State v. Walker

• Decision Date: 13 August 2019
• Docket Number: SC 20101
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Eugene L. WALKER

332 Conn. 678

212 A.3d 1244

STATE of Connecticut

v.Eugene L. WALKER

SC 20101

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued January 23, 2019

Officially released August 13, 2019

John L. Cordani, Jr., assigned counsel, for the appellant (defendant).

Timothy J. Sugrue, assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Margaret E. Kelley, state's attorney, Cornelius Kelly, senior assistant state's attorney, and Rocco A. Chiarenza, assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Robinson, C.J., and Palmer, McDonald, D'Auria, Mullins and Ecker, Js.

MULLINS, J.

The sole issue in this certified appeal is whether the Appellate Court correctly concluded that the defendant, Eugene L. Walker, failed to establish a violation of his right under the sixth amendment to the United States constitution to confront witnesses against him. Specifically, the defendant asserts that the state violated his right to confrontation by introducing evidence at trial that his DNA profile, which had been generated from a postarrest buccal swab, matched the DNA found on evidence from the crime scene without calling as a witness the analyst who processed the buccal swab and generated the DNA profile used in that comparison.

The defendant's DNA profile was created after his arrest in aid of an ongoing criminal investigation and under circumstances objectively indicating that it was created for the primary purpose of being used as evidence in the defendant's criminal case. In addition, the sole analyst who testified about the DNA evidence at trial neither performed nor observed the analysis of the buccal swab that produced the DNA profile and, therefore, was not a sufficient substitute witness to satisfy the defendant's right to confrontation. We conclude that, under the specific circumstances of this case, the defendant has established a violation of his right to confrontation. As a result, we reverse in part the judgment of the Appellate Court.

The Appellate Court's decision sets forth the following relevant facts, which the jury reasonably could have found. "On the night of October 28, 2012, Anthony Adams, the codefendant in this consolidated trial, telephoned Alexis Morrison to ask if she knew ‘somebody that could sell him some weed.’ Morrison called Neville Malacai Registe, the victim, to arrange for him to meet with Adams in the parking lot of her West Haven residence. When the victim received Morrison's telephone call, he was with his friend, Stephon Green, at his mother's home in New Haven. After some time, the victim and Green left in the victim's Acura. As they approached the designated parking lot, the victim called Morrison. Morrison then telephoned Adams to tell him that the victim ‘was there.’ Adams replied that he had already left because the victim ‘took too long ... and that Day-Day and GZ [were] going to get the weed.’ ‘Day-Day’ and ‘GZ’ were nicknames for Daquane Adams, who is Anthony Adams' cousin, and the defendant, respectively, both of whom Morrison knew.

"When the victim and Green arrived in the parking lot, the victim backed his car into a parking space. Green, who was rolling a marijuana joint in the front passenger seat, looked up and noticed two men approaching the Acura. He returned his attention to his task, and the victim opened the driver's door to talk to one of the men. [That] man, who was wearing a black bandana and who was later identified as the defendant, held a revolver inside the car and said, ‘run it,’ meaning, ‘give me it. It's a robbery ....’ A physical altercation ensued. The second man, later identified as Daquane Adams, stepped away from the Acura and placed a cell phone call to someone. A Toyota arrived, and a third man exited that car and asked the defendant for the gun.¹ The struggle over the gun continued inside the victim's Acura, and someone knocked Green into the backseat. Daquane Adams and the third man pulled the defendant out of the [Acura] and, as Green was climbing back into the front passenger seat, a shot was fired. Green heard the victim say, ‘oh, shit,’ and then heard a second shot.

"The defendant, Daquane Adams, and the third man got in the Toyota and drove toward the parking lot exit. With the victim slumped over in the driver's seat, Green pursued the Toyota. He caught up to it at the end of the street and rammed the Acura into the back of the Toyota. The victim's Acura was disabled, but the Toyota was able to be driven away. The victim died of a gunshot wound to his head." (Footnote in original.) State v. Walker , 180 Conn. App. 291, 296–97, 183 A.3d 1 (2018).

The record reveals the following additional relevant facts and procedural history. In December, 2012, the defendant was arrested and charged with felony murder in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 2013) § 53a-54c, conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-48 (a) and 53a-134, and attempt to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-49 (a) (2) and 53a-134 (a) (2). Anthony Adams and Daquane Adams also were arrested in December, 2012, and were subsequently charged with various offenses.

After the defendant's arrest, the state continued its investigation into the respective roles played by the defendant, Anthony Adams, and Daquane Adams in the shooting. During their initial investigation, the police recovered from the Acura the black bandana that Green identified as having been worn by the man who shot the victim. The police sent the bandana to a laboratory run by the Division of Scientific Services of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to be analyzed for DNA. In June, 2013, the state filed a motion in the present case requesting that the defendant submit to a buccal swab of his mouth² "for purposes of obtaining a DNA sample." The state argued that the DNA "will be of material aid in determining whether the defendant committed the crime of felony murder." The court granted the state's motion, and Tammy Murray, a detective in the West Haven Police Department, took the defendant's buccal swab on June 19, 2013. Murray also took buccal swabs from Anthony Adams and Daquane Adams.³ Those three buccal swabs, as well as a sample of the victim's blood, were then sent to the laboratory to be analyzed.

At the laboratory, Heather Degnan, a supervisory forensic analyst, received the three buccal swabs and the victim's blood sample and sent them to the "known processing group"—a group within the laboratory that processes all known DNA samples to be used in comparisons—to be analyzed. The known processing group generated a DNA profile from each sample and provided the profiles to Degnan. Degnan generated DNA profiles from the bandana, which she then compared with the known profiles that had been provided to her. As a result of that comparison, Degnan determined that the defendant was a major contributor to the DNA on the bandana. The victim, Anthony Adams, and Daquane Adams were eliminated as potential contributors. Degnan memorialized her findings in a "DNA Report" dated August 28, 2013 (report).

After Degnan issued her report linking the defendant to the bandana believed to have been worn by the shooter, the state filed an amended substitute information charging the defendant with the additional crimes of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-55 (a) (1) and 53a-55a (a), and criminal possession of a pistol or revolver in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 2013) § 53a-217c (a) (1).

The envelope containing the defendant's buccal swab that Murray submitted to the laboratory was admitted into evidence. A review of that exhibit reveals that the envelope is labeled with the defendant's name, his right thumbprint, and the words "DNA Buccal Swab Kit." The envelope lists "West Haven P.D." as the submitting agency and displays a notation reading "Incident: Homicide." The envelope identifies the defendant's address as the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution.

Following Murray's testimony, the state called Degnan to testify. She began by explaining the standard DNA typing techniques used by the laboratory in generating DNA profiles. She testified that the process involves four steps: (1) extracting DNA from the sample and purifying it of contaminants; (2) quantitating the DNA, i.e., determining the amount of DNA that has been extracted; (3) amplifying the DNA using a thermal cycler machine, i.e., creating many copies of different regions of the DNA; and (4) interpreting the data generated from these steps and constructing the numerical DNA profile, which consists of a series of numbers to designate the "alleles."⁴

Degnan further testified about her analysis and findings. Degnan testified that she personally analyzed the bandana using standard DNA typing techniques. She isolated DNA from both sides of the bandana and generated DNA profiles of at least two contributors, a major contributor and a minor contributor. With respect to the buccal swabs and the victim's blood sample, however, Degnan testified that she did not generate those DNA profiles herself. Degnan explained that the swabs and blood sample were sent to the known processing group, which generated DNA profiles from the samples and then "provided" those profiles to her for comparison with the DNA from the bandana.

Before Degnan testified as to the results of her comparison, defense counsel objected to the admission of this evidence on the ground that Degnan had not been qualified as an expert. During voir dire examinations conducted in the jury's presence, Degnan admitted that she neither participated in the known processing group's analysis of the defendant's buccal swab nor observed the analysis being conducted.

Nonetheless, when asked whether she was "swearing to the accuracy" of the DNA profile provided to her, Degnan responded by saying "[y]es." Degnan further testified that, in addition to the profile itself, the known...