Argued
September 5, 2019
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[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
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Superior
Court in the judicial district of Hartford, D'Addabbo, J.
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Lisa
J. Steele, assigned counsel, for the appellant (defendant).
Timothy
J. Sugrue, assistant states attorney, with whom, on the
brief, were Gail P. Hardy, states attorney, and David L.
Zagaja, senior assistant states attorney, for the appellee
(state).
Lavine,
Prescott and Bear, Js.
OPINION
LAVINE,
J.
[194
Conn.App. 397] The defendant, Anthony Pernell, appeals from
the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of
murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a. On appeal,
the defendant claims that the prosecutor committed
prosecutorial improprieties in his closing argument, which
deprived the defendant of his due process right to a fair
trial. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The
jury reasonably could have found the following facts. In
March, 2015, the defendant; his mother, Gail Grant (mother);
and half brother, Christopher Grant (Grant), resided in a
three bedroom apartment located at 48 Congress Street in
Hartford (apartment). On March 17, 2015,
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the defendant and Lilliana Restrepo, the victim, were
together in the defendants bedroom smoking phencyclidine
(PCP) while the victim got ready for work. When the victim
went to leave for work, the defendant shot her with a
revolver (gun) at close range in the center of her forehead.
The
defendant was taken into custody and interviewed by the
police.[1] The defendant told the police that the
victim was his friend. He stated that the victim [194
Conn.App. 398] was stressing about her son and that she
wanted to kill herself because the Department of Children and
Families took her son away. The defendant stated that he took
the gun out of a bag to show the victim, and she was playing
with it. The defendant said that he tried to stop her, but he
accidentally pulled the trigger when he grabbed the gun from
her. He claimed that it went off because the victim already
had cocked the gun. The defendant stated that he was standing
in front of the victim when the gun went off. He also stated:
"I wasnt giving her the gun when I shot her in the
head.... I tried grabbing the gun from her ... and the shit
went off. I told you, its kind of ... man, thats why I said
it, it was just kind of strange. And then ... I feel like
they probably wouldnt believe ... me ... thats why I kind
of ... made it look like she killed herself.... Like,
actually she had the gun aimed, I grabbed.... Do you
understand what Im saying?" The defendant admitted that
he put the gun in the victims hand to make it look like she
shot herself. He also admitted that he did not call an
ambulance after the victim was shot.
The
detectives attempted to take the defendants written
statement. During that discussion of the events, the
defendant stated: "I was dirty with drugs ... basically
thats why I came up with this story.... I just dont want to
get involved in this shit at all. I was trying to keep myself
cleared ... because I had drugs on me," and "I just
said that because I had the drugs on me.... I dont know
really what happened. I came and checked my phone ... I went
outside to make a couple [drug] sales. I came back, and I
found her like that." The defendant claimed that he told
the police that he had shot the victim to cover up that he
had drugs on his person. After that exchange, the detectives
left the interview room. In their absence, the defendant
knocked on the interview room door and, when the [194
Conn.App. 399] detectives opened the door, the defendant
said: "I just want to tell you guys the truth, man,
because I know you wont believe me .... I grabbed the gun by
accident, man. I know yall wouldnt believe me, man."
The defendant claimed that this was the truth.
The
defendant was arrested and charged with murder, possession of
narcotics with intent to sell, and criminal possession of a
revolver.[2]
Both
the defendant and Grant testified at trial. Their respective
testimonies are relevant to our evaluation of the defendants
claims on appeal and are, therefore, summarized herein. The
defendant testified that when he and the victim were smoking
in his bedroom, the victim exchanged a series of phone calls
with her mother to arrange for a ride to work. After the
victim told her mother that she would find her own ride to
work, a heated conversation ensued between the victim and her
mother. The defendant further testified that the victim asked
him if he would
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be there for her as a friend, and that she also expressed
that she was getting emotionally close to the defendant. The
defendant testified that the victim said she felt stupid and
ugly, and so the defendant told her that he would be there
for her in the best way that he could. The defendant
testified that, after that exchange, the victim stated that
"she was tired of everybody" and started texting.
At that time, the defendant testified that he looked for a
CD-ROM to play to calm her down because she was aggravated
from the phone call and disappointed that the defendant did
not realize how she felt toward him emotionally. The
defendant further testified that the victim, who the
defendant called Lill, took a gun from the defendants closet
and that: "I said, what you got in your hand? Im like,
Lill, and this is what I said, what [194 Conn.App. 400] the
fuck are you doing? She like, no, Im tired.... You aint
right.... I said, what you talking about? Then, at this time,
Im standing up because she got a gun in her hand and thought
... maybe she [was] going to shoot me or she might kill
herself ...." The defendant continued: "I ask her,
what the fuck she doing. She just said she was tired of
everybody and Im not right. And I said, Lill, what you
doing? She kicked the handle back. I said, Lill, you cant do
this. We in my mothers house. I said, we all go to jail if
you do this. At this time, she started putting the gun up
like this, and I got closer. By the time she had it to her
head, I pulled it back, she put it in the other hand and it
went off. And then it dropped." The defendant testified
that he paced in his room, and that he then picked the gun up
and put it on his bed. Then he went into Grants adjacent
bedroom and woke him up.
Grant
testified that the defendant and the victim were friends, and
that their relationship may have been sexual in exchange for
drugs. Grant testified that on the day of the shooting, the
defendant came into his room, woke him from sleep, and said
that he had done something wrong and shot the victim. Grant
further testified that he asked the defendant if he was
joking, and the defendant could not clarify, and so the
defendant told Grant to go in the next room and look for
himself. They went into the defendants bedroom together,
where Grant observed the victim lying with her head back in a
basket. Grant testified that he checked the victims pulse on
her left arm. He testified that the defendant then
"showed me that he had shot her" and that
"[b]ecause her face was facing the other direction to
the side, I didnt see the bullet wound at first, and he
showed me that it was there." It was at that time that
Grant learned that the victim was dead. Grant asked the
defendant what happened, but the defendant could [194
Conn.App. 401] not answer him. They stayed in the defendants
bedroom for about fifteen minutes. Grant testified that,
after fifteen minutes, they stepped into the hallway, where
they stayed for twenty to forty minutes. After that time, the
defendant went back into the bedroom to try and wake the
victim up. Grant had to pull the defendant off the victim and
close the door to the bedroom. Grant testified that the
defendant then received a call to make a drug sale and that
he left the apartment.
When
the defendant returned from his drug sale, Grant testified
that he and the defendant made their way back to the
defendants bedroom. According to Grant, the defendant
suggested at that time that "he makes it look like a
suicide." Grant told the defendant that that would not
be the right thing to do, and he turned away from the
defendants bedroom. The defendant testified that, when Grant
left the bedroom, "I sat on the ...