State v. Williams
State v. Williams
Opinion of the Court
The defendant was indicted by a grand jury in New London County in November of 1973 for the crime of robbery in the second degree in violation of § 53a-135 (a) (2) of the General Statutes and with being a persistent dangerous felony offender, as defined by § 53a-40 (a). The state’s attorney for New London County also filed an information charging the defendant with two counts of larceny in the second degree in violation of § 53a-123, alleging that the defendant stole two cars on September 24, 1972, the date of the occurrences which gave rise to the indictment for robbery in the second degree. The defendant was tried by a jury and found guilty of robbery in the second degree and of the two counts of larceny in the second degree. On March 1, 1974, after the jury had returned their verdict on those charges, the defendant was put to plea on part two of the indictment charging him with being a persistent dangerous felony offender. He pleaded guilty and on March 26, 1974, was sentenced to a term of not less than twelve years nor more than life on the indictment and not less than one nor more than three years on each count of the information.
At the trial, evidence was introduced from which the jury could reasonably have found the following facts: On September 24, 1972, around 10 p.m.,
The principal defenses offered by the defendant were an alibi supported by testimony of defense witnesses that he had been at work in Massachusetts at the time of the robbery and testimony that he had purchased the Cougar from Willie Smith.
The first witness to give identification testimony against the defendant was Godomsky, the owner of the restaurant. He had made an out-of-court identification based on photographs and had also made an in-court identification at the trial. He testified that he first saw the defendant when the two robbers walked the dishwashers into the restaurant and announced the holdup. He was face-to-face with the defendant standing up and got a very good look at him. He also observed his face frequently when the defendant came to where he was lying on the floor. The defendant was in the area near him for about fifteen minutes during the robbery. Godomsky described the defendant as a black male, well-dressed with horn-rimmed glasses — a clean-cut individual. Shortly after the robbery, the police examined the Cougar which had been abandoned in the restaurant parking lot and found in it an identification card imprinted with a photograph of the defendant. The police showed Godomsky the I.D. card and he told them that the picture on the card looked like the man
John Donovan, one of the dishwashers who was tied up by the robbers, also identified Williams as one of the holdup men. He testified that he was in the kitchen when the defendant approached him with a revolver in his hand. The lighting in the kitchen was excellent and he was face-to-face with the defendant, only inches away. He had a good look at the defendant before he was tied up and
Another witness, Susan Hoelzel, also made an in-court identification of the defendant at the trial. She was a waitress at the restaurant and first observed the defendant, with a gun, walking towards her. The lighting was bright and she could see him clearly. Three weeks after the robbery, she had been shown several photographs by the police. She thought one looked familiar but could not tell for certain if he was the defendant because the man in the picture was not wearing glasses. She told the police, however, that he looked like the man who had held them up. She was positive in her in-court identification of Williams as one of the robbers.
Cases involving identification procedures have multiplied both before this court and before the United States Supreme Court since the 1967 decisions of the latter court in United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S. Ct. 1926, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1149; Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S. Ct. 1951, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1178; and Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S. Ct. 1967, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1199. See decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S. Ct. 967, 19 L. Ed. 2d 1247; Foster v. California, 394 U.S. 440,
The United States Supreme Court in Manson v. Brathwaite, supra, 2252, reiterated that “[t]he standard, after all, is that of fairness,” and that must be determined by the totality of the circumstances as particularly emphasized in the Stovall and Biggers cases. It observed (p. 2253) that “reliability is the linchpin in determining the admissibility of identification testimony for both pre- and post-Stovall confrontations. The factors to be considered are set out in Biggers, 409 U.S. at 199-200 [93 S. Ct. 375, 34 L. Ed. 2d 401]. These include the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime, the witness’ degree of attention, the accuracy of his prior description of the criminal, the level of certainty demonstrated at the confrontation, and the time between the crime and the confrontation. Against these factors is to be weighed the corrupting effect of the suggestive identification itself.” This is the
In the present case, there can be no question whatsoever that the court properly admitted the in-court identification of the defendant by the witnesses John Donovan and Mrs. Hoelzel. Donovan had not been shown any photographs before the trial and made the in-court identification from his recollection of the robbery incident when he had a good look at the defendant, face-to-face in the well-lighted kitchen of the restaurant. Mrs. Hoelzel had viewed a group of photographs which included a photograph of the defendant taken while he was not wearing glasses and she did not identify him in any of those photographs, but at the trial she identified him with certainty from having seen him during the robbery.
The defendant most strongly asserts that the procedure by which the witness G-odomsky identified him from photographs as one of the robbers was impermissibly suggestive and, therefore, should have been excluded. He concedes, as indeed he must, that the action of the police in showing Godomsky shortly after the robbery Williams’ identification card impressed with his photograph in
One other claim of error asserted by the defendant merits some extended discussion. It is that he did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to a trial by jury on part two of the indictment by pleading guilty to being a persistent dangerous felony offender as defined in § 53a-40 (a) of the General Statutes, being a person who prior to the commission of the crime of robbery charged in part one of the indictment had been convicted and imprisoned for more than one year in Massachusetts for armed assault with intent to rob and robbing and stealing from another. In advancing this claim, the defendant relies upon the holding of such cases as North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 31, 91 S. Ct. 160, 27 L. Ed. 2d 162; Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 90 S. Ct. 1463, 25 L. Ed. 2d 747; and Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242, 89 S. Ct. 1709, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274. In Blue v. Robinson, 173 Conn. 360, 373, 377 A.2d 1108, we have had recent occasion to discuss not only the holding of those cases but our own decisions following the decision in Boykin that the record should disclose an “affirmative showing” that a plea of guilty was intelligent and voluntary. It is to be noted that as in Blue the guilty plea in the present case was entered and accepted prior to the adoption in 1976 of ^ 2122-2124 of the Practice Book which now require that the judicial authority not accept a plea of guilty without first personally addressing the defendant and deter
The record in the present case more than amply demonstrates that there is no merit whatsoever to the contention of the defendant that there was any violation of his constitutional rights and, affirmatively, that his plea of guilty was entered voluntarily and intelligently. Counsel on appeal has attempted without success to construe into an unconstitutionally accepted plea of guilty the defendant’s dislike of the statutory term “persistent dangerous felony offender”
On this record, there is certainly no merit to the defendant’s present contention that the court erred
The defendant’s remaining claims of error do not require extended discussion. His attack on the constitutionality of § 53a-40 (a) — the dangerous felony offender statute — is groundless. As his brief of necessity admits, the constitutionality of persistent offender statutes has long been upheld. See Spencer v. Texas, 385 U.S. 554, 87 S. Ct. 648, 17 L. Ed. 2d 606, rehearing denied, 386 U.S. 969, 87 S. Ct. 1015, 18 L. Ed. 2d 125; Graham v. West Virginia, 224 U.S. 616, 32 S. Ct. 583, 56 L. Ed. 917; and the decisions of this court in State v. Rose, 168 Conn. 623, 637, 362 A.2d 813; State v. Grady, 153 Conn. 26, 35, 211 A.2d 674; and State v. Mead, 130 Conn. 106, 109, 32 A.2d 273.
The defendant has briefed two claims of error in the court’s charge to the jury. The first is that the court failed to charge adequately on the knowledge element of larceny as charged in the first count of the information which related to the larceny of the Mercury Cougar, and the second is that the
In the absence of any exception to the charge, we would ordinarily give no further consideration to the defendant’s present attack on it. Appellate counsels’ criticism of trial counsel, however, for his “inexplicable failure” to object to the charge has prompted us to examine it. We find no error in the charge as to larceny. The court properly read the applicable portion of the statutes to the jury, explained the meaning of the statutes as it related to the theft of the Cougar and read subsection eight of § 53a-119 of the General Statutes to the jury in its entirety. This subsection provides that the reception of stolen property constitutes the crime of larceny when it is received “knowing that it has probably been stolen or believing that it has probably been stolen.” Proof of possession of recently stolen property by itself, not satisfactorily explained, can support a conviction of larceny. State v. Palkimas, 153 Conn. 555, 219 A.2d 220; see State v. Huot, 170 Conn. 463, 365 A.2d 1144. There was sufficient evidence for the jury to find by inference that the defendant knew that the Cougar was stolen. See State v. Schoenbneelt, 171 Conn. 119, 126, 368 A.2d 117; State v. Pambianchi, 139 Conn. 543, 546, 95 A.2d 695. The court also properly and adequately charged the jury as to their function in determining the credibility of wit
We find no merit whatsoever to the defendant’s claim that the court erred by permitting a court stenographer different from the one who had earlier taken down certain testimony to read it to the jury after they had requested that it be read back. Not only is there nothing in the record which would indicate that the reading was in any way inaccurate but no objection was made to the trial court. As we have noted time and again, our rules do not permit a defendant in a criminal case to fail to object to matters occurring during a trial until it is too late for them to be corrected or even considered and then, if the outcome proves unsatisfactory, to raise them for the first time on an appeal. Practice Book §226; State v. Johnson, 166 Conn. 439, 445, 352 A.2d 294; State v. Taylor, 153 Conn. 72, 86, 214 A.2d 362, cert. denied, 384 U.S. 921, 86 S. Ct. 1372, 16 L. Ed. 2d 442.
The same rule is fully applicable to the claim that the court erred when in the absence of the defendant and counsel it permitted the jury to suspend their deliberations and to go unescorted out to lunch. It did so after giving them explicit instructions as to their conduct and not to discuss the case or permit anyone to talk to them. There was no requirement that the jury be sequestered and when the court reconvened after lunch there was no complaint or objection or motion for mistrial. Although the defendant has discussed in his brief what impropriety or prejudice to the defendant could have been possible, there is nothing whatsoever in
There is no error.
In this opinion Loiselle and Speziale, Js., concurred.
“The Defendant: I don’t plead to being a persistent dangerous felon, but as far as my conviction in Massachusetts, I plead guilty.
The Court: You plead guilty to the fact that you were convicted?
The Defendant: Yes. Only not as being a persistent dangerous felony offender.
The Court: You don’t like the words that they use, is that it?
The Defendant: Eight, your honor.
The Court: All right. That’s part of the information. That is what it alleges. Do you want to discuss this with him?
Mr. Silverberg [counsel for the defendant]: The charge, may I have it please, Mr. Clerk?
(Whereupon, there was a discussion between Mr. Silverberg and the defendant off the record.)
The Court: Do you understand now?
The Defendant: Yes, I understand.
The Court: Do you still plead guilty to the charge?
The Defendant: Yes.
The Court: Do you wish to have him read it again to you? Do you wish to have the clerk read the information to you again?
The Defendant: No. I understood the information.
The Court: Your plea is—
The Defendant: Guilty.
The Court: All right. Guilty. All right.”
The defendant has briefed a claim that he was confused by what was happening, relying primarily on the fact that after the colloquy which we have printed in footnote one, supra, he asked the court:
“Is there going to be a court proceeding in regards to this plea of guilty? In other words, is there going to be a trial?”
Thereupon the court clearly explained the situation as follows:
“The Court: No. You are pleading guilty today. It eliminates the necessity of a trial.
Mr. Silverberg: On the part B.
The Court: On the part B portion. In other words, what happens here, Mr. Williams, is that by your pleading guilty to the part B information you have eliminated the necessity of a second
The Defendant: Right. I understand that.
The Court: Now, are you the same Raymond Williams that was found guilty by this eourt in Massachusetts in 1963?
The Defendant: Yes, I am.
The Court: You are. Is there anything else you wish to ask or add at this time?
The Defendant: Not at this lime, no, your Honor.
The Court: All right.”
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I do not agree with the majority that the identification testimony of Chester (lodomsky was properly admitted into evidence. This identification testimony was particularly crucial to the defendant’s conviction since his principal defense was his claim that he was at work in Massachusetts at the time of the robbery.
The defendant argues that the procedure by which the defendant’s photograph was identified by G-odomsky was so suggestive as to deny him due process of law according to the standard enunciated by the Supreme Court in Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S. Ct. 967, 19 L. Ed. 2d 1247, where the court discussed (p. 384) “the hazards of initial identification by photograph.” See State v. Hafner, 168 Conn. 230, 362 A.2d 925; State v. Smith, 165 Conn. 680, 685, 345 A.2d 41; State v. Oliver, 160 Conn. 85, 91, 273 A.2d 867, cert. denied, 402 U.S. 946, 91 S. Ct. 1637, 29 L. Ed. 2d 115. The Simmons court noted (p. 384) that photographic identification procedure “has been used widely and effectively in criminal law enforcement, from the standpoint both of apprehending offenders and of sparing innocent suspects the ignominy of arrest by allowing eyewitnesses to exonerate them through scrutiny of photographs.” We noted in State v. Smith, supra, 684: “Application of the Simmons test does not alter the settled rule that the reliability of properly
The defendant’s claim must be tested by a two-pronged inquiry. First, the court must ask whether the identification procedure was impermissibly suggestive and, second, if it was so, whether under the totality of the circumstances it was likely to produce irreparable misidentification and consequently require that the in-court identification not be presented to the jury. Simmons v. United States, supra, 383; Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 301, 87 S. Ct. 1967, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1199; State v. Smith, supra, 684. In Simmons v. United States, supra, 383-84, the court discussed the serious problem that the use of photographs, even under the “most correct photographic identification procedures” may create an inherent danger of misidentification. The court continued, stating: “This danger will be increased if the police display to the witness only the picture of a single individual who generally resembles the person he saw, or if they show him the pictures of several persons among which the photograph of a single such individual recurs or is in some way emphasized. . . . Regardless of how the initial mis-identification comes about, the witness thereafter is apt to retain in his memory the image of the photograph rather than of the person actually seen, reducing the trustworthiness of subsequent lineup or courtroom identification.” These observations
The United States Supreme Court dealt significantly with eyewitness identification in United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S. Ct. 1926, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1149. The Wade court (p. 228) cautioned: “A major factor contributing to the high incidence of miscarriage of justice from mistaken identification has been the degree of suggestion inherent in the manner in which the prosecution presents the suspect to witnesses for pretrial identification.” The court continued (pp. 228-29) to quote with approval the assertion from Wall, Eye-Witness Identification in Criminal Cases, p. 26, that “[t]he influence of improper suggestion upon identifying witnesses probably accounts for more miscarriages of justice than any other single factor — perhaps it is responsible for more such errors than all other factors combined.” As the Wade court stated (p. 229): “Suggestion can be created intentionally or unintentionally in many subtle ways.” The court stated further (p. 235): “We do not assume that these risks are the result of police procedures intentionally designed to prejudice an accused. Rather we assume they derive from the dangers inherent in
Having determined that the pretrial identification procedure in this case was impermissibly suggestive I am also of the opinion that the in-court identification was erroneously permitted. We stated in State v. Smith, 165 Conn. 680, 685, 345 A.2d 41, that “a witness may, despite any irregularity or illegality in the procedure of identification from photographs, make an in-court identification if it is purged of
In this opinion Bogdanski, J., concurred.
See Wall, Eye-Witness Identification in Criminal Cases; Levine & Tapp, “The Psychology of Criminal Identification: The Gap from Wade to Kirby,” 121 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1079; Sobel, “Assailing the Impermissible Suggestion: Evolving Limitations on the Abuse of Pre-Trial Criminal Identification Methods,” 38 Brooklyn L. Eev. 261; note, “Pretrial Identification Procedures — Wade to Gilbert to Stovall: Lower Courts Bobble the Ball,” 55 Minn. L. Eev. 779; comment, “Photographic Identification: The Hidden Persuader,” 56 Iowa L. Eev. 408; Wigmore, The Science of Judicial Proof (3d Ed.) § 253; Williams & Hammelmann, Identification Parades, Parts I & II, 1963 Crim. L. Eev. 479-90, 545-55.
Reference
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- State of Connecticut v. Raymond Williams
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