DocketNumber: AC 19119
Citation Numbers: 58 Conn. App. 784
Judges: Landau
Filed Date: 7/18/2000
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 9/8/2022
Opinion
In a second visit to this court,
We set forth the underlying facts of the case, which the jury reasonably could have found, in State v. Hughes, 45 Conn. App. 289, 696 A.2d 347 (1997). “The victim, a twenty year old man with pervasive developmental disorder, took guitar lessons from the defendant. In November, 1991, during a guitar lesson, the defendant threatened the victim with a kitchen knife and forced him to perform fellatio on the defendant. The defendant and the victim maintained a sexual relationship for the next year. In November, 1992, the victim told his mother about his sexual relationship with the defendant, explaining that it began with the November, 1991 knife incident. The victim’s mother became angry, ended the guitar lessons and contacted the police.” Id., 291. In the defendant’s first appeal from the judgment of conviction of sexual assault in the first degree, we concluded that the court improperly admitted certain evidence that prejudiced the defendant, reversed the judgment of conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. Id., 296.
During the second trial, Stacey Hughes,
The court agreed that the defendant’s desire to introduce the testimony of LaChance was self-serving and an attempt to place his version of the circumstances before the jury without testifying. The defendant acquiesced to the position taken by the state and the court without objection, and the witness was excused. The
“The trial court’s ruling on the admissibility of evidence is entitled to great deference. . . . [T]he trial court has broad discretion in ruling on the admissibility ... of evidence. . . . The trial court’s ruling on evidentiary matters will be overturned only upon a showing of a clear abuse of the court’s discretion. . . . We will make every reasonable presumption in favor of upholding the trial court’s ruling, and only upset it for a manifest abuse of discretion. . . . Moreover, evidentiary rulings will be overturned on appeal only where there was an abuse of discretion and a showing by the defendant of substantial prejudice or injustice. . . . State v. Hines, 243 Conn. 796, 801, 709 A.2d 522 (1998).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Martinez, 51 Conn. App. 59, 74-75, 719 A.2d 1213, cert. denied, 247 Conn. 952, 723 A.2d 324 (1998).
The defendant sought to have LaChance testily to rebut Stacey Hughes’ testimony concerning his having used a knife during one of his sexual encounters with the victim. The defendant claims that LaChance’s testimony was admissible because it would have rebutted Stacey Hughes’ testimony as to the statements that she claimed the defendant had made to her about the knife. In other words, he sought to present a different version of the events by pitting LaChance’s testimony against Stacey Hughes’ testimony.
Even, for the sake of argument, if the court improperly refused to admit LaChance’s testimony, the absence of her testimony was not prejudicial to the defendant. The victim provided the crucial testimony against the defendant; Stacey Hughes’ testimony merely corroborated that of the victim.
Finally, the defendant invites us to create a new exception to the hearsay rule. The new exception, in a criminal trial, would permit the defendant to relate his version of the event to a third person who could testify about his version to contradict an admission by the defendant, which was placed in evidence via the testimony of a state’s witness. The judges of the Superior Court recently adopted a code of evidence, which was
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
See State v. Hughes, 45 Conn. App. 289, 696 A.2d 347 (1997).
General Statutes § 53a-70 (a) provides in relevant part: “A person is guilty of sexual assault in the first degree when such person (1) compels another person to engage in sexual intercourse by the use of force against such other person or a third person, or by the threat of use of force against such other person or against a third person which reasonably causes such person to fear physical injury to such person or a third person. . . .”
Stacey Hughes is not related to the defendant.
Defense counsel made the following representation at trial: “In particular, [the state] brought in Stacey Hughes to testify that [the defendant] had told her all about the visits to the police department and that a knife was used. We are bringing this witness in for the narrow purpose of rebutting that statement. . . . [W]ell, Miss LaChance will say that he had a conversation with her virtually—I won’t say identical to the one that Miss Hughes had, but they had a conversation about the fact that the police had contacted him and they had a specific discussion about the knife, and this is after the police spoke with him and before he was arrested. It was clearly at the same time, and it’s offered to put the state’s position in context and they’re the ones that brought it up. They produced Stacey Hughes. She’s the one that was brought in here to say these things about [the defendant]. So, it’s clear to me that it’s proper rebuttal testimony and that the court should admit it.” (Emphasis added.)
Initially, the state claims that the record is inadequate for our review because the defendant made no offer of proof, thereby informing the state or the court of the substance of LaChance’s testimony concerning conversations she had with the defendant. The defendant also failed to explain his claim that he needed “to put the opposition’s position in proper context.” Although one may question the artfulness of the offer of proof, the court was satisfied as to the offer, stating, “I’m going to sustain the objection of the state based on the offer of proof that [has] been given to me.” Thus, we grant review. See footnote 4.