State v. Maurice B.

Citations

• 228 Conn. App. 720

Syllabus

Convicted of, inter alia, the crime of sexual assault in the first degree, the defendant appealed. He claimed that the prosecutor engaged in certain improprieties during rebuttal closing argument that deprived him of a fair trial. Held: The prosecutor's response to the defendant's investigative inadequacy defense was not improper, as this court was not persuaded that the prosecu- tor misstated the law or improperly appealed to the jurors' emotions, and the prosecutor's puzzle piece analogy was consistent with and tied to his proper argument that the state's flawed investigation did not raise a reason- able doubt of the defendant's guilt in light of the victim's testimony and the other evidence the state presented. The prosecutor's remark that the jury was ''given two diametrically opposed version[s] of events that [were] irreconcilable with each other'' did not violate the rule set forth in State v. Singh (259 Conn. 693) because the prosecutor did not expressly argue that, to find the defendant not guilty, the jury was required to find that the victim had lied, and he did not make a direct connection between the defendant's acquittal and the victim's credi- bility. The prosecutor's isolated reference to ''lov[ing] [the] fact that'' he could refer to the police officer who interviewed the victim as a ''former officer'' was not improper because it was ambiguous. The prosecutor's statements that implied that there existed an undetectable substance that could have been added to the alcohol or marijuana consumed by the victim and the defendant to which the defendant could have built up an immunity was improper because there was no evidence in the record to support that inference. In accordance with our policy of protecting the privacy interests of the victims of sexual assault, we decline to use the defendant's full name or to identify the victim or others through whom the victim's identity may be ascertained. See General Statutes § 54-86e. Moreover, in accordance with f