State v. Abraham

Citations

• 343 Conn. 470

Syllabus

Convicted of home invasion, attempt to commit assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree, and risk of injury to a child, the defendant appealed to this court. The victim, V, and his neighbor, M, were sitting on the front porch of the two family home in which they resided, when they saw a man dressed in black jeans and a black hoodie approach them while pulling his hood over his head and a mask over his face. The masked man pulled out a pistol, and V and M fled. V ran into the house and up the stairs to his second floor apartment. V closed and locked his front door, but the masked man kicked it open and entered the apartment while waving his pistol and yelling, ''where is the little motherfucker?'' V snuck down the stairs and yelled back at the masked man to lure him away from his wife and two sons, who also were inside the apartment. The masked man followed V down the stairs, where V, who was standing on the sidewalk, pulled out his own lawfully concealed pistol and instructed the masked man to drop his weapon. Instead, the masked man raised his pistol and shot one time. V then returned fire, striking the masked man at least once. The masked man then went around the side of the house and collapsed near a bulkhead door. V followed him but was almost struck by a gray Nissan truck that was fleeing the area. Although nobody could identify the masked man to the police, the police stopped a gray Nissan truck match- ing the description provided by V and M shortly thereafter. The defendant was a passenger in that truck, was wearing khaki pants and a white T- shirt, and was suffering from a recently inflicted gunshot wound. The police never recovered the masked man's pistol, black clothing, or mask, but DNA testing revealed that blood found on the sidewalk and the bulkhead door near where the masked man collapsed belonged to the defendant. At the defendant's trial, defense counsel moved for a judg- ment of acquittal on the ground that all of the e