State v. Morel-Vargas

Citations

• 343 Conn. 247

Syllabus

Convicted of the crime of sexual assault in the first degree, the defendant appealed. The defendant, a non-English speaker who required the use of an interpreter, did not testify in his own defense at trial. The prosecutor, before deciding whether to rest the state's case, indicated that she would proceed directly to closing argument if the defense was not going to introduce any evidence. Defense counsel replied that he had had exten- sive conversations with the defendant regarding his decision whether to testify and that it was unlikely that the defense would introduce evidence, but that he would like to confer with the defendant one more time. The court granted a short recess to allow defense counsel the opportunity to confer with the defendant. Thereafter, defense counsel informed the trial court that the defendant would not testify, and the defendant did not express any disagreement or concern in response to counsel's representation. Although the trial court inquired of defense counsel whether it should conduct a canvass, defense counsel replied, ''I think we're all right.'' After the jury returned to the courtroom, defense counsel again indicated that the defense would ''rest on the state's case,'' and the defendant remained silent. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that, as a matter of constitutional law, a criminal defendant personally must inform the trial court, either orally or in writing, that he is waiving his right to testify, that counsel's in-court representation 248 MAY, 2022 343 Conn. 247 State v. Morel-Vargas that the defendant waived his right to testify was invalid and, therefore, that his conviction must be reversed. Held: 1. The defendant could not prevail on his unpreserved claim that his convic- tion must be reversed on the ground that he did not affirmatively inform the trial court that he was waiving his right to testify, this court having concluded that a trial court is not constitutionally required to obtain such an on-the-rec