State v. Yusuf

70 Conn. App. 594

800 A.2d 590

STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. ASHEEK YUSUF

(AC 20529)

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued December 4, 2001.

Officially Released July 2, 2002.

Foti, Dranginis and Healey, Js. Alice Osedach-Powers, assistant public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Rita M. Shair, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom were Frank S. Maco, state's attorney, Dawn Gallo, assistant state's attorney, and, on the brief, Guy W. Wolf III, former senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Opinion

HEALEY, J.

The defendant, Asheek Yusuf, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of kidnapping in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-94 (a), assault in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-60 (a) (2), unlawful restraint in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-95 (a), threatening in violation of General Statutes § 53a-62 (a) (1) and (2), and cruelty to persons in violation of General Statutes § 53-20. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) denied his motion to suppress evidence obtained from a warrantless search, (2) abused its discretion by admitting evidence of prior uncharged misconduct, (3) admitted expert testimony concerning battered woman syndrome and (4) permitted the prosecutor to engage in misconduct during closing argument, which denied the defendant a fair trial. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. In July, 1998, the defendant and the victim, Carissa LeJeune, lived together in an apartment at 58 Yorkshire Street in Torrington. The defendant and LeJeune had been romantically involved with each other for about one year and, during that relationship, the defendant greatly restricted LeJeune's movement. If LeJeune had to leave the apartment to go somewhere, the defendant demanded that she page him to tell him of her whereabouts. He allowed her to go across the street to the Patco store to buy snacks, cleaning supplies and the like, and to use a pay telephone. He did not, however, allow her to speak to any men and only to certain friends. Although LeJeune worked, the defendant would pick her up from work and bring her home.

On July 29, 1998, at approximately 11 p.m., LeJeune went across the street to call her friend, Serita Oligny, from the pay telephone. The defendant had forbidden LeJeune from contacting Oligny. While she was speaking with Oligny, the defendant approached in his car. When LeJeune saw the defendant approaching, she immediately hung up the phone. The defendant asked LeJeune who she had been speaking with, and she told him Cristin Fitzgerald, a friend to whom the defendant allowed her to speak. He did not believe her and ordered her to get into the car. Upon returning to their apartment, the defendant dragged her up the stairs to the kitchen where he threw her to the floor and kicked her in the back and crotch as he yelled that she had lied to him. He then drove LeJeune back to the pay telephone across the street and called Fitzgerald himself to determine whether she was the person to whom LeJeune had been speaking when he approached in his car. Fitzgerald said that she had spoken to LeJeune earlier that day. The defendant confronted LeJeune about her lie and called Oligny to determine whether she was the person LeJeune had telephoned. Oligny initially denied that LeJeune had telephoned her, but after LeJeune screamed at her to tell the truth, she told the defendant that she had been speaking to LeJeune when he approached in the car.

After the defendant finished speaking to Oligny, he and LeJeune got back in the defendant's car and he punched her in face. When she began to bleed, he warned her not to bleed all over his car. They drove around until the defendant decided to stop at a nearby house. He went into the house and a short time later came out with a mini blind rod. Once he resumed driving, he hit LeJeune across her face with the rod and, when she put her head between her knees to avoid additional blows, he began hitting her on her head, back and legs. As he hit LeJeune, he asked her why she had betrayed him by speaking to Oligny and others and by going out. The defendant then ordered LeJeune to hold out her hands, which he hit with the rod because she had used them to dial the telephone. In addition, he repeatedly hit her in the face and forcefully pushed her head into the seat belt buckle. LeJeune did not attempt to open the car door and escape because the defendant did not permit her to touch the door and had threatened to kill her if she did so.

When they returned to their apartment, the defendant brought LeJeune into the living room, and ordered her to take off her clothes and kneel in front of a wall with her hands behind her back and her forehead to the wall. Again, he asked her why she had betrayed him and lied to him. He also asked her if she was sleeping with her uncle and, when LeJeune replied that she was not, forcefully pushed her head against the wall. LeJeune remained kneeling for several hours, during which time the defendant ate dinner and watched television. LeJeune asked the defendant if she could lie down because she felt lightheaded, but he did not allow her to lie down until he went to bed.

On July 30, 1998, at approximately 7 a.m., the defendant awakened LeJeune and asked her to iron his shirt because he had to appear in court. Because of her weakened condition, she had to prop herself up while lying on her stomach to iron his shirt. When she finished ironing his shirt, LeJeune went back to sleep. Before leaving for court, the defendant again ordered LeJeune to remain in the apartment. When he returned, the defendant, holding a razor blade in his hand, awakened LeJeune. He then cut the tip of her nose with the razor blade and told her that she was poison and that she should kill herself. Thereafter, he told her to take a shower because she had dried blood on her and she was "disgusting." Before she could do so, the defendant told her to leave the bathroom so that he could use it. When he came out of the bathroom, the defendant picked up a steak knife and started to cut LeJeune on her foot, leg and arm while telling her that she was not going to make a fool out of him. He then threw the knife into the sink and left the apartment, again warning LeJeune not to leave and stating that if she did leave, he would kill her. LeJeune was aware that the defendant kept an operable gun in the trunk of his car. She recently had seen the gun in the defendant's possession and was present when it was discharged. Despite the defendant's threat, LeJeune got dressed and left the apartment. She walked to a friend's house nearby and used the telephone to call for a ride. She did not wait for her ride at her friend's house, fearing that if the defendant found her there her friend also would be at risk. Instead, she waited across the street in the doorway of a bowling alley. A short time later, a family friend picked her up and brought her to the hospital where she was treated for her injuries.¹ While she was at the hospital, the police were called. The police questioned LeJeune and took photographs of her injuries. Thereafter, LeJeune's mother arrived, and she and LeJeune drove to the Yorkshire Street apartment to retrieve LeJeune's belongings.

As LeJeune was standing outside the apartment, the Torrington police arrived at the scene. LeJeune spoke with the police, telling them, among other things, that she lived there. One of the officers proceeded to knock on the apartment door to check if the defendant was in the apartment. No one answered. Detective John Murphy then asked LeJeune if she was willing to sign a consent to search form. The form stated that she had a right to refuse to consent to a warrantless search of her apartment and that she was signing the form voluntarily. LeJeune signed the form, and the police searched the apartment. After they determined that the defendant was not present, the police seized a steak knife and a razor blade from the apartment. The police also took photographs of the apartment. The defendant subsequently was arrested and charged.

After a jury trial, the defendant was convicted of kidnapping in the second degree, assault in the second degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, threatening and cruelty to persons. The court sentenced the defendant to a total effective term of twenty-nine years imprisonment, execution suspended after fifteen years, and five years probation with special conditions. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

I

The defendant first claims that the court improperly denied his motion to suppress evidence obtained by the police from a warrantless search in violation of his rights under the fourth amendment to the United States constitution and article first, § 7, of the constitution of Connecticut.² Specifically, the defendant argues that the state failed to prove that LeJeune had the authority to consent to the search of the apartment and that the police reasonably believed that she had the authority to consent to the search. He also argues that the court's reasoning with respect to its denial of his motion to suppress was "flawed." We disagree.

The following additional facts are necessary for our resolution of the defendant's claim. Prior to trial, the state proposed to offer as full exhibits the steak knife and the razor blade that the police had seized from the apartment. The defendant filed a motion to suppress that evidence, claiming that "the search was conducted absent a search warrant and no exception to [the] search warrant requirement applie[d]." The court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the defendant's motion to suppress. At the hearing, the defendant testified that he lived alone at the 58 Yorkshire Street apartment and that he lived there...