This slip opinion is subject to revision and may not reflect the final opinion adopted by the Court. Anthony L. Jones appeals his convictions for trespass in the first degree, attempted deviate sexual assault, and third degree assault, after a jury trial.
Nothing casts doubt on the court's impartiality.
A reasonable person would not find the appearance of impropriety and therefore recusal was unwarranted. The trial court did not err in overruling Jones' objection to the introduction of evidence of his post-Miranda silence because, in examining the four factors that determine whether the evidence had a decisive effect on the jury, Jones' substantial rights were not affected and the evidence did not constitute manifest injustice. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling Jones' objection to the state's reference to battered women syndrome in its closing argument because the reference was to a matter of common knowledge and not an assertion of fact, was not offered to demonstrate Jones' guilt but rather was in rebuttal, and alone lacked sufficiently prejudicial impropriety to have a decisive effect on the jury. Simon and Dowd, JJ., concur. The sufficiency of the evidence is not in dispute.