State v. Ramsey

Citations

• 352 Conn. 210

Syllabus

Convicted of murder in connection with the stabbing death of the victim, the defendant appealed to this court. At trial, the defendant admitted that he had stabbed the victim during a fight inside the victim's apartment but claimed that he had acted in self-defense. On appeal, the defendant con- tended that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to disprove his self-defense claim beyond a reasonable doubt. Held: The state presented sufficient evidence to satisfy its burden of disproving the defendant's claim of self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt, as the jury reasonably could have found, on the basis of the evidence presented, that the defendant either did not actually believe that the victim was using or was about to use deadly physical force against him or that, even if the defendant held that belief, his belief was not objectively reasonable. The state introduced evidence that contradicted the defense's theory that the defendant had entered the victim's apartment unarmed and at the victim's 352 Conn. 210 JULY, 2025 211 State v. Ramsey invitation and that the defendant had inadvertently stabbed the victim only after the victim kicked and attacked the defendant with a knife, and the jury reasonably could have found instead that the defendant had unlawfully entered the victim's apartment in possession of a knife and that he was the only person in possession of a knife during the ensuing tussle. Argued April 16—officially released July 1, 2025