State v. Jackson

Citations

• 334 Conn. 793

Syllabus

Convicted of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and four counts of assault in the first degree in connection with a shooting in which one person died and four others were injured, the defendant appealed, chal- lenging various evidentiary rulings and the trial court's decision to deny a motion for a continuance to allow him to retain an expert to respond to the testimony of W, whom the state belatedly disclosed to the defense and called as an expert witness on cell site location information. On 794 MARCH, 2020 334 Conn. 793 State v. Jackson the day of the shooting, the defendant and his friend, R, were driven by R's cousin to and from a housing complex where the shooting occurred. Approximately five to six months before his trial, the defendant filed a motion seeking disclosure of the expert witnesses the state intended to call and the opinions to which each witness was expected to testify. At a hearing on that motion approximately one week later, the court ordered the state to disclose to the defense any expert that it may ultimately select to testify about the proximity of the defendant's cell phone to a particular cell tower. Approximately three months later, the state provided the defense with a list of potential witnesses, including W, but did not identify him as an expert witness or describe the intended nature of his testimony. Approximately two months later, after voir dire commenced and seven days before evidence was to begin, the state provided the defense with W's resume and a copy of a certain computer software presentation that W had prepared and that purportedly charted the locations of the defendant's and R's cell phones around the time of the shooting. Thereafter, one day before evidence commenced, the defendant filed a motion in limine, seeking to preclude W's testimony. At the hearing on the defendant's motion, which the trial court conducted several days after evidence had begun, defense counsel requested that the court preclude W's testimony or,