State v. Mekoshvili

Citations

• 344 Conn. 673

Syllabus

Convicted of the crime of murder in connection with the stabbing death of the victim, the defendant appealed. The defendant had hailed a taxicab that the victim was driving, and, after the victim drove the defendant to his destination, the defendant stabbed the victim repeatedly, robbed him, and fled the scene. At trial, the defendant admitted that he had stabbed the victim after accepting a ride from him but claimed that he had acted in self-defense. The defendant specifically testified that the victim had made a romantic advance toward him, a fight ensued, and, during the struggle, the victim took out a knife and began to attack the defendant but that the defendant wrestled the knife away and stabbed the victim repeatedly. The state presented abundant evidence from 674 SEPTEMBER, 2022 344 Conn. 673 State v. Mekoshvili which the jury reasonably could have concluded either that the defen- dant had fabricated various aspects of his story or that he had used more force than was necessary to defend himself against the smaller and older victim. At the conclusion of the trial, defense counsel requested that the trial court give a specific unanimity instruction that the jurors must agree unanimously as to which factor of this state's four factor self-defense test the state had disproved. The court denied counsel's request and, instead, instructed the jury on the law of self-defense largely in accordance with this state's model criminal jury instructions. The jury unanimously found the defendant guilty of murder, thereby rejecting his claim of self-defense, and the trial court rendered judgment in accor- dance with the jury's verdict. The Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's judgment, concluding that, pursuant to this court's prior deci- sions, although a jury must reject a claim of self-defense unanimously before it may find a defendant guilty, there is generally no requirement that jurors agree on which of the self-defense factors the state has disproven. On the gr