State v. Wojculewicz

• Decision Date: 15 December 1953
• Citation: 140 Conn. 487,101 A.2d 495
• Parties: STATE v. WOJCULEWICZ. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

Page 495

101 A.2d 495

140 Conn. 487

STATE v. WOJCULEWICZ.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

Dec. 15, 1953.

James D. Cosgrove, Hartford, public defender, for appellant (defendant).

Albert S. Bill, St. Atty., Hartford, with whom, on the brief, was Douglass B. Wright, Asst. St. Atty., Hartford, for appellee (state).

Before BALDWIN, INGLIS, O'SULLIVAN QUINLAN and WYNNE, ^* JJ.

WYNNE, Associate Justice.

The grand jury who indicted the defendant charged in one count that on November 5, 1951, at New Britain, the defendant, in perpetrating a robbery, murdered William J. Grabeck, and in a second count that at the same time and place he murdered William Otipka. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree on each count. The defendant has appealed to this court. The assignments of error which he has pressed are (1) the denial of his motion to set aside the verdict, (2) the denial of his motion for a continuance and (3) the denial of his motion to strike out some of the testimony of an expert in ballistics.

The following facts could reasonably have been found by the jury: On November 5, 1951, the defendant entered the establishment of the A. Y. O. Packing Company on Washington Street in New Britain at about 5:30 p. m. He pointed a shortbarreled revolver at Helen Dul, the bookkeeper in charge of the office, and at Aloysius Dzwil, another employee then present. The defendant threatened both with the gun and ordered Dzwil to stand with his face to the wall, which he did. The defendant then removed some money from the desk at which Miss Dul sat. He ordered Dzwil to remove some money from the safe. The latter complied and handed to the defendant a strong box and some bags of money. The defendant then backed out of the office and, after placing the box and bags on the garage floor outside the door, immediately returned, went to the safe and removed other bags of money.

When the defendant had first entered the office, he was seen by Chester Labieniec, an employee of the company. Labieniec, whose suspicion had been aroused, went to the office door and looked in. Seeing the defendant pointing the gun at Miss Dul and Dzwil, he hurriedly called the police. Officers arrived just as the defendant was backing out of the office the second time, still covering the employees with the gun. At this point Sergeant Grabeck of the New Britain police department entered the front door of the establishment. He stepped up to the defendant, put his gun to the latter's back and ordered him to drop his gun. At this instant William Otipka entered the establishment. This man was the husband of an employee of the A. Y. O. Packing Company and was accustomed to call at the time of day in question to meet his wife. He stepped to the side of Sergeant Grabeck and the defendant, whereupon the defendant wheeled towards Otipka and there were a number of shots fired in rapid succession. Otipka staggered from the scene, fell, mortally wounded, to the garage floor, and died within a few minutes. Sergeant Grabeck walked to the street, collapsed on the sidewalk, and died shortly after at the hospital. The defendant, also wounded, lay on the floor of the garage. He was seen by Officer Wojtusik reaching for the short-barreled revolver which lay on the floor near his right hand, and the officer shot twice at him. Wojtusik entered the garage, handcuffed the defendant and took him into custody. A ballistic examination of the three guns involved indicated that the bullet, which killed Sergeant Grabeck came from the gun carried by the defendant, as did the bullet which killed Otipka.

It is argued in behalf of the defendant that the evidence does not establish that he fired the shots which killed the deceased persons. There was evidence...