State v. Rogers

Citations

• 344 Conn. 343

Syllabus

Convicted of the crimes of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and assault in the first degree, the defendant appealed. The defendant and his cousin, A, had been driving when they stopped to pick up the defendant's friend, J. They then drove to a housing complex, where the defendant and J exited the car and shot five individuals, one of whom died. The defendant and J returned to A's car and left the scene. Because A was on probation, he wore a global positioning system (GPS) device that tracked his movement. Thereafter, the defendant and J were arrested, and their cases were consolidated and tried jointly. Prior to trial, the defendant filed a motion in limine seeking either the preclusion of evidence of information pertaining to the location of his cell phone or 344 AUGUST, 2022 344 Conn. 343 State v. Rogers a hearing pursuant to State v. Porter (241 Conn. 57) to determine the scientific reliability of such evidence. The trial court did not rule on the defendant's motion, and he did not renew it at trial. The state never disclosed an expert witness, but, when jury selection began, the state provided the defendant with a list of witnesses, which included W, whom it identified only as a police officer. Seven days before evidence began, the state provided the defendant with W's resume and a copy of a slideshow presentation, prepared by W, that purportedly charted the location of the defendant's and J's cell phones, and A's GPS device around the time of the shooting. J filed a motion in limine to preclude W's testimony because of the state's untimely disclosure of W as an expert on cell site location data. The defendant's counsel did not file a similar motion, join J's motion, or raise any concerns regarding the untimely disclosure at the hearing on J's motion. The court denied J's motion, and, at trial, W's testimony and cell site location data showed that J, but not the defendant or A, had been near the crime scene at the time of the shooting. The defendant did not