State v. Carrillo

Citations

• 209 Conn. App. 213

Syllabus

The defendant, who had been convicted of the crimes of sexual assault and risk of injury to a child, appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court, claiming that he was deprived of his right to a fair trial as a result of certain improprieties the prosecutor committed during closing and rebuttal arguments to the jury. The defendant had engaged in various incidents of sexual behavior with his girlfriend's ten year old daughter who, thereafter, underwent a forensic interview by a single social worker. The defendant, who did not object at trial to any of the alleged improprieties, claimed that the prosecutor argued to the jury facts that were not in evidence, vouched for the credibility of the state's witnesses, appealed to the emotions of the jurors, and impugned the integrity and institutional role of defense counsel. Held: 1. The prosecutor made certain comments to the jury that were not supported by the record and were unconnected to the issues in the case: a. Although it was not improper for the prosecutor to state to the jury that the procedure of having one social worker conduct a forensic interview of the minor child was designed to achieve the most unbiased and reliable interview of the child and that a child who talks with a medical provider will provide accurate information, the prosecutor improperly stated that the child could not have a point of reference as to certain sexual experi- ences due to her age, as that comment was not supported by the evidence and concerned issues that were for the jury to determine; moreover, the prosecutor's bald assertion that fathers do not sexually abuse their children amounted to improper, unsworn evidence that was unsupported by the record, as it did not ask the jurors to utilize their common sense to assess or draw reasonable inferences from the evidence, and his statement that the social worker testified that it was not unusual for a child to sleep in the same bed with her noncustodial parent during visita