266 Conn. 658 | Conn. | 2003
Opinion
This appeal
The record reveals the following facts and procedural history. On the evening of December 8,1999, the victim, Nigel Garcia, was shot and killed as he exited a restaurant on Albany Avenue in Hartford. The defendant subsequently was charged with the victim’s murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a (a),
At trial, the jury and the trial court heard all of the evidence and arguments concurrently, with the exception of the defendant’s prior felonies, which were relevant only to the criminal possession count and thus were heard solely by the trial court outside the presence of the jury.
The defendant filed a motion for judgment of acquittal, claiming that the trial court was collaterally estopped from finding that he had possessed a firearm, and that the verdict of the trial court was impermissibly inconsistent with the jury verdict, which had found the defendant not guilty of carrying a pistol or revolver without a permit. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal on both grounds. The trial court subsequently sentenced the defendant to the
I
The defendant first claims that, because the jury had found him not guilty of carrying a pistol or revolver without a permit, the trial court was collaterally estopped from finding that he had possessed a firearm. Specifically, the defendant’s claim rests upon the assumption that the deliberations of the jury and the trial court constituted separate, albeit simultaneous, proceedings. The state contends, to the contrary, that the doctrine of collateral estoppel does not apply in this case because the jury and the trial court had rendered their verdicts within the same proceeding. We agree with the state.
The defendant’s claim concerns the collateral estoppel branch of double jeopardy jurisprudence. See Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 445, 90 S. Ct. 1189, 25 L. Ed. 2d 469 (1970); State v. Crawford, 257 Conn. 769, 780, 778 A.2d 947 (2001) (fifth amendment guarantee against double jeopardy embodies collateral estoppel as constitutional requirement), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 1138, 122 S. Ct. 1086, 151 L. Ed. 2d 985 (2002). “Collateral estoppel is given constitutional dimensions by the double jeopardy clause. State v. Aparo, [223 Conn. 384, 388, 614 A.2d 401 (1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 972, 113 S. Ct. 1414, 1415, 122 L. Ed. 2d 785 (1993)]. In a criminal case, collateral estoppel is a protection included in the fifth amendment guarantee against double jeopardy. State v. Hope, 215 Conn. 570, 584, 577 A.2d 1000 (1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1089, 111 S. Ct. 968, 112 L. Ed. 2d 1054 (1991).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Crawford, supra, 780-81. “Collateral estoppel means simply that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties
“The principles enunciated in Ashe . . . clearly contemplate a relitigation of factual issues. See [Ashe v. Swenson, supra, 397 U.S. 443-44], The existence of a prior judgment has been described as the ‘linchpin’ of that decision, and subsequent case law has stressed the requirement of a previous trial.” Copening v. United States, 353 A.2d 305, 310 (D.C. App. 1976). In Copening, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals concluded that the doctrine of collateral estoppel does not apply to “the proceduraily unique situation in which several criminal charges against the same defendant have been allocated between two triers for concurrent adjudication upon virtually identical evidence.” Id., 312.
The defendant in Copening had been charged with three offenses: carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of ammunition for an unregistered firearm. Id., 307. The first of these offenses was a statutory offense, to which the constitutional right to a jury trial had attached. The remaining two offenses were regulatory offenses, for which there was no right to a jury trial. Consequently, the defendant’s case proceeded to trial before both the jury and the trial court as triers of fact, with the jury
We find the reasoning of Copening persuasive, and adopt it in the present case. The trial in the present case presented a procedural situation strikingly similar to the one in Copening. Like the proceeding in Copen-ing, the proceeding in this case was “a single, unified hearing.” Id., 310. The state was given only one opportunity to present its case against the defendant, and the defendant was required to present his case but a single time. Both the jury and the trial court simultaneously were presented with the arguments and the evidence,
II
We next address the defendant’s second claim, namely, that the verdict of the trial court, finding the defendant guilty of criminal possession of a firearm, is impermissibly inconsistent with the jury verdict that found the defendant not guilty of carrying a pistol or revolver without a permit. We disagree.
The defendant first claims that the verdicts of the trial court and the jury were inconsistent as a matter
“[W]here the inconsistent verdicts claim involves a simultaneous conviction and acquittal on different offenses, the court, in testing the verdict of guilty for inconsistency as a matter of law, is necessarily limited to an examination of the offense charged in the information and the verdict rendered thereon without regard to what evidence the juiy had for consideration. . . . If the offenses charged contain different elements, then a conviction of one offense is not inconsistent on its face with an acquittal of the other.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. DeCaro, 252 Conn. 229, 244, 745 A.2d 800 (2000).
A defendant may be found guilty of carrying a pistol or revolver without a permit, in violation of § 29-35, if the state establishes that, at the time in question, the defendant had been carrying a pistol or revolver upon his or her person, without the proper permit, and that the defendant was not within his or her dwelling house or place of business. For a defendant to be found guilty of criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,
The defendant next claims that the verdict of the trial court was logically inconsistent with the jury verdict. Specifically, the defendant asserts that the verdicts of the trial court and jury necessarily were based upon
It is well recognized that, in criminal trials before a jmy, “[t]he general rule to which we subscribe is that factual consistency in the verdict is not necessary. Each count in an indictment is regarded as if it [were] a separate indictment.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Hinton, 227 Conn. 301, 313, 630 A.2d 593
The defendant does not appear to claim that the verdict of the trial court should be vacated because it was factually inconsistent with the jury verdict. Rather, the defendant claims that the trial court’s verdict, finding the defendant guilty of criminal possession of a firearm, logically cannot be reconciled with the jury’s verdict finding the defendant not guilty of carrying a pistol or revolver without a permit. “While an inconsistent verdict is not objectionable in itself, its inconsistency may be considered insofar as it supports a claim that the jury’s conclusion was not reasonably and logically reached.” State v. Manning, 162 Conn. 112, 123, 291
The defendant’s argument relies, in part, on the rule followed in other jurisdictions that inconsistent verdicts are impermissible in criminal proceedings before a trial court as the sole trier of fact. See United States v. Maybury, 274 F.2d 899, 902 (2d Cir. 1960). la Maybury, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reasoned that the rationale for permitting inconsistent verdicts from a jury does not exist in criminal cases before a judge. “There is no arbitral element in ... a trial [to the court]. While the historic position of the jury affords ample ground for tolerating the jury’s assumption of the power to insure lenity, the judge is hardly the voice of the country, even when he sits in the jury’s place. If he deems an indictment multiplicious, he has only to say so, and the time for him to exercise any lenity that he deems warranted is on sentence. There is no need to permit inco'nsistency in the disposition of various counts so that the judge may reach unanimity with himself . . . .” (Emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 903.
We previously have not had the opportunity to decide whether to extend the rule allowing inconsistent jury verdicts to cases tried solely to the court, and we need not reach that question today.
In support of this decision, the Maryland Court of Appeals relied heavily upon its previous decisions holding inconsistent verdicts impermissible within the context of a criminal case tried solely to the court. Those decisions, in turn, had been based upon the reasoning of the Second Circuit in Maybury. Id., 408-409, citing United States v. Maybury, supra, 274 F.2d 903. As we previously have discussed, however, we do not agree that the rule prohibiting inconsistent verdicts by the trial court, as the sole trier of fact, can be extended to preclude inconsistencies as between two separate fact finders. As noted by a dissenting judge in Galloway, writing for himself and two other judges: “[T]he critical—and obvious—distinction between [Maybury] . . . and the case now before us is the absence of an internal inconsistency in the trial court’s verdict. This is not a case that demands reversal because we have no ‘confidence’ in the trial court’s judgment. Indeed, the court articulated the reasons for its verdict. . . . The court found the testimony of the State’s chief witness ... to be credible. . . . Clearly, the trial court is free to credit the testimony of the witnesses.” Gallo
In the present case, the trial court clearly stated the reasons underlying its decision to convict the defendant of criminal possession of a firearm. In particular, the court noted that it had credited the testimony of McQuil-lar, who had testified that he had witnessed the defendant carrying a firearm. “The determination of a witness’ credibility is the special function of the trial court. This court cannot sift and weigh evidence.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Nowell, 262 Conn. 686, 695, 817 A.2d 76 (2003). Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court’s verdict was both reasonable and logical, and free of any internal inconsistency. Because the only inconsistency in this case was between the factual determinations of separate fact finders as to different, albeit similar, charges, we cannot say that the inconsistency rendered the outcome illogical or unreasonable.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
The defendant appealed from the judgment of conviction to the Appellate Court, and we transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (c) and Practice Book § 65-1.
General Statutes § 53a-217 (a) provides in relevant part: “A person is guilty of criminal possession of a firearm . . . when such person possesses a firearm . . . and (1) has been convicted of a felony .... For the purposes of this section, ‘convicted’ means having a judgment of conviction entered by a court of competent jurisdiction.”
Section 53a~217 (a) was amended subsequent to December, 1999, the time of the defendant’s alleged offenses, by the addition of two new subdivisions. See Public Acts 2001, No. 01-130, § 15. Those changes are not relevant here. For purposes of clarity, we refer herein to the current revision of the statute.
General Statutes § 53a-3 (19) defines “firearm” as “any sawed-off shotgun, machine gun, rifle, shotgun, pistol, revolver or other weapon, whether loaded or unloaded from which a shot may be discharged . . . .”
General Statutes § 29-35 (a) provides in relevant part: “No person shall carry any pistol or revolver upon his or her person, except when such person is within the dwelling house or place of business of such person, without a permit to carry the same issued as provided in section 29-28. . . .”
Section 29-35 (a) was amended subsequent to December, 1999, however, the portion of subsection (a) relevant in this case had only one minor technical change regarding the gender neutral language. See Public Acts 2003, No. 03-19, § 68; see also Public Acts 2001, No. 01-130, § 9; Public Acts 2000, No. 00-99, § 77. For purposes of clarity, we refer herein to the current revision of the statute, as amended.
General Statutes § 29-27 defines the terms “pistol” and “revolver” as “any firearm having a barrel less than twelve inches in length.”
General Statutes § 53a-54a (a) provides in relevant part: “A person is guilty of murder when, with intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person . . . .”
See footnote 3 of this opinion for the text of § 29-35 (a).
See footnote 2 of this opinion for the text of § 53a-217 (a) (1).
In his brief to this court, the defendant explained that his reason for waiving his right to a jury trial on the count of criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was “in order to avoid the risk of prejudice . . . which might arise once the juiy learned of the defendant’s prior felony record . . . .”
The parties stipulated that the defendant did not have a permit to cany a pistol or revolver. Therefore, the evidence presented to both the jury and the trial court concerned only the issue of whether he had carried a pistol or revolver or had possessed a firearm.
The defendant attempts to distinguish Copening from the present case on grounds that the charges presented to the trial court in Copening were minor regulatory offenses, to which there was no right to a jury trial, and that the trial court in that case could have decided those charges either before or after the jury had returned a verdict on the statutory offense. These distinctions, however, are of no moment. The court in Copening grounded its decision on the facts that the underlying trial had been presented simultaneously to both triers of fact, the triers of fact simultaneously had deliberated, and the triers had delivered their verdicts within the same proceeding, one immediately following the other. Copening v. United States, supra, 353 A.2d 310. The court in Copening, moreover, expressly stated that, even if the trial court had rendered its decision before the jury had rendered its verdict, the outcome would have been the same: “The trial judge correctly noted that he would have been able to announce his conclusions as to the regulatory offenses before the jury returned its verdict. While such a sequence may be the preferable procedure, theoretically it would be equally susceptible to [the defendant’s] objections .... The answer, of course, is that the traditional concern of the collateral estoppel doctrine is not with the outcome of a decisional race between different triers, but with the need to protect a party from the rigors of twice litigating the same issue. See Ashe v. Swenson, [supra, 397 U.S. 445-47]. See also Green v. United States, 355 U.S. 184, 187-90, 78 S. Ct. 221, 2 L. Ed. 2d 199 (1957).” Copening v. United States, supra, 310 n.10.
“Claims of legal inconsistency also arise when verdicts are based on a legal impossibility.” State v. DeCaro, 252 Conn. 229, 244 n.13, 745 A.2d 800 (2000). An example of this would be the conviction of one defendant and the acquittal of the other, by the same jury, in a joint trial of two alleged coconspirators. See State v. Green, 261 Conn. 653, 670, 804 A.2d 810 (2002).
We note that there is a split of authority concerning the permissibility of inconsistent verdicts rendered by the trial court as the sole trier of fact. Compare United States v. Duz-Mor Diagnostic Lab, Inc., 650 F.2d 223, 226-27 (9th Cir. 1981) (inconsistent verdicts impermissible in court trial), United States v. Maybury, 274 F.2d 899, 903 (2d Cir. 1960) (same), State v. Meyer, 17 Kan. App. 2d 59, 70, 832 P.2d 357 (1992) (same), Shell v. State, 307 Md. 46, 54, 512 A.2d 358 (1986) (same), and Akers v. Commonwealth, 31 Va. App. 521, 530-31, 525 S.E.2d 13 (2000) (same) with United States
Moreover, as the defendant conceded at oral argument before this court, had the same verdicts resulted from a criminal trial before the jury as the sole trier in fact, any inconsistency between the verdicts would be permissible. As we conclude herein, the defendant has failed to provide us with any compelling reason to recognize a distinction between inconsistent verdicts from a jury as the sole trier of fact and inconsistent verdicts between the jury and the trial court as concurrent triers of fact.
Because we conclude that the verdict of the trial court was neither collaterally estopped by nor impermissibly inconsistent with the jury’s verdict, we reject the defendant’s claim that the court’s verdict was contrary to the sound administration of justice.