Opinion ID: 2329146
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Harmless Error Regarding Count Four

Text: With respect to the risk of injury to a child charge concerning the bedroom incident, the victim's credibility was not nearly as central to the state's ability to obtain a conviction. In contrast to the bathroom incident, the evidence admitted at trial in support of count four of the information included two separate confessions by the defendant. We have repeatedly noted that a confession, if sufficiently corroborated, is the most damaging evidence of guilt ... and in the usual case will constitute the overwhelming evidence necessary to render harmless any errors at trial. (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Stevenson, 269 Conn. 563, 596, 849 A.2d 626 (2004); see also Milton v. Wainwright, 407 U.S. 371, 372, 92 S.Ct. 2174, 33 L.Ed.2d 1 (1972); State v. Shifflett, 199 Conn. 718, 752, 508 A.2d 748 (1986). The defendant admitted to police that he brought the victim into a bedroom, positioned her on his lap and rubbed his penis on the back of her pants. [13] In light of the victim's age, this admission satisfied all of the elements of the crime of risk of injury to a child charged in count four of the information. Furthermore, the defendant's confession to police was corroborated by several other pieces of evidence entered at trial. Most importantly, the defendant confessed a second time as part of his department interview, reread his statement to the police and confirmed that it was an accurate statement of his conduct with the victim. The defendant's confession was also corroborated by Detective Lopez, who testified that the defendant reviewed and understood the statement before swearing to its accuracy. Corroboration of the defendant's confession was also derived from the victim's account of a sexual assault in the bedroom of the defendant's home, as well as the fact that the victim's behavior changed at school and home around the time of the abuse.