State v. Marrero

Citations

• 198 Conn. App. 90

Syllabus

The defendant, who had been convicted of the crimes of home invasion, burglary in the first degree and assault in the second degree, appealed to this court, claiming, inter alia, that he was denied his due process right a fair trial as a result of prosecutorial impropriety. The defendant had kicked in the door of his former girlfriend's home and physically assaulted her. After the police received a tip that he had been in contact with his then current girlfriend, G, who was incarcerated, the police obtained and examined G's phone records and discovered that she had had several calls with someone who used the same phone number that the victim had given to the police for the defendant. The police thereafter obtained copies of G's recorded phone calls from the Department of Correction, transcripts of which were admitted into evidence. In the transcript of one call, the caller admitted that he had gotten drunk at the home of a friend, J, after which he kicked in the door of the victim's home and began fighting. In the transcript of the second call, the caller told G that he was on the run because the police had gone to his mother's house to ask about G's stolen car. At trial, the victim changed her story and testified that her injuries were not caused by the defendant but occurred when she fell down stairs in her home, and the defendant presented an alibi defense in which J testified that the defendant was with him at J's home on the evening of the assault. Held: 1. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the prosecutor commit- ted improprieties by using excessive leading questions in his direct examination of the victim, by refreshing the recollection of a witness with a document different from the one he stated that he used for that purpose, and stating in closing argument to the jury, without supporting evidence, that the victim had been threatened or otherwise influenced by the defendant to deny her claim against him and to instead insist that she had been