The defendant appeals from judgments of conviction rendered after a jury trial. The convictions stemmed from charges arising out of three cases involving different incidents and different victims, which cases were consolidated for trial. Each case related to one set of facts. In the first case, the jury found the defendant guilty of burglary in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-103 (a), kidnapping in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-92 (a) (2) (B), and robbery in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-136 (a). In the second case, the jury found the defendant guilty of burglary in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-101 (a) (2), kidnapping in the first degree in violation of § 53a-92 (a) (2) (B), assault in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-60 (a) (2), and robbery in the third degree in violation of § 53a-136 (a). In the third case, the jury found the defendant not guilty of burglary in the first degree in violation of § 53a-101 (a) (2), but guilty of the lesser included offense of burglary in the third degree and guilty of assault of a victim sixty or older in the second degree in violation of § 53a-60b (a), and robbery in the third degree in violation of § 53a-136 (a).
The defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) found sufficient evidence to sustain the conviction for robbery in the third degree in the first case, (2) admitted into evidence the tape recording of the 911 call in the second case, (3) permitted the identification of the color photograph in the second case, (4) infringed upon the defendant’s right against self-incrimination by ordering him to display his teeth in the presence of the jury in the second case, and (5) ordered such display in the second case knowing that the defendant would refuse to comply.
In the second case, at about 6 p.m. on August 24, 1994, the victim was alone in her home at 559 Woodin Street in Hamden, when the defendant came to her door and stated that the victim’s husband had hired him to do some work on the premises. Realizing that the story was fictitious, she immediately closed and bolted the door, ran to the kitchen telephone and dialed 911. Meanwhile, the defendant ran around to the kitchen door, kicked it in, entered the home and tried to wrestle the telephone from her hand. When she would not relinquish it, he bit her hand and punched her in the face. While she continued to clutch the receiver, he ripped the telephone base from the wall and hit her in the eye, face and left shoulder with it. He then knocked her to the floor and continued to beat her. As she struggled to get away, he knocked her to the floor again and choked her. She managed to elude him and ran for the telephone in the family room. The defendant threatened
A week after the incident, the victim identified the defendant’s photograph from an array of eight black and white photographs at the Hamden police station. She asked if any color photographs were available and was taken to the New Haven police station, where she was shown four color photographs of the defendant taken at different times. She identified the fourth photograph, but failed to identify the first three. She later identified the defendant in court. The victim still suffers from injuries to her hip and shoulder incurred during the attack by the defendant.
In the third case, at about 11 p.m. on August 1, 1994, the defendant forced his way into the apartment of an eighty-nine year old woman. He grabbed her from behind and forced her to walk through her apartment with him, keeping his hand over her mouth while he looked for items to steal. He took five dollars in quarters from a cedar box on her dresser and demanded that she surrender two rings from her fingers, threatening to remove them by force if she did not comply. Although the victim was unable to identify the robber, two fingerprints found on the cedar box matched the defendant’s fingerprints obtained during a previous arrest.
I
In the first case, the defendant was convicted of, inter alia, robbery in the third degree in violation of § 53a-136. Section 53a-136 (a) provides that “[a] person is guilty of robbery in the third degree when he commits
The defendant claims that because the information alleged a robbery of two individuals, Onofrio and Jurado, the state was required to prove that both Onofrio and Jurado were robbed. He claims that because Jurado was upstairs in the shower during the robbery, and there was no confrontation between the defendant and Jurado, she was not robbed and, therefore, he should be acquitted of this count. We disagree.
This issue was raised in State v. Kyles,
There is no question that “the state is limited to proving that the defendant has committed the offense in substantially the manner described” in the information. (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Newton,
II
The defendant next claims that the trial court improperly permitted into evidence in the second case the tape recording of the 911 call that the victim made to the Hamden police department when the intruder entered her home, and the return call from the police to her home, which consisted entirely of the victim screaming. The trial court listened to the tape outside the presence of the jury and determined that the evidence was relevant and that its probative value outweighed any prejudicial effect.
The defendant claims that the 911 recording was irrelevant and, in the alternative, that even if it was relevant, its prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value. The state argues that the 911 recording is relevant because
“Relevant evidence is evidence that has a logical tendency to aid the trier in the determination of an issue. . . . [E]vidence need not exclude all other possibilities [to be relevant]; it is sufficient if it tends to support the conclusion [for which it is offered], even to a slight degree. . . . [T]he fact that evidence is susceptible of different explanations or would support various inferences does not affect its admissibility, although it obviously bears upon its weight. So long as the evidence may reasonably be construed in such a manner that it would be relevant, it is admissible. . . . State v. Sauris,
“We have previously outlined four situations where prejudice to the defendant could outweigh the probative
“Because of the inherent difficulties in weighing these considerations against the need for relevant evidence, the resolution of this determination has been traditionally entrusted to the trial court. . . . Every reasonable presumption must be given in favor of the correctness of the court’s ruling, and reversal will ensue only where an abuse of discretion is manifest or where injustice appears to have been done. . . . Prejudice is not measured by the significance of the evidence which is relevant bxit by the impact of that which is extraneous.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Saraceno,
In considering whether the trial court’s admission of allegedly inflammatoxy photographic evidence was proper, our Supreme Court in State v. Walker,
“[T]he prosecution, with its burden of establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, is not to be denied the right to prove every essential element of the crime by the most convincing evidence it is able to produce. State v. Smith,
The defendant next claims that, in the second case, the trial court improperly permitted testimony as to the pretrial identification of the defendant from a color photograph at the New Haven police station because the procedure used was unnecessarily suggestive and, therefore, violative of his due process rights. The victim identified the defendant from an array of eight black and white photographs of black males shown to her by Detective Joseph Murray on September 2,1994, approximately one week after the August 24, 1994 incident. She testified that although she had no doubt that the defendant, whom she identified from a photographic array at the Hamden police station, was the intruder who attacked and robbed her, she felt that “the color wasn’t right . . . [and that it] looked like an old, old photograph that had yellowed. So, the color wasn’t right. [She] wanted to make sure that this was positively the man.” She, therefore, requested to see a color photograph of the defendant.
Murray took the victim to the New Haven police station, where she was shown four color photographs of the defendant on a computer screen in chronological order. She failed to identify the defendant in the first three photographs, but made a positive identification of the fourth photograph—the most recent—dated June 2, 1994. During the trial, the victim identified all four color photographs as pictures of the defendant. The defendant moved unsuccessfully to have both the Ham-den and New Haven photograph identifications suppressed as being unduly suggestive and in violation of his state and federal constitutional rights to due process. On appeal, the defendant has abandoned any claim that the Hamden police procedures were unduly suggestive and any challenge to the in-court identification; see State v. Hinton,
“We note at the onset that [b]ecause the issue of the reliability of an identification involves the constitutional rights of an accused . . . we are obliged to examine the record scrupulously to determine whether the facts found are adequately supported by the evidence and whether the court’s ultimate inference of reliability was reasonable. . . . State v. Howard,
Our Supreme Court in State v. Hinton, supra,
Nevertheless, assuming arguendo that the display was unnecessarily suggestive, we will consider whether, on the basis of an examination of the totality of the circumstances, the identification was nevertheless
The factors to be considered in determining the reliability of an identification subsequent to a suggestive identification procedure include the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime. “[T]he 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 confrontation . . . [are] to be weighed [against] the corrupting effect of the suggestive identification itself.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Evans,
In this case, the victim had ample opportunity to view the intruder during the robbery. She observed him for several minutes as he dragged her from room to room, she was within eight to nine inches of him, he was on top of her while she was on the floor, it was daylight and the rooms were relatively brightly lit, and she saw him both inside her house and in the front yard. Where a witness’ view of a defendant was brief, “a good hard look will pass muster even if it occurs during a fleeting glance.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Cubano,
IV
The defendant next claims that the trial court, in ordering him to display his teeth in the presence of the jury, violated his privilege against self-incrimination under article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution. He seeks review of this claim under State v. Golding,
The constitution of Connecticut, article first, § 8, provides in pertinent part: “No person shall be compelled to give evidence against himself.” Our Supreme Court discussed the meaning of that provision in detail in State v. Asherman,
Our Supreme Court held in State v. Asherman, supra,
The defendant claims that the present case is distinguishable from Asherman because in Asherman the trial court ordered the defendant to submit to an examination prior to trial, which would produce evidence at trial, rather than ordering a defendant to provide such evidence in the presence of the jury. The defendant claims that when a defendant is ordered to perform an act in the presence of the jury, that act becomes testimonial in nature, but he offers no authority for that proposition. Some federal courts have rejected that argument. See United States v. Williams,
We conclude that because the order to display one’s teeth, whether prior to or at trial, does not involve communications or testimony, the defendant’s claim is
V
Finally, the defendant maintains that the trial court’s order to the defendant to display his front teeth to the jury constituted an abuse of discretion because the court was aware that the defendant would refuse to comply and that other evidence would be presented concerning the condition of the defendant’s teeth. Although the defendant seeks review of this claim under Golding, he makes no argument that there is a constitutional deprivation in this claim of abuse of discretion. The second prong of Golding, therefore, does not allow us to review the claim.
The judgments are affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Notes
The issue involving the joinder of these cases for trial was withdrawn at oral argument.
