2011.

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Erika L. Amarante, special public defender, with whom was Laura D. Kirby, special public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Margaret Gaffney Radionovas, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on

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the brief, were John A. Connelly, state's attorney, and Daniel H. Miller, special deputy assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

HARPER, ROBINSON and BEAR, Js.

HARPER, J.

126 Conn.App. 54

The defendant, Christopher Taylor, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of evasion of responsibility in the operation of a motor vehicle in violation of General Statutes § 14-224(b) and reckless driving in violation of General Statutes § 14-222(a). The defendant claims (1) that because the term "accident," in § 14-224(b), does not encompass intentional conduct, there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for evading responsibility and (2) there was insufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that the road on which he was driving was within the scope of § 14-222(a). For these reasons the defendant asserts that the trial court improperly denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal as to both charges. We reject the first claim and agree with the second claim. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of conviction under § 14-224(b) and reverse the judgment of conviction under § 14-222(a).

On the basis of the evidence presented at trial, the jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On August 23, 2007, the defendant struck the victim, Luigi Legorano, with his motor vehicle while driving on Whittier Avenue in Waterbury. Whittier Avenue is a residential street that runs south to east, perpendicular to Clematis Avenue on the south end and Eastern Avenue on the east end. The portion of Whittier Avenue between the last house on the street and Eastern Avenue is one way, running in an easterly direction. The remainder of Whittier Avenue is a two-way street. Thus, in compliance with posted signage, vehicles may enter

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Eastern Avenue from Whittier Avenue, but vehicles may not enter Whittier Avenue from Eastern Avenue. Whittier Avenue can only be accessed from Clematis Avenue on the southern end of the street.

The victim was living at his brother's home, which was located on the end of Whittier Avenue immediately before the one-way portion of the street. On the day of the incident, the victim was playing catch with his nephews and a friend in the street in front of his brother's home. The victim was positioned with his back facing Eastern Avenue. The defendant, who was operating his automobile in a southerly direction on Eastern Avenue, turned onto Whittier Avenue and began traveling the wrong way down the one-way portion of Whittier Avenue. The victim's nephew, who was positioned facing Eastern Avenue, spotted the defendant's automobile and shouted to the victim to alert him that a vehicle was traveling toward him down the one-way portion of Whittier Avenue. The victim then turned around, raised his hands and shouted to the defendant to stop his vehicle. The defendant brought his vehicle to a stop approximately five feet in front of the victim. The victim informed the defendant that he was driving the wrong way down a one-way street and instructed the defendant to turn his vehicle around. The defendant and the victim exchanged words, and the defendant ultimately struck the victim with his vehicle, knocking him to the ground. After striking the victim with his vehicle, the defendant put the vehicle in reverse, backed down the one-way portion of Whittier Avenue onto Eastern Avenue and left the scene.

The police arrived shortly after the incident and interviewed witnesses. The victim's sister-in-law, who had observed a portion of the incident, provided police with the license plate number of the vehicle that had struck the victim. Police determined that the license plate number

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matched a vehicle registered to the defendant. After

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officers left the scene, the victim's brother, Carrado Addona, and a friend, Jason Dunne, drove through the neighborhood, looking for the vehicle that had struck the victim. Addona and Dunne located the vehicle parked a short distance away outside a house on Sunset Avenue. Addona called the police to notify them that he and Dunne had located the vehicle.

Responding to Addona's tip, Raymond Rose, an officer with the Waterbury police department, went to Sunset Avenue and confirmed that the defendant's vehicle was parked in front of a home on Sunset Avenue. Rose knocked on the door and the defendant answered. The defendant admitted to Rose that he had struck the victim with his vehicle on Whittier Avenue. The defendant was arrested and charged in a three count information with: (1) evading responsibility in violation of § 14-224(b); reckless driving in violation of § 14-222(a); and operating a vehicle the wrong direction on a one-way street in violation of General Statutes § 14-239(a). The first two counts were tried to the jury, and the third count was tried to the court. On September 24, 2008, the defendant was convicted of all three counts.¹ On grounds materially similar to those raised in this appeal, the defendant filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal as to the conviction of evading responsibility and reckless driving. The court denied the motion for a judgment of acquittal as to both counts. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

The defendant claims that because there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction of evading responsibility and reckless driving, the trial court improperly denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal. We begin by setting forth the general principles

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that govern our review of the defendant's claims. "The standard of appellate review of a denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal has been settled by judicial decision.... The issue to be determined is whether the jury could have reasonably concluded, from the facts established and the reasonable inferences which could be drawn from those facts, that the cumulative effect was to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Bonner, 110 Conn.App. 621, 636, 955 A.2d 625, cert. denied, 289 Conn. 955, 961 A.2d 421 (2008). "[W]e have consistently employed a two-part analysis in appellate review of the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a criminal conviction.... First, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. Second, we determine whether upon the facts so construed and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom the jury reasonably could have concluded that the cumulative force of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.... That the evidence is circumstantial rather than direct does not diminish the probative force of that evidence.... We must be mindful, however, that [a]lthough the jury may draw reasonable, logical inferences from the facts proven, [it] may not resort to speculation and conjecture." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. McKiernan, 78 Conn.App. 182, 191-92, 826 A.2d 1210, cert. denied, 266 Conn. 902, 832 A.2d 66 (2003). "[I]nferences which do not have a basis in facts established by the evidence cannot be drawn or relied upon to sustain a verdict." State v. Jackson, 176 Conn. 257, 264, 407 A.2d 948 (1978).

I

The defendant first claims that the evidence was insufficient to support his

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conviction of evading responsibility in violation of § 14-224(b). Specifically, the defendant claims that there was insufficient evidence

126 Conn.App. 58

for a jury to conclude that he was involved in an accident. The defendant asserts that the term accident, as it is used in § 14-224(b), ² encompasses only unintentional conduct. The defendant argues that because the state's evidence indicated that his conduct in striking the victim with the vehicle was intentional, there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction under § 14-224(b). We disagree with the defendant's claim.

This court addressed a similar claim in State v. Rembert, 26 Conn.App. 145, 598 A.2d 1101 (1991). In Rembert, the defendant intentionally drove his vehicle at a group of teenagers but instead struck a young boy and the boy's mother, who were standing nearby. Id., at 147, 598 A.2d 1101. The trial court granted the defendant's motion for a judgment of acquittal on the charge of evading responsibility in violation of § 14-224, reasoning that the statute did not apply to intentional conduct. Id., at 146, 598 A.2d 1101. The state appealed, arguing that the court improperly concluded that the term "accident" as used in § 14-224 did not apply to intentional conduct, and, in the alternative, that even if the statute did not apply to intentional conduct, there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's guilty verdict. Id., at 146-47, 598 A.2d 1101. This court reversed the judgment of acquittal. Id., at 149, 598 A.2d 1101. We did not, however, "engage in the exercise of defining the term 'accident' within the meaning of [§ 14-224]." Id., at 148, 598 A.2d 1101. Rather, we held that "ample evidence existed permitting the jury to find that the defendant drove his car at the teenagers, intending to injure them, and that he instead unintentionally struck [the victim].... [S]ince the defendant actually intended to strike the teenagers with the car,

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hitting [the victim] instead constituted an 'accident' under any definition of the word." Id., at 148-49, 598 A.2d 1101.

In the present case, we are presented with a situation similar to that in Rembert. As was true in Rembert, we see no reason to define the term "accident" in § 14-224, as there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the jury's verdict...