State v. Gonzalez
State v. Gonzalez
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
The defendant, Carlos Gonzalez, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of possession of narcotics with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent, in violation of General Statutes § 21a-278 (b). On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court erred by failing (1) to give a special credibility instruction for a cooperating witness and (2) to hold a pretrial hearing on the reliability of the cooperating witness’ testimony. Because the defendant argues both claims simultaneously, and because both claims are closely related, we will consider them together. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
At trial, neither side submitted a request for jury instructions. The parties, however, had several discussions on the record with the court concerning the court’s various drafts of jury instructions. Specifically, for the instruction regarding the credibility of a cooperating witness, the court stated that it would give a “compromise” instruction. The court stated that it added an instruction because it was concerned by recent case law on the subject of cooperating witness credibility. The court informed both parties that it added the following instruction and explained its reasoning for it. “[W]as there any motive for testifying falsely — and I don’t put names — just motive for testifying falsely and inculpating the accused; you consider extent of a witness’ testimony by other evidence, any benefits received in exchange for his testimony and the circumstances under which the witness provided the information; reasonableness of the witness’ testimony in light of all the other evidence or was he contradicted.” Neither side objected to the proposed instruction. The state responded to the court’s proposed instruction by saying: “Oh, that’s perfectly fine, Your Honor.” Counsel for the defendant responded by saying: “That’s fine, Judge.”
In accordance with the discussions it held with the parties, the court instructed the jury in relevant part as follows: “You as fact finders must determine the credibility of the witnesses who have appeared before you. . . . [I]n deciding what the facts are, you must consider all the evidence. In doing this, you must decide
On appeal, the defendant argues that this court should exercise its supervisory authority over the administration of justice to require trial courts to give special credibility instructions and to hold pretrial reliability hearings regarding cooperating witnesses. The defendant concedes that his claim is unpreserved as he did not request specific jury instructions or a pretrial reliability hearing, or object during any of the pertinent proceedings at trial. He asserts, however, that his claim is reviewable pursuant to this court’s supervisory authority over the administration of justice. The defendant further concedes that a special credibility instruction and a pretrial reliability hearing are not constitutionally required,
We begin by setting forth the standard of review. “It is a well established principle that a defendant is entitled to have the jury correctly and adequately instructed on the pertinent principles of substantive law. . . . The charge must be correct in the law, adapted to the issues and sufficient to guide the jury. . . . The primary purpose of the charge to the jury is to assist [it] in applying the law correctly to the facts which [it] find[s] to be established. ... [A] charge to the jury is to be considered in its entirety, read as a whole, and judged by its total effect rather than by its individual component parts. . . . [T]he test of a court’s charge is not whether it is as accurate upon legal principles as the opinions of a court of last resort but whether it fairly presents the case to the jury in such a way that injustice is not done to either party under the established rules of law. . . . Although [a] request to charge which is relevant to the issues of [a] case and which is an accurate statement of the law must be given ... [a] refusal to charge in the exact words of a request . . . will not constitute error if the requested charge is given in substance. . . . Thus, when the substance of the requested instructions is fairly and substantially included in the trial court’s jury charge, the trial court may properly refuse to give such instructions. . . .
“Generally, a [criminal] defendant is not entitled to an. instruction singling out any of the state’s witnesses and highlighting his or her possible motive for testifying falsely. State v. Ortiz, [252 Conn. 533, 561, 747 A.2d 487 (2000)]; accord State v. Colon, 272 Conn. 106, 227, 864
“With regard to accomplice witnesses, we have stated that, [w]here it is warranted by the evidence, it is the court’s duty to caution the jury to scrutinize carefully the testimony if the jury finds that the witness intentionally assisted in the commission, or if [he] assisted or aided or abetted in the commission, of the offense with which the defendant is charged. . . . [I]n order for one to be an accomplice there must be mutuality of intent and community of unlawful purpose.” (Citations omitted; emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Patterson, supra, 276 Conn. 466-68. In State v. Arroyo, supra, 292 Conn. 569, our Supreme Court recognized a third exception — based on the inherent unreliability of jailhouse informant testimony — and created a rule requiring the trial court to give a special credibility instruction to the jury whenever such testimony is given, regardless of whether the informant has received an express promise of a benefit.
Under the facts and circumstances of this case, however, Colon’s testimony does not fit squarely into one of the Patterson-Arroyo exceptions to the general rule
The judgment is affirmed.
At trial, the defendant’s counsel stipulated that the package recovered from the car contained cocaine.
The defendant further conceded that such an instruction is not presently required by our case law but asks us to create a rule requiring such an instruction.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. CARLOS E. GONZALEZ
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published