State v. Ayala

Citations

• 333 Conn. 225

Syllabus

Convicted of the crimes of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the shooting death of the victim, the defendant appealed to this court, claiming that the trial court had improperly admitted certain testimony. At trial, the state introduced evidence indicating that the defendant and the victim had been members of a particular street gang and that the victim, prior to being murdered, was planning to leave that gang to join another gang. T, another gang member, testified that a gang leader, after learning about the victim's intent to leave the gang, ordered T to kill the victim and that, when T refused, the defendant vol- unteered to do so. Another member of the gang, R, testified that he had been in the victim's vehicle with, among others, the gang leader, the defendant, and the victim on the night of the victim's death. R testified that he had heard a gunshot shortly after leaving the vehicle and that, about one-half hour later, the defendant admitted to him that he had killed the victim. R testified that he then went back to the vehicle and saw the victim's lifeless body. R also testified that, a few days later, the gang leader told him that the defendant had killed the victim at his direction. In addition, T testified that he had told the victim prior to the murder about the threat to the victim's life and that the defendant had later expressed remorse to T for having killed the victim. Another witness, W further testified that the victim had made statements to him on the night of the murder in which the victim expressed fear of the gang. The defendant moved to preclude R's testimony regarding the statement made by the gang leader to R that the defendant had killed the victim at the gang leader's direction and W's testimony regarding the victim's fear of the gang. The trial court denied the defendant's motions, concluding, inter alia, that R's testimony regarding the gang leader's statement to him was admissible under the hearsay exception for