STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. STEVEN K. STANLEY
(AC 35600)
Beach, Keller and Mihalakos, Js.
Argued May 18—officially released November 3, 2015
Appeal from Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford, geographical area number twelve, Fuger, J. [motion to disqualify]; C. Taylor, J. [motions to strike, dismiss, for mistrial].
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Bruce R. Lockwood, senior assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Gail P. Hardy, state’s attorney, and Anthony J. Spinella, assistant state’s attorney, for the appellee (state).
Opinion
BEACH, J. The defendant, Steven K. Stanley, appeals from the judgment of conviction of 100 counts of criminal violation of a protective order in violation of
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The defendant and the victim2 had had a dating relationship. On February 10, 2012, the victim called the police from a bar and reported that she feared for her safety because the defendant was making threatening phone calls to her from the parking lot of the bar. After Officer Jason Guerrera of the East Hartford Police Department arrived, the defendant was detained in the vicinity of Guerrera’s police cruiser, awaiting a ride from his son. He made threatening phone calls to the victim while so detained. Guerrera overheard the calls. The defendant was arrested and handcuffed.
Following this incident, on February 14, 2012, the court issued a protective order that required the defendant ‘‘not [to] contact [the victim] in any manner, including by written, electronic or telephone contact . . . .’’ Despite this order, the defendant phoned the victim between forty and ninety times a day for a period of time. On at least one occasion the defendant offered to buy the victim a drink at a bar that she frequented.
On March 18, 2012, the victim called the police to report that the defendant was violating the protective order by telephoning her constantly. East Hartford police Officer Robert A. Vanacore responded by going to her residence and taking her statement. Later that day, the victim called the police a second time; she then reported that the defendant had appeared in front of her house, and, ‘‘burn[ing] rubber,’’ drove his motorcycle away at a high rate of speed. The victim’s roommate, Gene Lavigne, also gave a statement to the police, confirming that the defendant had driven his motorcycle by the house. While police were interviewing the victim, the defendant called and spoke to her three times.3 The victim put the cell phone on speaker so that East Hartford police Officer Daniel Zaleski and Vanacore4
Vanacore sought and obtained the defendant’s phone records. After reviewing the records and discovering that approximately 1750 phone calls from the defendant’s cell phone to the victim’s cell phone had been made between February 14, 2012, and March 24, 2012, Vanacore requested an arrest warrant for the defendant. The state originally charged the defendant with 372 counts, but later filed an amended information that included 102 counts, specifically, 100 counts of criminal violation of a protective order, one count of stalking in the first degree, and one count of threatening in the second degree.
The defendant chose to represent himself, and following a trial, the jury found the defendant guilty of all 102 counts. The court sentenced the defendant to eighteen years imprisonment with twelve years special parole and imposed a standing criminal protective order. This appeal followed.
I
The defendant claims that his conviction of 100 counts of violation of a protective order was not supported by sufficient evidence. The defendant admitted that the calls were made from his cell phone, but he argues that the state failed to prove that he personally made the phone calls to the victim. He argues that the number on her caller identification function was blocked. The victim testified that she recognized the defendant’s voice on two occasions only. The state argues that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the defendant’s conviction in that (1) the victim’s phone records listed the calls as having been made from the defendant’s cell phone number; (2) the victim identified the defendant’s voice on several occasions; (3) the defendant showed consciousness of guilt by writing to his sons to ask them to testify that they made the phone calls; and (4) the defendant demonstrated other intimidating and harassing behavior that was consistent with the repeated phone calls. We agree with the state that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the defendant’s conviction of violation of a protective order. Although there was direct evidence that the defendant made only a limited number of the calls, there was circumstantial evidence to support the conclusion that the defendant made the calls as charged in the amended information.5
‘‘In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction we apply a two-part test. First, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. Second, we determine whether upon the facts so construed and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom the [jury] reasonably could have concluded that the cumulative force of the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
‘‘We note that the jury must find every element proven beyond a reasonable doubt in order to find the defendant guilty of the charged offense, [but] each of the basic and inferred facts underlying those conclusions need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. . . . If it is reasonable and logical for the jury to conclude that a basic fact or an inferred fact is true, the jury is permitted to consider the fact proven and may consider it in combination with other proven facts in determining whether the cumulative effect of all the evidence proves the defendant guilty of all the elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. . . .
‘‘Moreover, it does not diminish the probative force of the evidence that it consists, in whole or in part, of evidence that is circumstantial rather than direct. . . . It is not one fact, but the cumulative impact of a multitude of facts which establishes guilt in a case involving substantial circumstantial evidence. . . . In evaluating evidence, the [jury] is not required to accept as dispositive those inferences that are consistent with the defendant’s innocence. . . . The [jury] may draw whatever inferences from the evidence or facts established by the evidence it deems to be reasonable and logical. . . . Our review is a fact based inquiry limited to determining whether the inferences drawn by the jury are so unreasonable as to be unjustifiable.’’ (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Binnette, 86 Conn. App. 491, 496–97, 861 A.2d 1197 (2004), cert. denied, 273 Conn. 902, 868 A.2d 745 (2005).
In support of the charges, the state presented the testimony of the victim, who received the calls, police officers who overheard one of the threatening phone calls, and the victim’s phone records. The jury had before it evidence of more than 1750 calls made from the defendant’s cell phone to the victim’s cell phone. The jury also heard evidence regarding the failed relationship between the victim and the defendant, and his previously threatening behavior. The victim identified his voice on three phone calls made on March 18, 2012.6 The defendant also wrote letters to family members advising them to testify that they had made phone calls to the victim. The jury reasonably could have inferred from this evidence that it was the defendant himself who made all of the phone calls reflected in the victim’s phone records. None of the defendant’s witnesses7 testified that they made many of the calls from the defendant’s cell phone, as he contended.8 We conclude that the defendant’s conviction of violation of a protective order was based on sufficient evidence.
II
The defendant claims that the state failed to provide him with his phone records and the victim’s phone records in a timely manner and that he therefore was deprived of (1) his right to confront the witnesses
Additional facts are helpful to the resolution of the defendant’s claims. The police obtained the defendant’s phone records at the outset of the investigation. The defendant moved for discovery, including requests for ‘‘all facts of [the] arrest’’ and ‘‘all evidence.’’10 The court, C. Taylor, J., granted the motions on February 21, 2012, and May 8, 2012. The defendant subsequently made several motions for the court to order the state to comply with the prior orders and turn over several items, including relevant phone records relating to both the defendant and the victim. On August 17, 2012, at a hearing before Judge Fuger, the state said that it did not have either the defendant’s phone records or the victim’s phone records, but that if it did obtain them, it would disclose them to the defendant. Judge Fuger said that if the state attempted to introduce the records without having first provided them to the defendant, he would not allow them into evidence. The defendant eventually obtained at least a substantial part, if not all, of his phone records. The state reported that it did not receive the victim’s phone records until the first day of the defendant’s trial.
On the first day of trial, the state introduced only the victim’s phone records. The court admitted the records as a full exhibit on the first day of trial, but the records were not published to the jury until the next day so that copies could be provided to the defendant for his review overnight. The defendant did not object to this arrangement, and did not ask for a continuance to allow for more time to review the victim’s phone records. The defendant then used the victim’s phone records in an attempt to impeach her on the third day of trial. The state did not seek to enter the defendant’s phone records into evidence.
A
The defendant argues that the state’s failure to disclose the victim’s phone records resulted in a denial of his right to confrontation under Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S. Ct. 1354, 158 L. Ed. 2d 177 (2004).11
The defendant raises this claim, for the first time, on appeal and requests review pursuant to State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233, 239–40, 567 A.2d 823 (1989).12 ‘‘[A] defendant can prevail on a claim of constitutional error not preserved at trial only if all of the following conditions are met: (1) the record is adequate to review the alleged claim of error; (2) the claim is of constitutional magnitude alleging the violation of a fundamental right; (3) the alleged constitutional violation . . . exists and . . . deprived the defendant of a fair trial; and (4) if subject to harmless error analysis, the state has failed to demonstrate harmlessness of the alleged constitutional violation beyond a reasonable doubt. In the absence of
The defendant argues that the phone records were testimonial in nature because they were compiled solely for use against him at trial, and that they were offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Because he was not able to cross-examine the maker of the phone records prior to or during trial in violation of his rights under the confrontation clause, he argues, the phone records should not have been admitted into evidence. We conclude that the admission of the victim’s phone records into evidence did not implicate a sixth amendment right and, thus, the defendant’s claim fails under Golding.
‘‘Answering the threshold question in a Crawford analysis—whether the statements in question were testimonial in nature—also answers whether the defendant has met the burden presented under Golding’s second prong, which requires a claim of constitutional magnitude.’’ State v. Jones, 140 Conn. App. 455, 469, 59 A.3d 320 (2013), aff’d, 314 Conn. 410, 102 A.3d 694 (2014). ‘‘In Crawford v. Washington, [supra, 541 U.S. 36], the [United States] Supreme Court substantially revised its approach to confrontation clause claims. Under Crawford, testimonial hearsay is admissible against a criminal defendant at trial only if the defendant had a prior opportunity for cross-examination and the witness is unavailable to testify at trial. . . . In the wake of Crawford, therefore, the preliminary step in any confrontation clause analysis is the determination of whether the subject statements are testimonial hearsay. . . . Our Supreme Court has noted that, although there is no comprehensive definition of testimonial, it is clear that much of the [United States] Supreme Court’s and our own jurisprudence applying Crawford largely has focused on the reasonable expectation of the declarant that, under the circumstances, his or her words later could be used for prosecutorial purposes.’’ (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Young, 157 Conn. App. 544, 565, 117 A.3d 944, cert. denied, 317 Conn. 922, 118 A.3d 549 (2015).
There was nothing to suggest at trial that the victim’s phone records were other than business records of the telephone company. Section 8-4 of the Connecticut Code of Evidence provides in relevant part: ‘‘(a) . . . Any writing or record, whether in the form of an entry in a book or otherwise, made as a memorandum or
B
The defendant argues that his right to present a complete defense pursuant to the sixth amendment to the United States constitution,13 as applied to the states through the fourteenth amendment, was violated by the prosecutor’s failure to disclose the phone records to him in a timely fashion.14 The defendant argues that he wanted ‘‘to compare the two sets of records, to determine if the days and times corresponded, to determine whether he had any alibi defense for any of the days and times,15 and for impeachment of the state’s witnesses.’’16 (Footnote added.) We are not persuaded.
The record indicates that the state did not have the victim’s phone records until the morning of the first day of trial. The defendant had the opportunity to review them overnight before they were published to the jury. At the time of the entry of the victim’s phone records into evidence, the following colloquy took
‘‘The Court: All right. Then, anything else on the issue of the phone records?
‘‘[The Defendant]: I guess some of that file will be turned over to me.
‘‘The Court: All right. Counselor, have you made a copy of it?
‘‘[The Prosecutor]: I can have it done, Judge.
‘‘The Court: All right. Then—I’m sorry?
‘‘[The Defendant]: I would just like it so that I can check each and every number correspondence with mine to see who her phone went to.
‘‘The Court: All right. What we will do—how many more questions do you have for this witness? . . . Then, what I will do, then, based on the arguments that were presented to me by the defense, I will—the records can be marked in this matter as full exhibits. The defendant has stated no grounds for them not to be. However, with that said, I will order that the state make copies of the records and give them to the gentleman so that he can take them back with him today, so he can review those records and then we will go from there.’’
The defendant did not object to this arrangement. The basis for the defendant’s argument on appeal is that ‘‘[p]recluding the defendant from obtaining the complete phone records, in a timely fashion prior to court, severely prejudiced the defendant . . . .’’ He does not deny that he obtained the phone records; rather, he now argues on appeal that his defense was compromised by the timing. The defendant points to no concrete way in which his defense was compromised; his principal defense was a claim that, although the calls were made from his phone, the state had not proved that he had made the calls. As noted previously, the defendant used the victim’s records to try to impeach her. Significantly, he could have requested a continuance, but he did not. See State v. Lage, 141 Conn. App. 510, 526–27, 61 A.3d 581 (2013) (‘‘[o]ur Supreme Court expressly has declined to impose on the trial courts the duty to order a continuance sua sponte’’ [internal quotation marks omitted]); Pasiakos v. BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc., 93 Conn. App. 641, 645, 889 A.2d 916, cert. denied, 277 Conn. 929, 896 A.2d 101 (2006). We conclude that the defendant’s right to present a defense was not violated.
III
The defendant claims that the court abused its discretion by declining to suppress or, sua sponte, to strike (1) his phone records and (2) the victim’s phone records. We are not persuaded.
In May, 2012, the defendant filed a motion to suppress his phone records and the victim’s phone records pursuant to
During trial, Vanacore, called by the state, testified that the victim consented to Vanacore’s overhearing a cell phone call between the defendant and the victim. The victim activated the speakerphone option, and Vanacore heard the conversation. Vanacore testified that the code, *67, appeared on the screen, indicating that someone was ‘‘trying to block their phone number from the sender to the receiving phone calls.’’ He further testified that the defendant’s phone records reflected approximately 1750 phone calls from the defendant to the victim, that the *67 code preceded the defendant’s phone number on the records of his calls to the victim, and that the code indicated that the defendant had tried to block his number.
In the course of his investigation, Vanacore obtained the defendant’s phone records pursuant to the provisions of
A
The defendant argues that the court abused its discretion in failing to ‘‘suppress and strike the defendant’s phone records and testimony about them, in violation of the law of the case and his right to due process, a fair trial, and to present a defense.’’ He argues that the
The defendant cannot prevail on his claim that the court erred in declining to grant his motion to suppress.20 The court did not rule on the motion to suppress. The lack of a ruling on the motion to suppress has no bearing on this appeal because, first, the motion was made pursuant to the wiretapping statute and the defendant’s claims on appeal pertain to notice under
The defendant also argues that the court erred in not striking sua sponte the portion of Vanacore’s testimony that pertained to the defendant’s phone records. This argument is slightly different from the claim regarding the motion to suppress. The claim was not preserved21 and fails under the second prong of Golding because it is simply evidentiary in nature. ‘‘[T]he admissibility of evidence is a matter of state law and unless there is a resultant denial of fundamental fairness or the denial of a specific constitutional right, no constitutional issue is involved.’’ (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Dews, 87 Conn. App. 63, 68, 864 A.2d 59, cert. denied, 274 Conn. 901, 876 A.2d 13 (2005).
B
The defendant also claims, with regard to the victim’s phone records, that the court erred in not granting his motion to suppress and erred in not striking the victim’s phone records from evidence. The defendant argues that the court, C. Taylor, J., erred in admitting the victim’s phone records into evidence because during a pretrial proceeding, the court, Fuger, J., had stated, when discussing the defendant’s discovery requests for the phone records, that ‘‘I will tell you that come trial, if this case goes to trial, that if any of these documents that fit within this description are attempted to be used and you have not . . . had them previously disclosed to you, then if you move to strike them from evidence, that will be granted.’’ The defendant argues that the admission of the victim’s phone records violates the law of the case doctrine, and his rights to due process, a fair trial and to present a defense. We are not persuaded.
The motion to suppress sought to suppress the victim’s phone records on the basis of the wiretapping statute, and not the statute being argued on appeal, which is the notice provisions of
The defendant’s claim as to the court’s denial of his motion to strike the victim’s phone records from evidence fails for similar reasons. The defendant cannot assert the constitutional rights of the victim. Additionally, there is nothing in
Last, the defendant argues that in denying the motion to strike, Judge Taylor violated the law of the case doctrine because Judge Fuger commented that a motion to strike would be granted if the phone records were offered into evidence and the defendant had not had the records disclosed to him. ‘‘The law of the case doctrine provides that [w]here a matter has previously been ruled upon interlocutorily, the court in a subsequent proceeding in the case may treat that decision as the law of the case, if it is of the opinion that the issue was correctly decided, in the absence of some new or overriding circumstance.’’ (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Signore v. Signore, 110 Conn. App. 126, 133, 954 A.2d 245 (2008). Under the law of the case doctrine, ‘‘it is well established that a trial judge need not follow the decisions of another judge made at an earlier stage of the proceedings. . . . A judge may find it appropriate to rely upon a previous ruling. But the law of the case is not an inflexible principle and in a proper situation a judge may modify or depart from an interlocutory ruling of another coordinate magistrate, in whole or in part.’’ (Citations omitted.) State v. Rogers, 199 Conn. 453, 459, 508 A.2d 11 (1986). The law of the case doctrine is not implicated because, first, Judge Taylor’s ruling was not necessarily inconsistent with Judge Fuger’s comment: the victim’s phone records were disclosed to the defendant and the defendant had time to review them. Second, even if the rulings were
IV
The defendant claims that his rights were violated in a number of ways when the same judge who had signed his arrest warrant, which was based in part on the phone records at issue, also denied his motion to suppress the phone records. He claims that this circumstance violated Practice Book § 41-17, canon 3 of the Code of Judicial Conduct, and his rights under the federal constitution23 to a fair trial and to due process. We disagree.
On May 15, 2012, the defendant filed a motion seeking to disqualify the court, Fuger, J., pursuant to Practice Book § 41-17 from presiding over motions relating to the phone records because Judge Fuger had signed his arrest warrant. The court, Fuger, J., denied the motion for disqualification.
The defendant cannot prevail on his claim that Practice Book § 41-17 was violated because that rule of practice is inapplicable. Section 41-17 provides: ‘‘A judicial authority who signed any warrant or order for the seizure of property, testimony or evidence or for the interception of any communications shall not preside at any hearing on a motion made pertaining to such warrant or order.’’ Judge Fuger did not sign a search warrant, nor did he rule on the validity of such a warrant. He did sign an arrest warrant, but no claim is made that Judge Fuger ruled on any motion or order directly attacking the arrest warrant. The policy behind § 41-17 also was not broached. See State v. Canales, 281 Conn. 572, 598–99, 916 A.2d 767 (2007).
The defendant’s claims under the federal constitution are unpreserved. The defendant requests review pursuant to State v. Golding, supra, 213 Conn. 239–40. The defendant’s claim fails under the second prong of Golding, which requires that the claim be of constitutional magnitude. Id., 239. ‘‘The United States Supreme Court consistently has held that a judge’s failure to disqualify himself or herself will implicate the due process clause only when the right to disqualification arises from actual bias on the part of that judge. . . . [It has stated that] the requirements of [federal] due process are less rigorous than those of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which mandates both impartiality and the appearance of impartiality. . . . [M]ost questions concerning a judge’s qualifications to hear a case are not constitutional ones, because the [d]ue [p]rocess [c]lause of the [f]ourteenth [a]mendment establishes a constitutional floor, not a uniform standard. . . . Instead, these questions are, in most cases, answered by common law, statute, or the professional standards of the bench and bar. . . . But the floor established by the [d]ue [p]ro-
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Notes
We note that this subsection has been amended since the date of the offense. See, e.g., Public Acts 2014, No. 14-173, § 5. Because that amendment does not affect issues in this appeal, all references to § 53a-223 are to the current revision of the statute.
The defendant did not directly claim that the discretion of the jury to choose what calls to apply to specific counts constituted error. We note that the information charged that the defendant made a number of calls on several different days; the information did not allege specific times of day that the calls were made. The records, on the other hand, identified specific times that the calls were made. In the circumstances of this case, we find no harm in the manner in which the state chose to proceed.
The defendant did not request sanctions pursuant to Practice Book § 40-5, which provides in relevant part that ‘‘[i]f a party fails to comply with disclosure as required under these rules, the opposing party may move the judicial authority for an appropriate order. The judicial authority hearing such a motion may enter such orders and time limitations as it deems appropriate . . . .’’ The court, however, stated that ‘‘if this case goes to trial [and] if any of these documents that fit within this description [of the defendant’s and the victim’s phone records] are attempted to be used and you have not . . . had them previously disclosed to you, then if you move to strike them from evidence, that will be granted.’’
Further, we do not conclude that, in the circumstances of this case, the more general due process right to a fair trial was violated. The defendant’s own phone records, a copy of which was apparently disclosed to him prior to trial, were not introduced into evidence, and he had the opportunity to review the victim’s records during trial. Critically, he did not dispute that a multitude of calls had been made from his phone to the victim’s phone.
The defendant further seeks review under our supervisory powers over the administration of justice; see State v. Coward, 292 Conn. 296, 315, 972 A.2d 691 (2009) (reviewing court’s supervisory powers are an ‘‘extraordinary remedy to be invoked only when circumstances are such that the issue at hand, while not rising to the level of a constitutional violation, is nonetheless of utmost seriousness, not only for the integrity of a particular trial but also for the perceived fairness of the judicial system as a whole’’ [emphasis omitted; internal quotation marks omitted]). This is not the type of extraordinary situation that our supervisory powers may address.
The defendant also claims his rights under article first of the Connecticut constitution were violated. The defendant failed to provide a separate analysis of his claim under the Connecticut constitution, and, accordingly, we decline to afford it review. See State v. Geisler, 222 Conn. 672, 684–86, 610 A.2d 1225 (1992).
The defendant does not argue on appeal that the records were admitted into evidence in violation of the wiretapping statute.
In this case, not only was the claim not preserved, but the defendant went further and agreed with the court that there was no ‘‘issue’’ if the records were not admitted into evidence; there was no objection at all to Vanacore’s testimony about the records.
The defendant further argues that the procedure violated
