State v. Bassano
State v. Bassano
Opinion of the Court
The information charged the defendant with a violation of § 53-295 of the General Statutes, entitled “Pool selling.” The trial court entered
Since the rights of the defendant are completely protected by the full examination of all the evidence which this court must make in order to determine whether the defendant could be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, we do not consider the first two errors assigned. State v. Mac-Cullough, 115 Conn. 306, 307.
In his third assignment, the defendant alleges that the court erred in admitting the opinion of the state’s witness, Lieutenant Roach, as to what certain writings represented, without first qualifying him as an expert. The defendant did not set forth the question, the objection, the answer if any, and the exception in an exhibit annexed to his assignment of errors, as required by Circuit Court Rule 7.29.1 (4), but merely referred to three pages of the transcript. After a careful examination thereof, we conclude that this assignment of error has no merit because nowhere in these three pages is there contained any question, to which the defendant objected, which resulted in the expression of an opinion by the witness Roach.
The fourth and fifth assignments of error both concern the admission in evidence of the state’s
In the fifth assignment, error is claimed on the ground that exhibits A, B and C were admitted before the corpus delicti was established. The state offered evidence which established that the three exhibits were found on the defendant’s person. The witness, Roach, was asked his opinion of the writing contained in each exhibit. The defendant objected on the ground that to admit testimony as to what the writing purported to be would be to allow evidence which might, as to the defendant, be self-incriminating and that its effect would be to allow an admission of a confession in evidence without first establishing a corpus delicti. The three exhibits were not written confessions of the guilt of the defendant; there is no evidence that they were in the defendant’s handwriting; they were not introduced by the state as voluntary statements by the defendant of the fact that a crime was committed and of the defendant’s agency therein. State v. LaLouche,
We do not consider the sixth assignment of error because the defendant did not pursue it either in his brief or in oral argument. Independent Methodist Episcopal Church v. Davis, 137 Conn. 1, 16; see Practice Book § 455.
The seventh assignment of error concerns the refusal of the trial court to grant the defendant’s motion to dismiss the information. This action is not assignable error. State v. Boucher, 119 Conn. 436, 437; State v. Fasano, 119 Conn. 455, 459; State v. Murphy, 124 Conn. 554, 567; Maltbie, Conn. App. Proc. § 212.
In his eighth assignment, the defendant claims that the court erred in concluding that he was concerned in pool selling on January 27, 1961. The principal facts set forth in the finding are: On January 27, 1961, Lieutenant Roach, a member of the Hartford police department and in charge of its vice division, apprehended the defendant in the cafeteria on the premises known as 1429 Park Street, Hartford, and found, after search by warrant, in the pocket of an apron then worn by the defendant, three pieces of paper containing horse bets in the total amount of $7, an Armstrong racing sheet dated January 26, 1961, and four pencils, and, in
We look now to the ninth assignment of error, wherein the defendant claims error by the court in concluding upon all the evidence that he was guilty of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. The crime charged was pool selling in violation of § 53-295 of the General Statutes. The information used was the short-form information authorized by Practice Book § 344. The information did not set forth the means by which the offense was committed. This is proper as provided by Practice Book § 349. A careful perusal of § 53-295 of the General Statutes reveals that there are several “means” by
The court had uncontradicted facts which established that the defendant was apprehended at his place of employment by the police, who found in the pocket of an apron which he was then and there wearing three pieces of paper containing horse bets in the total amount of $7 and four pencils, and, in one of his trouser pockets, $7 in currency. With these facts and the inference, unfavorable to the defendant, which the court could justifiably draw as a result of his failure to testify on his own behalf and, consequently, explain or attempt to explain the pieces of paper, the $7 and their presence on his person, the court could properly conclude that the papers and money were evidence of pools, money and property wagered or bet upon the result of a horse race, and that the defendant was the custodian of them at the time he was apprehended. State v. Johnson, 140 Conn. 560, 565. Upon all of the evidence presented, the trial court was warranted in
There is no error.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.