State v. Davis

Citations

• 344 Conn. 122

Syllabus

Convicted of the crime of murder in connection with the stabbing death of the victim, the defendant appealed to this court, claiming, inter alia, that the trial court had violated his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel by failing to conduct any inquiry into defense counsel's alleged conflict of interest arising from counsel's prior repre- sentation of the victim's son, D. On appeal, this court agreed with the defendant that the trial court had a duty to conduct such an inquiry when the issue was brought to that court's attention in a motion to dismiss counsel and during the defendant's sentencing hearing. This court also concluded, however, that the record was insufficient to deter- mine whether the defendant's claim had merit and, therefore, remanded the case to the trial court for it to determine whether defense counsel had such a conflict and, if so, whether that conflict adversely affected her representation of the defendant. In light of that remand order, this court declined to reach the defendant's additional claim that the trial court had improperly admitted the testimony of three lay witnesses identifying the defendant in surveillance video footage from a store near the crime scene. The footage depicted, inter alia, two men, with their faces visible, approaching and entering the store together before the victim's murder. Additional footage from a different camera angle depicted the backs of two men, dressed similar to those in the other footage, making their way to, and then standing at, the intersection where the murder occurred. Subsequent footage showed one of the men attacking the other man and then running down the street toward the direction of the store. On remand, the trial court, following a hearing at which the defendant and defense counsel testified, determined that the defendant did not timely raise his conflict of interest claim and that, even if he had done so, he failed to establish that defense counsel was 344 Conn. 1