State v. Bruny

Citations

• 342 Conn. 169

Syllabus

Convicted of the crimes of murder and criminal possession of a pistol or revolver in connection with the shooting death of the victim inside a nightclub, the defendant appealed to this court. Prior to the shooting, the defendant and several other individuals, including T, H and M, arrived at the nightclub. About forty-five minutes later, the victim arrived with his cousin, W, and a few friends. The victim's group and the defendant's group were at opposite ends of the nightclub's main room. Soon there- after, the defendant made his way toward the area where the victim's group was standing and stood behind them. Immediately after someone in the defendant's group threw a bottle at the victim's group, the defen- dant stepped forward, aimed a handgun at the back of the victim's head, and fired. The victim fell to the ground, and the defendant ran and exited the nightclub. Video from before, during and after the shooting was captured on surveillance cameras in or around the nightclub. Multi- ple witnesses who either knew the defendant or were acquainted with 170 MARCH, 2022 342 Conn. 169 State v. Bruny him provided testimony at the defendant's trial identifying him in the surveillance footage. On appeal to this court from the judgment of conviction, held: 1. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the trial court had abused its discretion in admitting the testimony of four lay witnesses, T, H, M, and S, identifying the defendant as one of the persons depicted in the surveillance footage of the interior and exterior of the nightclub where the shooting occurred insofar as their testimony improperly embraced an ultimate issue to be decided by the jury, in violation of the Connecticut Code of Evidence (§ 7-3 (a)): in State v. Gore (342 Conn. 129), this court amended § 7-3 (a) of the Code of Evidence to incorporate an exception to the ban on lay opinion testimony that embraces an ultimate issue for opinion testimony that relates to the identification of a criminal de