State v. Jones

Citations

• 337 Conn. 486

Syllabus

In accordance with State v. Patterson (276 Conn. 452), a trial court in a criminal case must issue a special credibility instruction to the jury when a jailhouse informant testifies about inculpatory statements made by a fellow inmate to the informant while they were incarcerated together. Convicted, after a jury trial, of the crimes of murder, carrying a pistol without a permit, and criminal possession of a firearm in connection with the shooting death of the victim, the defendant appealed to the Appellate Court, claiming, inter alia, that the trial court improperly denied his request for a special credibility instruction concerning the testimony of jailhouse informants as it related to one of the state's key witnesses, S. At trial, the state presented no physical evidence linking the defendant to the victim's murder or to the firearm used, instead relying on the testimony of S, among other witnesses. S had approached the police more than two years after the shooting while he was in pretrial detention on two felony charges, hoping for a favorable disposition on his pending charges in exchange for information about the victim's murder. S told the police that he had seen the defendant when he was visiting the housing complex where the victim was murdered on the night in question and that, shortly thereafter, had heard gunshots. S also told the police that he and the defendant were watching television together the day after the shooting when S, who was holding a handgun, confessed to shooting the victim. The defendant requested that the trial court give a special credibility instruction concerning S's testimony in accordance with this court's decision in Patterson. The trial court denied the defen- dant's request and, instead, issued a general credibility instruction. On appeal, the Appellate Court affirmed the judgment of conviction, con- cluding, inter alia, that the defendant was not entitled to the special credibility instruction that he had sought because S did n