Bell v. Commissioner of Correction
Bell v. Commissioner of Correction
Opinion
*103
*782
The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the absence of a jury instruction required by our Supreme Court's seminal decision in
State
v.
Salamon
,
In this case, the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, bears the arduous burden of demonstrating that the omission of an instruction on incidental restraint did not contribute to the verdict. See, e.g.,
The petitioner, Mark Banks, appeals from the judgment of the habeas court denying his amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On appeal, he claims that the decision of the habeas court violated his due process right to a fair trial pursuant to the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the United States constitution. Specifically, he contends that the court improperly determined that the lack of a jury instruction in his underlying criminal case concerning the intent and conduct necessary to find the petitioner guilty of kidnapping in accordance with
State
v.
Salamon
, supra,
The following facts and procedural history are relevant to this appeal. In 1997, following a jury trial, the petitioner was convicted of four counts of kidnapping in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-92 (a) (2) (B), 1 four counts of robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) (4), and two counts of criminal possession of a pistol *783 or revolver in violation of General Statutes § 53a-217c. 2 The trial *105 court sentenced the petitioner to a total effective sentence of twenty-five years incarceration 3 consecutive to any sentence the petitioner was presently serving. 4
In 2000, following a direct appeal, this court affirmed the judgments of conviction, setting forth the following facts that a reasonable jury could have found concerning the petitioner's crimes: "Michael Kozlowski and Howard Silk were working [on the evening of August 30, 1995] at the Bedding Barn store in Newington. The [petitioner], posing as a customer, entered the store shortly before closing at 9 p.m.; there were no other customers in the store. Kozlowski approached the [petitioner] and began to show him some king-size beds. The [petitioner] pulled a large silver gun from a bag he was holding. The gun had a round cylinder. The [petitioner], while pointing the gun at Silk, ordered Kozlowski to open the cash register. After taking money from the register, the [petitioner] requested the store's bank bag or safe. The [petitioner] then asked Silk and Kozlowski for the money from their wallets. He then took money from Silk, but not from Kozlowski. Silk and Kozlowski were then locked in the bathroom with something propped against the door and told not to leave or they would be shot. A short time later, when Silk and Kozlowski heard the doorbell in the store ring, they assumed the robber had left, pushed open the bathroom door and called the police."
State
v.
Banks
,
"Kelly Wright was working [on the evening of September 13, 1995] at the Bedding Barn store in Southington.
*106
Shortly before 9 p.m., while Wright's roommate, Idelle Feltman, was waiting to take her home, the [petitioner] and an unknown woman, posing as customers, entered the store. The [petitioner] pulled a gun from a bag he was carrying, held it to Feltman's temple, and asked her to open the cash register and to give him money. The [petitioner] then requested the bank bag, which Feltman gave him. The [petitioner] then told Wright and Feltman to get into the bathroom and lock themselves in. Shortly thereafter, Feltman and Wright heard the door buzzer and surmised that the [petitioner] had left the store. They exited the bathroom and called the police." Id., at 116-17,
On January 13, 2014, the petitioner filed the petition for a writ of habeas corpus underlying the present appeal, which he amended on August 12, 2016, alleging a violation of his due process right to a fair trial. In his amended petition, the petitioner challenged his two kidnapping convictions on the ground that the instructions given to the jury were not in accordance with
State
v.
Salamon
, supra,
*107 On October 20, 2016, the court issued a memorandum of decision denying the petition. In its memorandum of decision, the court set forth a detailed version of events based on the transcript from the petitioner's criminal trial. 6 The habeas court concluded that the *108 respondent demonstrated that the absence of a Salamon instruction at the petitioner's criminal *785 trial constituted harmless error because the "movements and confinements [of the employees] were perpetrated after the crimes of robbery were committed and cannot conceivably be regarded as coincidental with or necessary to complete the substantive crimes of robbery. Depriving someone of their freedom of movement by imprisoning them in a bathroom subsequent to acquiring their money, although convenient for the robber, is not inherent in the crime of robbery. It is crystal clear that the petitioner's intent and purpose for locking up his robbery victims was to postpone their summoning of assistance and reporting of the crime to police, thus facilitating the petitioner's escape from the scene and delaying detection of his crime, identity, and/or whereabouts. Also, the petitioner extended the period of infliction of duress and distress for the victims by restraining them beyond the time of fulfillment of his quest, i.e., seizure of cash." (Emphasis in original.) The habeas court subsequently granted the petitioner's certification to appeal on October 27, 2016. This appeal followed.
The petitioner claims that the habeas court improperly determined that the lack of a jury instruction in his underlying criminal case concerning the intent and conduct necessary to find the petitioner guilty of kidnapping in accordance with
State
v.
Salamon
, supra,
The determination of whether the trial court's failure to provide a
Salamon
instruction constitutes harmless error is a question of law subject to plenary review.
Farmer
v.
Commissioner of Correction
,
A review of the evolution of our kidnapping jurisprudence will facilitate the analysis in this case. Following the petitioner's criminal trial and direct appeal, our Supreme Court issued several significant decisions with respect to the crime of kidnapping. See
State
v.
Salamon
, supra,
"In Salamon , we reconsidered our long-standing interpretation of our kidnapping statutes, General Statutes §§ 53a-91 through 53a-94a.... The defendant had assaulted the victim at a train station late at night, and ultimately was charged with kidnapping in the second degree in violation of § 53a-94, unlawful restraint in the first degree, and risk of injury to a child.... At trial, the defendant requested a jury instruction that, if the jury found that the restraint had been incidental to the assault, then the jury must acquit the defendant of the charge of kidnapping.... The trial court declined to give that instruction....
"[W]e [thus] reexamined our long-standing interpretation of the kidnapping statutes to encompass even restraints that merely were incidental to and necessary for the commission of another substantive offense, such as robbery or sexual assault.... We ultimately concluded that [o]ur legislature ... intended to exclude from the scope of the more serious crime of kidnapping and its accompanying severe penalties those confinements or movements *786 of a victim that are merely incidental to and necessary for the commission of another *110 crime against that victim. Stated otherwise, to commit a kidnapping in conjunction with another crime, a defendant must intend to prevent the victim's liberation for a longer period of time or to a greater degree than that which is necessary to commit the other crime ....
"We explained in
Salamon
that
a defendant may be convicted of both kidnapping and another substantive crime if, at any time prior to, during or after the commission of that other crime, the victim is moved or confined in a way that had independent criminal significance, that is, the victim was restrained to an extent exceeding that which was necessary to accomplish or complete the other crime.
Whether the movement or confinement of the victim is merely incidental to and necessary for another crime will depend on the particular facts and circumstances of each case. Consequently, when the evidence reasonably supports a finding that the restraint was not merely incidental to the commission of some other, separate crime, the ultimate factual determination must be made by the jury. For purposes of making that determination, the jury should be instructed to consider the various relevant factors, including the nature and duration of the victim's movement or confinement by the defendant, whether that movement or confinement occurred during the commission of the separate offense, whether the restraint was inherent in the nature of the separate offense, whether the restraint prevented the victim from summoning assistance, whether the restraint reduced the defendant's risk of detection and whether the restraint created a significant danger or increased the victim's risk of harm independent of that posed by the separate offense." (Citations omitted; emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.)
State
v.
Hampton
,
Next, in
Luurtsema
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
Finally, in
Hinds
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
We now turn to the petitioner's claim, and the dispositive issue, 8 that is, whether the respondent failed to *114 establish that the absence of a Salamon instruction constituted harmless error. Specifically, the petitioner argues that, on the basis of the evidence presented at his criminal trial, "it would have been reasonable for jurors to conclude that the brief restraint that occurred during the commission of the robbery was incidental to the robbery, and therefore, was not a kidnapping. Because the petitioner was deprived of the opportunity of having the jurors consider this issue, which was susceptible to more than one interpretation, the respondent did not prove the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt."
The respondent counters that the habeas court properly concluded that the absence of the Salamon instruction constituted harmless error because "[t]he petitioner had completed the robberies without need for, and prior to, moving and restraining the [employees], and he moved and restrained them simply to facilitate his escape without detection." We agree with the petitioner.
"To answer the question of whether the absence of the
Salamon
standard
*789
constituted harmless error
*115
requires us to examine the factors and principles enunciated in that case."
Nogueira
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
The
Salamon
court set forth a list of factors "[f]or purposes of making [the] determination [of whether a criminal defendant's movement or confinement of a victim was necessary or incidental to the commission of another crime; specifically] the jury should be instructed to consider the various relevant factors, including [1] the nature and duration of the victim's movement or confinement by the defendant, [2] whether that movement or confinement occurred during the commission of the separate offense, [3] whether the restraint was inherent in the nature of the separate offense, [4] whether the restraint prevented the victim from summoning assistance, [5] whether the restraint reduced the defendant's risk of detection and [6] whether the restraint created a significant danger or increased the victim's risk of harm independent of that posed by the separate offense." Id., at 548,
With respect to the first Salamon factor, the nature and duration of the victim's movement or confinement, the petitioner argues: "The movement to the bathroom in both cases was brief in distance and the duration *116 of the movement and confinement lasted only a few minutes. In addition, the restraint occurred extremely close in time to the robbery and it is conceivable that jurors would view the fact that [the] petitioner moved the employees into the bathroom so that he could escape as being part and parcel of the robbery." The respondent counters that "[o]n the facts of this case, the nature and duration of the movements and confinements reinforce their independent significance." We agree with the petitioner that this factor weighs in his favor.
Analysis of this factor is guided by our decision in
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
"
Conversely, multiple offenses occurring in a much shorter or more compressed time span make the same determination more difficult and, therefore, more likely to necessitate submission to a jury for it to make its factual determinations regarding whether the restraint is merely incidental to another, separate crime.
In those scenarios, [in which] kidnapping and multiple offenses occur closer in time to one another, it becomes more difficult to distinguish the confinement or restraint associated with the kidnapping from another substantive crime. The failure to give a proper
Salamon
instruction in those scenarios is more likely to result in harmful error precisely because of the difficulty in determining whether each crime has independent criminal significance. See
State
v.
Thompson
, [
In the present case, at the criminal trial, the state presented testimony that the length of the entire store in Newington was "maybe thirty yards." In response to a question regarding the distance from the counter to the bathroom, Kozlowski stated: "[The bathroom is] actually right behind [the counter] but there is a wall. I mean, you'd have to walk maybe twelve, twenty, about twenty-four feet, basically a square." Silk testified that the two employees and the petitioner remained by the counter for approximately four to five minutes.
After moving the two employees to the bathroom, the petitioner then placed a mop handle behind the door. A few minutes later, the employees heard a bell that sounded when someone entered or exited the store. The employees then pushed *791 open the door to the bathroom and called the police. Silk specifically indicated that the two employees remained in the bathroom for a period of time "[u]nder two minutes. Maybe even under a minute."
With respect to the criminal activity at the Southington store, Wright testified that the entire proceedings, from the time the petitioner entered the store until he left, lasted five to ten minutes. Feltman indicated *119 that her encounter with the petitioner in front of the cash register lasted four to five minutes. Feltman also noted that a narrow hallway, with three doors, connected the main showroom to the bathroom area. Wright and Feltman testified that they remained in the bathroom for a few minutes before exiting and calling the police.
In each instance, the petitioner's criminal conduct occurred at a single location. See
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
*120
Nogueira
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
Next, we consider the second
Salamon
factor, that is, whether the confinement or movement of the three store employees and Feltman occurred during the commission of the robberies. See, e.g.,
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
*792 Depriving someone of their freedom of movement by imprisoning them in a bathroom subsequent to acquiring their money, although convenient for the robber, is not inherent in the crime of robbery." (Emphasis in original.) The respondent agrees with the habeas court's statement that the crime of robbery had been completed prior to the movement and confinement of the three store employees and Feltman, which supports the contention that the absence of the Salamon instruction was harmless. The petitioner maintains that the jury could have concluded that the placing of the three store employees and Feltman in the bathrooms was part of the robberies and that the robberies did not end as soon as the petitioner took the money. Again, we agree with the petitioner.
*121
Initially, we address whether the robberies ended as soon as the petitioner took the money. At common law, robbery was defined as "the felonious taking of personal property from the person or custody of another by force or intimidation."
State
v.
Reid
,
The petitioner continued to display and threaten the use of a firearm after he had used or threatened the use of physical force in the act of committing a larceny at the Newington and Southington stores. 9 In other words, the jury could have determined that the petitioner continued to violate § 53a-134 (a) as he commandeered the three store employees and Feltman into *122 the bathrooms and that the robbery offenses had not concluded with his taking of the money from each store. See also 67 Am. Jur. 2d, Robbery § 4 (2018) ("[r]obbery has been described as a continuing offense, or a continuous transaction, that is ongoing until the robber has won his or her way to a place of temporary safety." [Footnotes omitted.] ); 77 C.J.S., Robbery § 1 (2018) ("[r]obbery is not confined to any fixed locus, but is frequently spread over a considerable distance and varying periods of time. Accordingly, robbery may be characterized as a continuing offense which is not complete until the robbers reach a place of temporary safety." [Footnote omitted.] ).
Our determination that the crime of robbery may continue after the taking of the property finds support in our case law. For example, in
State
v.
Ghere
,
We applied this reasoning in
State
v.
Cooke
,
On appeal, the defendant argued that by the time the victim had been killed, the robbery had been completed, and therefore there was insufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that "the use of force was within the sequence of events directly connected to the robbery." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 535,
For these reasons, we conclude that the habeas court improperly concluded that the movement and confinement of the three store employees and Feltman in both the Newington and Southington stores occurred after the robberies had been committed and could not "conceivably be regarded as coincidental with or necessary to complete the substantive crimes of robbery." We further disagree that it is "crystal clear" that the intent and purpose of the petitioner was to delay the three store employees and Feltman from summoning assistance and reporting his crimes to the police, thereby aiding in the petitioner's escape. 10 The jury reasonably *125 could have determined that the confinement and *795 movement of the three store employees and Feltman after the taking of the money was part of the course of events of the robberies.
We again are guided by our decision in
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
White then closed the front door, placed his hand in his rear pocket, and informed the complainant that he had a gun.
The court granted White's motion for summary judgment with respect to his habeas petition, concluding that he was entitled to a
Salamon
instruction and the absence of that instruction was not harmless.
We did not "find this unduly legalistic line of reasoning persuasive. The respondent's syllogism fail[ed] to recognize that the jury could have viewed [White's] actions ... as
a continuous, uninterrupted course of conduct all relating to the burglary offense.
" (Emphasis added.)
Similarly, in the present case, we are unable to conclude that a properly instructed jury would have necessarily determined that the actions of the petitioner moving the three store employees and Feltman to the bathrooms and confining them therein took place after a completed robbery. As we previously noted, the crime of robbery does not necessarily terminate with the taking of another's property. The jury reasonably could have determined that petitioner's actions following his receipt of the money from the cash registers were part of a continuous sequence of events directly connected to the robberies of the Newington and Southington stores. Accordingly, the second Salamon factor supports the petitioner.
Next, we consider the third
Salamon
factor, that is, whether the restraint was inherent in the nature of the separate offense of robbery. The respondent recognizes that in
State
v.
Fields
, supra, 302 Conn. at 247-48,
We previously have rejected the respondent's argument that the robberies at the Newington and Southington stores had been completed at the time of the movement and confinement of the three employees and Feltman. Furthermore, we iterate that the jury could have found that the movement of the three store employees and Feltman from the sales floor to the bathrooms, and confinement therein, was inherent to the nature of the robberies at the two stores. See
The remaining
Salamon
factors, whether the restraint prevented the three employees and Feltman from summoning assistance, whether the restraint reduced the risk of detection and whether the restraint created a significant danger or increased the risk of harm to the victim independent of that posed by the robbery, afford the petitioner little, if any, support. See, e.g.,
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
Nevertheless, the significance of the
Salamon
factors that do weigh in favor of the petitioner, namely, the nature and duration of the movement and confinement of the employees, whether such confinement occurred during the commission of the robbery and whether the restraint was inherent in the nature of the robbery, outweighs the significance of those that support the respondent's claim of harmless error. See
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
We emphasize the respondent's considerable burden in this appeal. First, as we previously have explained in some detail, the law of kidnapping has evolved significantly since the time of the petitioner's criminal trial. These developments apply retroactively to his convictions. Following a concession that the petitioner was entitled to a
Salamon
instruction at the criminal trial, the respondent is required under our law to persuade this court beyond a reasonable doubt that the absence of the instruction did not contribute to the jury verdict regarding the kidnapping counts.
State
v.
Fields
, supra, 302 Conn. at 245-46,
A jury provided with a
Salamon
instruction reasonably could determine that the petitioner's movement and confinement of the three employees and Feltman in the bathrooms was done in furtherance of the August 30, 1995 and September 13, 1995 robberies.
13
See, e.g.,
State
v.
Flores
, supra,
The judgment of the habeas court is reversed and the case is remanded with *799 direction to render judgment granting the petition for a writ of habeas corpus, vacating the petitioner's convictions under § 53a-92 (a) (2) (B) and ordering a new trial on those offenses.
In this opinion PRESCOTT, J., concurred.
I respectfully dissent. I conclude that under the facts and circumstances of this case, as well as the analysis established in our Supreme
*133
Court precedent, the absence of the instruction mandated by
State
v.
Salamon
,
The majority correctly states both the standard of review and the burden of the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction. Thus, I begin with a discussion of the Salamon decision, because I believe the majority strays too far from the rule enunciated therein, which distinguishes a kidnapping from a restraint that is incidental to and necessary for the commission of some other crime against a victim. 1
The facts in
Salamon
involved the defendant being charged with kidnapping in the second degree as a result of the following conduct.
2
"The victim disembarked the train in Stamford and began walking toward
*134
a stairwell in the direction of the main concourse. At that time, the victim noticed the defendant, who was watching her from a nearby platform. As the victim approached the stairwell, she observed that the defendant was following her. The defendant continued to follow the victim as she ascended the stairs. Before the victim reached the top of the stairs, the defendant caught up to her and grabbed her on the back of the neck, causing her to fall onto the steps. The victim, who had injured her elbow as a result of the fall, attempted to get up, but the defendant, who had positioned himself on the steps beside her, was holding her down by her hair. The victim screamed at the defendant to let her go. The defendant then punched
*800
the victim once in the mouth and attempted to thrust his fingers down her throat as she was screaming. Eventually, the victim was able to free herself from the defendant's grasp, and the defendant fled.... According to the victim, the altercation with the defendant lasted at least five minutes." Id., at 515,
In
Salamon
, our Supreme Court held that "to commit a kidnapping in conjunction with another crime, a defendant must intend to prevent the victim's liberation for a longer period of time or to a greater degree than that which is necessary to commit the other crime." Id., at 542,
"First, in order to establish a kidnapping, the state is not required to establish any minimum period of confinement or degree of movement. When that confinement or movement is merely incidental to the commission of another crime, however, the confinement or movement must have exceeded that which was necessary to commit the other crime. [T]he guiding principle is whether the [confinement or movement] was so much the part of another substantive crime that the substantive crime could not have been committed without such acts .... In other words, the test ... to determine whether [the] confinements or movements involved [were] such that kidnapping may also be charged and prosecuted when an offense separate from kidnapping has occurred asks whether the confinement, movement, or detention was merely incidental to the accompanying felony or whether it was significant enough, in and of itself, to warrant independent prosecution....
"Conversely, a defendant may be convicted of both kidnapping and another substantive crime if, at any time prior to, during or after the commission of that other crime, the victim is moved or confined in a way that has independent criminal significance, that is, the victim was restrained to an extent exceeding that which was necessary to accomplish or complete the other crime. Whether the movement or confinement of the victim is merely incidental to and necessary for another crime will depend on the particular facts and circumstances of each case. Consequently, when the evidence reasonably supports a finding that the restraint was not merely incidental to the commission of some other, separate crime, the ultimate factual determination must be made by the jury....
*136
"Second, we do not retreat from the general principle that an accused may be charged with and convicted of more than one crime arising out of the same act or acts, as long as all of the elements of each crime are proven. Indeed, because the confinement or movement of a victim that occurs simultaneously with or incidental to the commission of another crime ordinarily will constitute a substantial interference with that victim's liberty, such restraints
*801
still may be prosecuted under the unlawful restraint statutes. Undoubtedly, many crimes involving restraints already are prosecuted under those provisions." (Citations omitted; emphasis added; footnotes omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 546-48,
The Supreme Court also stated that "[f]or purposes of making [the] determination [of whether a criminal defendant's movement or confinement of a victim was necessary or incidental to the commission of another crime] the jury should be instructed to consider the various relevant factors, including [1] the nature and duration of the victim's movement or confinement by the defendant, [2] whether that movement or confinement occurred during the commission of the separate offense, [3] whether the restraint was inherent in the nature of the separate offense, [4] whether the restraint prevented the victim from summoning assistance, [5] whether the restraint reduced the defendant's risk of detection and [6] whether the restraint created a significant danger or increased the victim's risk of harm independent of that posed by the separate offense."
*137
Prior appeals addressing the lack of a
Salamon
instruction at a criminal trial in which the defendant or habeas petitioner was convicted of both kidnapping and an underlying offense reveal that the determination of whether the absence of such an instruction was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt is highly dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. "Analyses of
Salamon
claims have focused on a variety of factors in determining whether a kidnapping conviction can stand, but the timing, location, and manner in which the [petitioner] commits criminal acts against a victim are particularly crucial factors."
Wilcox
v.
Commissioner of Correction
,
After
Salamon
, this court and our Supreme Court have concluded that restraining a victim for a brief duration in connection with an underlying offense can still constitute kidnapping. See
State
v.
Ward
,
*138
*802
This court has observed that the movement and confinement of a victim after the defendant commits the underlying offense is more likely to have independent criminal significance. See
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
,
Faced with a similar issue, this court reached the same result in
Nogueira
v.
Commissioner of Correction
,
In light of the principles of Salamon and guided by the cases which have applied those principles, I conclude that the respondent in the present case has met the burden of establishing that the lack of a Salamon *140 instruction in the petitioner's underlying criminal trial was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. On the basis of my review of the record and my cognizance of the dictates of Salamon , I conclude that when presented with the facts of the underlying crime, a reasonable jury could not find the petitioner's restraint of the victims in each of the cases against him to have been incidental to and necessary for the commission of the robberies. I agree with the habeas court's conclusion that the evidence in the record demonstrates that the petitioner's restraint and abduction of the victims were sufficiently distinct from his crimes of robbery to constitute independently significant kidnappings.
The following facts were before the jury when it reached its verdict in the first case. With respect to the earlier of the two robberies, on direct examination, Michael Kozlowski testified that he was working at the Newington Bedding Barn on August 30, 1995, at about 9 p.m. As Kozlowski prepared to close the store, the petitioner entered. Kozlowski testified that he approached the petitioner with the belief that the petitioner was a customer. When Kozlowski showed the petitioner a king-size bed, the petitioner said, "let me count my money," and reached into his bag and produced a gun. Kozlowski testified that the petitioner said, "[d]on't try anything, I'll bust you one, just walk over to the register." The petitioner then told him to get behind the counter and pointed his gun at Kozlowski's chest. Kozlowski testified that, after the petitioner took the money from the cash register and a wallet from his coworker, Howard Silk, "[the petitioner] moved us ... down to the hallway into the bathroom and ... he then put us into the bathroom and put a mop handle or something behind the door." Kozlowski testified that the petitioner, as they walked down the hallway to the bathroom, said, "[d]on't try anything; I'll blow your head off ...." Kozlowski indicated that after the petitioner *141 closed the bathroom door and locked Kozlowski and Silk in there, "we ducked down thinking he was going to shoot through the door because it was only a piece of plywood, basically, and [a] couple of minutes after, we heard a bell, which is on the front door, [which rings whenever someone enters or leaves the store] ... we then ... kicked the door, basically, and went downstairs."
Silk testified that he also was working at the Newington Bedding Barn during the evening of August 30, 1995. Silk stated that, as he was in the process of closing the store, he noticed the petitioner following Kozlowski toward the counter. As the petitioner and Kozlowski approached, Silk realized that the petitioner was pointing a gun at Kozlowski's back. Silk testified that the petitioner told Kozlowski and Silk that he wanted the money, so Kozlowski took the money from the register as the petitioner pointed the gun at Silk's chest. After Silk told the petitioner that there was no safe inside the store, the petitioner led Silk and Kozlowski toward the back of the store at gunpoint. Silk testified that he *804 handed the petitioner the $17 in his wallet and then, the petitioner "proceeded to put us into the bathroom area" and attempted to jam the door with a mop handle. Silk testified that he believed that the petitioner put them in the bathroom so that he could escape and that after less than two minutes, he heard the bell ring that "goes off when [the door] opens and ... [he] hoped that [the bell rung] when [the petitioner] left." After waiting for thirty seconds after hearing the doorbell ring, Silk and Kozlowski were easily able to open the bathroom door. Silk testified that they went downstairs into the basement of the building to the warehouse there to call 911 and wait for the police to arrive in the event that the petitioner was still on the first floor.
In the second case, Kelly Wright testified that she was working at the Southington Bedding Barn on September 13, 1995. She recalled that at 8:55 p.m., five *142 minutes before the store was set to close, while Wright's roommate, Idelle Feltman, was waiting in the store to take her home, the petitioner and an unidentified female entered the store. Wright testified that the petitioner and the female split up and appeared to be shopping for king-size beds. Wright testified that she was sitting behind the store counter when the petitioner arrived and that she rose in order to greet him because it was store policy to do so whenever a potential customer arrived. Before Wright could make it around the counter, however, the petitioner told her to get on the floor. Wright testified that she noticed that the petitioner had a gun in his hand and was holding it out parallel to the floor. The petitioner told Feltman to get the money from the register. Feltman gave the petitioner the money in the register in a bank bag. Wright testified that the petitioner then inquired if there was a basement in the store, and Feltman responded by telling the petitioner that there was no basement, but there was a bathroom. Wright testified that the petitioner led her and Feltman to the bathroom at gunpoint and told them to enter the bathroom, lock the door, and "not to be a hero, let the cops do their jobs." Wright stated that she heard a buzzer go off, which indicated that the door to the store had been opened. She and Feltman waited for a "little bit," unlocked the door, and left the bathroom to call 911. Wright estimated that about five to six minutes elapsed between the time the petitioner entered the store to the time she and Wright were able to contact the police.
Feltman testified that she went to the Southington Bedding Barn to pick up Wright from work because the two planned to go out to dinner. During her testimony, she recalled that two people, the petitioner and a woman, entered the store right before closing and that the pair split up after they entered the store. Feltman testified that the petitioner approached the counter and *143 removed a gun from his bag. He waved the gun and told her to give him the money in the register. Feltman emptied the register, which contained less than $100, and handed the money to the petitioner. Feltman testified that after he obtained the money, the petitioner inquired whether there was a basement in the store, and that Feltman and Wright replied that there was no basement, but there was a bathroom. Feltman stated that the petitioner led her and Wright in a single-file line to the bathroom and then instructed them to enter, while aiming the gun at them and causing them to be scared. 5 Feltman and Wright entered *805 the bathroom and waited a minute or two after they heard the door buzzer that indicated someone had entered or left the store. At this point, the two left the bathroom and found a mattress that had been placed in the narrow hallway leading to the bathroom as a "barricade ...." Feltman testified that she pushed it off to the side and "walked right through."
The petitioner argues that the habeas court improperly concluded that the lack of a Salamon instruction was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. On the basis of my review of the record in the present cases, I conclude that the lack of an instruction was harmless because I am persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that the omission of an instruction on incidental and necessary restraint did not contribute to the verdict. In doing so, I, unlike the majority, set forth an analysis of all of the Salamon factors.
With respect to the first factor, the petitioner asserts that the nature and duration of the victims' movement
*144
or confinement supports his claim because the confinement lasted only a few minutes and the victims were moved a short distance. Although the respondent must prove that the petitioner restrained and abducted the victims, proof "of kidnapping does not require proof that the victim was confined for any minimum period of time or moved any minimum distance."
State
v.
Salamon
, supra, 287 Conn. at 531-32,
Like the majority, I would conclude that the second factor weighs in the petitioner's favor. The evidence demonstrates that the petitioner's movement and confinement of
*806
the victims occurred during the commission of the robbery.
6
*146
With respect to the third factor, I observe that the petitioner asserts that because the restraint of the victims occurred contemporaneously with the robberies, a reasonable juror could consider that the restraint was merely incidental to the robberies. Restraint, however, is not an element of the crime of robbery; the inquiry is whether the restraint was incidental to and necessary for the commission of the robberies in these particular cases. See
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
Key facts that persuaded our Supreme Court in Flores that the lack of a Salamon instruction in that case could not be considered harmless beyond a reasonable doubt are absent in the present case. Specifically, in Flores , the restraint of the victim occurred at the location the defendant initially found the victim and occurred prior to the taking of any property, while the defendant and his accomplices searched that room for valuables. Additionally, the victim recognized the defendant in Flores , which alleviated her fear, and the victim was released immediately after the defendant and his accomplices had taken possession of the valuables. By contrast, the petitioner in the present case moved the victims, and confined them in a more secluded location and ensured that they did not emerge until after he escaped. Additionally, nothing in the present case alleviated the victims' fear. There is evidence that the petitioner's conduct after acquiring the money actually increased the victims' fear. Although, as our Supreme Court recognized in Flores , whether the use of force is necessary to complete the underlying crime is generally a question of fact for the jury, the factual dissimilarities in the present case when compared to Flores highlight why a reasonable jury would be precluded from finding that the petitioner's conduct did not constitute kidnapping.
*148 As previously stated, I do not view the petitioner's restraint of the victims as incidental to and necessary to commit the robberies. Although the petitioner's threatened use of force in moving or confining a victim can be considered as occurring during the commission of the simultaneous crimes of robbery and kidnapping, his prolonged use of that threat of force cannot reasonably be considered as incidental to and necessary for the completion of the robberies. After the petitioner took possession of the money, his decision to move and confine the victims in a more secluded location can be viewed as an inflection point that shifts how a reasonable jury would view the significance of the petitioner's continuing use of the threat of force. As the evidence in the record reveals, the victims believed that the defendant's initial use of force upon entering the stores was to effectuate his goal of taking possession of the money. Once the petitioner possessed the money, the continued threat of deadly force to move the victims to a secluded part of the stores prolonged their fear and facilitated his escape. Viewing the petitioner's conduct in this light is not an unduly legalistic syllogism because the decisions the petitioner made increased the harmful and terrorizing impact on the victims.
Turning my attention to the fourth and fifth factors, I observe that the petitioner also argues that the victims were not prevented *808 from summoning assistance and that the restraint did not make it easier for him to escape. The facts, however, reflect that this assertion is incorrect because the restraint of the victims, which was not incidental to and necessary for completion of the robberies, facilitated the petitioner's escape. After the petitioner obtained the money, the victims were led into the bathrooms at gunpoint. The victims were neither able to call 911 as the petitioner led them to the bathrooms, nor were they able to summon assistance from inside the bathrooms. Moreover, out of fear *149 that the petitioner was still in the stores, the victims remained in the bathrooms even after they heard the doorbells. It was not until the petitioner had escaped that the victims were able to call for help. The petitioner also made it more difficult for the victims to seek assistance by propping a broom or mop handle against the door after forcing the victims into bathroom at the Newington Bedding Barn and partially blocking the hallway leading from the bathroom with a mattress as he departed the Southington Bedding Barn. Even if the victims were able to get past these obstacles without great difficulty, the obstacles increased the amount of time that elapsed before the victims were able to summon assistance. For the same reasons that I conclude that the petitioner's actions facilitated his escape and prevented the victims from seeking assistance, I conclude that the petitioner, by placing the victims in the bathroom, decreased his risk of detection. By hindering the victims' ability to call for help, the petitioner was able to get farther away from the crime scenes before emergency responders were aware of the crimes.
Last, with respect to the sixth factor, the petitioner argues that the victims were not placed at risk of harm independent of that posed by the robberies. The facts in these cases reflect that this assertion is incorrect because the victims were subjected to an additional risk of both physical and emotional harm. In order to lead the victims to the bathrooms, the petitioner kept his gun targeted on them for a greater length of time than was necessary to effectuate the crime of robbery. This was inherently dangerous simply because the gun could have discharged due to a malfunction or an accident at any time. Furthermore, it increased the risk of a catastrophe because the victims, fearing for their lives, may have attempted to flee, resist or overcome the petitioner. The petitioner's actions after he obtained the money caused the victims to suffer additional emotional *150 distress. As the evidence in the record reveals, the petitioner's decision to lead the victims down narrow corridors, to secluded parts of the stores, hidden from public view, caused the victims additional fear. 7 The impact of this additional fear-provoking behavior would not have occurred if the petitioner had just left the stores after he took possession of the money. 8 *809 Under the facts and circumstances of this case, I conclude that a reasonable jury, provided with the proper, current interpretation of our kidnapping law, could not find that the restraint of the victims was incidental to and necessary to complete the commission of the robberies. The evidence presented by the state, considered as a whole, would prevent a reasonable jury from finding that no kidnappings occurred. Thus, the lack of a Salamon instruction in the petitioner's underlying criminal trial was harmless error, and I would affirm the judgment of the habeas court.
General Statutes § 53a-92 provides in relevant part: "(a) A person is guilty of kidnapping in the first degree when he abducts another person and ... (2) he restrains the person abducted with intent to ... (B) accomplish or advance the commission of a felony ...."
The petitioner was convicted under two separate criminal cases, docket numbers CR-96-0161628-T and CR-96-0094045-T, that were consolidated for trial.
The petitioner received a total effective sentence of fifteen years incarceration in CR-96-0161628-T. In CR-96-0094045-T, the petitioner was sentenced to a total effective sentence of ten years incarceration to be served consecutively to the sentence imposed in CR-96-0161628-T.
At oral argument before this court, the respondent asserted, and the petitioner's counsel concurred, that at the time of his convictions, the petitioner was serving a sentence imposed in an unrelated case.
In its decision, the habeas court noted that the respondent had conceded that "had the holding of
State
v.
Salamon
, supra, [287 Conn. at 509,
On appeal, the petitioner challenges certain factual findings made by the habeas court. Under the procedural circumstances of this case, we note our standard of review would differ from the usual standard due to the absence of live witnesses in the habeas trial. "Although we generally review a trial court's factual findings under the clearly erroneous standard, when a trial court makes a decision based on pleadings and other documents, rather than on the live testimony of witnesses, we review its conclusions as questions of law.
Morton Buildings, Inc.
v.
Bannon
,
Thus, were we to review the factual findings challenged by the petitioner, we would employ the plenary, rather than the clearly erroneous, standard of review. We need not, however, determine whether the habeas court made factual findings that were improper as a matter of law. Instead, we conclude that the habeas petition should have been granted because the respondent failed to demonstrate that the absence of the Salamon instruction was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt regardless of whether the challenged findings were proper.
After oral argument, we stayed the present appeal, sua sponte, until the final disposition of
Epps
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra, 153 Conn. App. at 729,
Under the
Brecht
standard, reversal of a criminal conviction is warranted when error at the petitioner's underlying criminal trial had a "substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
Brecht
v.
Abrahamson
, supra,
Our Supreme Court dismissed
Epps
because "[t]he respondent had squarely argued to the habeas court that the petition should be assessed under the harmless beyond a reasonable doubt standard. The respondent never argued in the alternative that a higher standard of harmfulness should apply to collateral proceedings even if the petitioner's claim was not subject to procedural default, despite federal case law applying a higher standard since 1993."
Epps
v.
Commissioner of Correction
,
Following the release of
Epps
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra, 327 Conn. at 482,
"It is axiomatic that, [a]s an intermediate appellate court, we are bound by Supreme Court precedent and are unable to modify it .... [W]e are not at liberty to overrule or discard the decisions of our Supreme Court but are bound by them.... [I]t is not within our province to reevaluate or replace those decisions." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
State
v.
Madera
,
The dissent centers its analysis on
State
v.
Salamon
, supra, 287 Conn. at 509,
Salamon
, of course, is the necessary starting point for these types of cases. The law, however, has developed beyond the rule established in
Salamon
. As we have discussed in greater detail, the
Salamon
rule retroactively applies to collateral proceedings on judgments rendered final prior to
Salamon
. See
Luurtsema
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
General Statutes § 53a-119 provides in relevant part that "[a] person commits larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner...."
We also conclude that the respondent's reliance on our decision in
State
v.
Golder
,
The defendant subsequently was convicted of various kidnapping, larceny and burglary offenses. Id., at 187,
Golder
is distinguishable from the present case. In the former, we determined that the underlying crime of burglary had been completed, and therefore the subsequent restraint of the victim constituted the independent crime of kidnapping. Furthermore, the restraint in that case lasted for a greater period of time, approximately twenty-five minutes, as compared to the relatively brief time periods in the present case. The defendant in
Golder
also physically moved the victim among several rooms and tied her to the bed. Id., at 184-85,
The dissent misreads
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
In
Fields
, our Supreme Court stated: "On the contrary [to the state's argument], restraint may be used in the commission of the underlying offense, including assault, as in the present case, even though it is not an element of that offense. Thus, depending on the facts of the underlying crime, the fact finder reasonably might conclude that the kidnapping was merely incidental to the underlying crime irrespective of whether that crime requires the use of restraint. A
Salamon
instruction is necessary in such cases to ensure that the defendant is convicted of kidnapping only when the restraint that forms the basis of the kidnapping charge has criminal significance separate and apart from that used in connection with the underlying offense."
State
v.
Fields
, supra, 302 Conn. at 248,
The dissent contends that we have expanded "the definition of the word 'necessary' to apply to conduct that was unnecessary to complete the robberies, but simply made their completion easier." As we discuss in greater detail in
Bell
v.
Commissioner of Correction
,
Our use of the phrase "de minimis" refers to the brief distance and relatively short period of time between the robbery and the restraint and confinement of the three employees and Feltman by the petitioner, when compared to other cases addressing a conviction for kidnapping and another crime. See, e.g.,
State
v.
Hampton
, supra,
At one point, the majority concludes that the jury was free to determine "that the confinement and movement of the [four individuals] after the taking of the money was part of the course of events of the robberies," which is not the standard we are required to apply under
State
v.
Salamon
,
The defendant in
Salamon
also was charged with risk of injury to a child and unlawful restraint in the first degree. Charges of attempted sexual assault in the third degree and three counts of assault in the third degree were withdrawn before trial, but the court concluded that the defendant was entitled to an instruction that he cannot be convicted of kidnapping if the restraint imposed on the victim was merely incidental to an assault, regardless of whether the state tried him for assault because the facts reasonably supported an assault conviction.
State
v.
Salamon
, supra, 287 Conn. at 550 n.35,
I note that in light of these facts, our Supreme Court concluded that a reasonable jury could find either that the defendant's restraint of the victim was merely incidental to or necessary for his underlying assault, or that his restraint of the victim constituted a kidnapping. It determined that the facts of the case were a close call and ordered a new trial for the defendant on the kidnapping charge.
State
v.
Salamon
, supra, 287 Conn. at 549,
I note that
State
v.
Ward
, supra,
In
State
v.
Ward
, supra,
Feltman, when describing her emotions as the petitioner led her down the hallway, testified: "I was scared. There was something about [his] eyes. I wanted to make sure that he knew that he was in control. I didn't want to ... show him that I was fearful or anything like that. I didn't want him to think that I was going to freak out ...."
In
White
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
"The respondent's syllogism fails to recognize that the jury could have viewed the petitioner's actions here as a continuous, uninterrupted course of conduct all relating to the burglary offense.... [A]lthough liability for a burglary premised on an unlawful entry attaches upon a defendant crossing the threshold ... authority exists that a burglary, once begun, continues until all parties participating in the burglary have left the property." (Citations omitted; emphasis omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.)
I am troubled by the suggestion in
White
that there cannot be a finding of harmless error so long as the underlying crime is still ongoing and continuing, which contradicts the holding in
Salamon
that a defendant "may be convicted of both kidnapping and another substantive crime if, at any time
prior
to,
during
or
after
the commission of that other crime, the victim is moved or confined in a way that has independent criminal significance, that is, the victim was restrained to an extent exceeding that which was
necessary
to accomplish or complete the other crime." (Emphasis added.)
State
v.
Salamon
, supra, 287 Conn. at 547,
I disagree with the majority's assessment that the movement and confinement of the victims was "de minimis ...." The victims' testimony reflects that the movement and confinement at issue, occurring at gunpoint, gave rise to very real feelings of fear. The victims testified that they waited until they believed the defendant had fled before emerging from the bathrooms for fear they would be shot if they again confronted the defendant.
Potential victims of robberies often are advised, if robbed, to hand over their valuables without resistance so that their risk of harm will not be increased. Imagine, then, the thoughts that rush through the mind of a cooperative victim when the perpetrator does not flee after obtaining the valuables sought, but instead, continues to threaten his victim with a weapon and forces him into a more secluded location. What victim at that point would not anxiously contemplate the possibility that he may possibly be murdered?
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mark BANKS v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published