Argued
February 11, 2019
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Jodi
Zils Gagné, Bristol, for the appellant (defendant).
Timothy
F. Costello, assistant states attorney, with whom, on the
brief, were Maureen Platt, states attorney, and Cynthia S.
Serafini and Don E. Therkildsen, Jr., senior assistant
states attorneys, for the appellee (state).
Keller,
Prescott and Pellegrino, Js.
OPINION
PRESCOTT,
J.
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[190
Conn.App. 590] The defendant, Ismail H. Abdus-Sabur, appeals
from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial,
of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a and
criminal possession of a firearm in violation of General
Statutes § 53a-217 (a) (1). The defendant claims on appeal
that (1) there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that he possessed the specific intent to
kill, as required for the crime of murder, (2) the trial
court improperly denied his request for a third-party
culpability instruction, and (3) that the court improperly
admitted evidence of his gang affiliation. We disagree and,
accordingly, affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The
facts, as could have been reasonably found by the jury, and
procedural history, are as follows. On the evening of January
17, 2014, the defendant was at an apartment on the third
floor of a Waterbury housing complex known as "Brick
City." The defendants [190 Conn.App. 591] friends,
Arvaughn Clemente and Daniel Clinton, were hosting a house
party at the apartment. The defendants brother, Isa
Abdus-Sabur (Isa), and Ryan Curry, Sthalron Freeman, and
Katrina Montgomery were also in attendance. Clemente was
dating Ja-Ki Calloway, who was also in the apartment.
Calloways father, Kareem Morey, Sr. (victim), rented a
second floor apartment in the same complex, where he resided
with his adult son, Kareem Morey, Jr. (Kareem). On the
evening of January 17, 2014, his other son, Kentrell Morey,
was also at the housing complex.
That
night, Calloways brother, Kareem learned that Clemente had
assaulted Calloway, and became angry. Kareem and Kentrell
then presented themselves at the third floor apartment and
demanded that Calloway leave the apartment, but she refused.
Kareem wanted to fight Clemente for having assaulted his
sister. A verbal altercation then ensued between the Morey
brothers and the men inside the apartment, which spilled onto
the landing outside the apartment. The altercation escalated
into a fist fight between a number of the party attendees and
the Morey brothers.
After
the fight ended, the Morey brothers, upset by the
altercation, left and walked to a nearby neighborhood to
recruit additional people to renew the fight. They also
called the victim, who had not been present at the initial
altercation, and he informed them that he would return home.
When the Morey brothers left, the partygoers returned to the
third floor apartment. At this point, Montgomery overheard
the defendant mention a gun to the other men at the party.
At
about 10:30 p.m., the Morey brothers returned to Brick City
with four additional men. Around this time, the victim also
returned and parked his car on the street outside of the
housing complex. The Morey brothers then entered the interior
courtyard of Brick City through a passage from the street and
climbed the [190 Conn.App. 592] stairs to the landing outside
of Clemente and Clintons third floor apartment. The victim
remained standing at ground level in the courtyard near the
foot of the stairs. The Morey brothers began kicking Clemente
and Clintons apartment door. Eventually, the door to the
apartment opened, but all the lights were off inside the
apartment. Shortly thereafter, Kareem heard the "click,
click" sound of a gun. The Morey brothers then fled by
descending the stairs toward the courtyard.
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As the
Morey brothers retreated down the stairs, the occupants of
Clemente and Clintons apartment emerged onto the third floor
landing overlooking the courtyard. Within the crowd on the
third floor porch were the defendant, Isa, Clemente, Clinton,
Curry, and Freeman. The defendant then began firing a ...