Opinion ID: 2077155
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of the Defendant's Motion for a New Trial

Text: The defendant next claims that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motion for a new trial because there was a `serious danger' that he was wrongfully convicted. Noting that appellate review of the trial court's action on this motion is more searching than that of a sufficiency of the evidence claim, the defendant again relies on the Letter Grade attendance records and inconsistencies in the victim's testimony, and contends that the jury's verdict was against the weight of the evidence presented at trial. In response, the state argues that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the defendant's motion for a new trial because the school attendance records were not incontrovertible evidence that rendered the jury's findings physically impossible. We agree with the state and conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the defendant's motion for a new trial. When a defendant claims that he should be granted a new trial because of the serious danger that he was wrongly convicted . . . [t]he trial court should not set [aside] a verdict . . . where there [is] some evidence upon which the jury [reasonably could have] based its verdict, but [the court should set aside the verdict] where the manifest injustice of the verdict is so plain and palpable as clearly to denote that some mistake was made by the jury in the application of legal principles, or as to justify the suspicion that [the jurors] or some of them were influenced by prejudice, corruption or partiality. . . . Within these parameters, furthermore, the trial court may set [aside] a verdict even if the evidence was conflicting and there was direct evidence in favor of the party who prevailed with the jury. . . . The authority of the trial court to set aside a verdict that is against the weight of the evidence is grounded in the fact that the action of a jury may be as unreasonable, and as suggestive of being produced by improper influences, in passing upon the credibility of witnesses and in the weighing of conflicting testimony, as in any other respect. It is one of the duties of a judge, in the due performance of his [or her] part in jury trials, to see to it that such influences, apparently operating upon the jury, do not prevail, and manifest injustice thereby be done. (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. McCarthy, 105 Conn.App. 596, 600-601, 939 A.2d 1195, cert. denied, 286 Conn. 913, 944 A.2d 983 (2008), quoting State v. Griffin, 253 Conn. 195, 200-201, 749 A.2d 1192 (2000). [U]nlike an appellate court, the trial [court] has had the same opportunity as the jury to view the witnesses, to assess their credibility and to determine the weight that should be given to their evidence. (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. McCarthy, supra, at 601, 939 A.2d 1195. Consequently, we review the trial court's decision on a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion. Id. Having reviewed the record in the present case, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the defendant's motion for a new trial. Notwithstanding certain inconsistencies between the victim's trial testimony and her statement to the police; see footnote 18 of this opinion; a juror nevertheless reasonably could have credited the victim's testimony regarding the sexual assault. [19] See, e.g., State v. McCarthy, supra, 105 Conn.App. at 604-607, 939 A.2d 1195 (concluding that trial court properly denied motion for new trial because [t]he jury. . . was aware of these fabrications, recantations and inconsistencies [in the testimony of a key state witness], and the assessment of a witness' credibility is a function of the jury, not of an appellate court). Moreover, given the testimony of O, Kozloski, Doolan and Wisnie that the victim was absent from school for the entire day on the day of the assault, the jury had ample opportunity to consider, and reasonably reject, the defendant's proffered evidence of physical impossibility, namely, the Letter Grade report indicating that the victim had been present in school for homeroom. Cf. State v. Whipper, 258 Conn. 229, 247-49, 780 A.2d 53 (2001) (trial court properly denied motion for new trial because there were explanations for fact that defendant's DNA was not found in blood samples taken from kitchen, including degradation because of environment and blood chemical factors that could have masked its presence), overruled in part on other grounds by State v. Grant, 286 Conn. 499, 533-35, 944 A.2d 947, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 271, 172 L.Ed.2d 200 (2008). Inasmuch as the trial court had ample opportunity to witness the proceedings and hear firsthand the testimony at trial that was credited by the jury, we decline to disturb the court's discretionary decision to deny the defendant's motion for a new trial. [20]