State v. Annulli, 2011 Conn. App. LEXIS 425

Defendant Richard Annulli was convicted after a jury trial of two counts of sexual assault in the fourth degree, one count of attempt to commit sexual assault in the fourth degree, and three counts of risk of injury to a child; one kidnapping attempt was acquitted.
The charged conduct spanned 2007–2008, involving the victim, the defendant's neighbor, including touching the victim's vagina and attempts to kiss her.
The trial court precluded defense cross-examination about an unrelated alleged lie by the victim and altered emails; defense argued it affected credibility and confrontation rights.
On appeal, the defendant challenged the evidentiary ruling under § 6-6 (b) (1) and the Sixth Amendment, and claimed insufficiency of evidence for at least one sexual assault and one risk-of-injury count.
The court affirmed, holding no abuse of discretion in excluding the collateral impeaching evidence and that the evidence was sufficient to support counts three and four.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Impeachment evidence admissibility	Annulli contends victim lied and altered emails; state violated 6-6(b)(1).	Evidence shows unreliability; cross-examination permitted to impeach credibility.	No abuse of discretion; collateral issues would mislead jurors.
Sufficiency of evidence for sexual assault and risk to a child	Evidence established contact with victim's intimate parts during 2007 under statute.	Some testimony suggested impossibility of contact in certain locations; insufficient for counts.	Evidence sufficient to sustain both counts three and four.

State v. Crumble, 24 Conn. App. 57 (1991) (impeachment by specific acts—discretion to admit)
State v. James, 211 Conn. 555 (1989) (trial court discretion to exclude collateral issues)
Robinson v. Atterbury, 135 Conn. 517 (1949) (cross-examination discretion; collateral issues)
State v. Davis, 298 Conn. 1 (2010) (constitutional claims depend on evidentiary rulings)
State v. Mark R., 300 Conn. 590 (2011) (confrontation and cross-examination standards)
State v. Alberto M., 120 Conn. App. 104 (2010) (sexual contact through clothing permissible)
In re Mark R., 59 Conn. App. 538 (2000) (impeachment relevance of prior acts)