State v. Lemanski

Citations

• 201 Conn. App. 360

Syllabus

Convicted, after a jury trial, of the crime of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, the defendant appealed to this court. Held: 1. The defendant could not prevail on his unpreserved claim that his constitu- tional right to confrontation was violated when the trial court allowed C, the state trooper who arrested him, to testify that the defendant's son, L, told him that the defendant had consumed two drinks on the night that he was arrested; even if this court assumed that C's testimony was inadmissible hearsay that violated the defendant's right to confronta- tion, the defendant's claim failed under the fourth prong of State v. Golding (213 Conn. 233) because C's testimony was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, as the state's case against the defendant was strong and L's statement to C was cumulative and unlikely to have influenced the jury's verdict. 2. The defendant could not prevail on his unpreserved claim that the trial court improperly instructed the jury regarding his alleged refusal to submit to a breath test at the time of his arrest: a. Contrary to the defendant's claim, the trial court did not commit plain error in instructing the jury that it could ''make any reasonable inference that follows'' from the defendant's alleged refusal to submit to a breath test, as the court's instruction substantially complied with the applicable statute (§ 14-227a (e)) and did not, when read in the context of the court's entire instructions, mislead the jury; moreover, the defendant implicitly waived his claim that the court's instruction diluted the state's burden of proof and violated his constitutional right to due process, as the court provided the defendant with a copy of its instructions thirteen days before the preliminary charge conference, the defendant had ample time to review the instructions, the court reviewed the instructions with counsel on the record, soliciting comments and proposed modifications, and both counsel af