Adams v. State

Argued November 29, 2001 Opinion The respondent, the state of Connecticut (state), appeals 1 from the judgment of the trial court granting the petitioner, Tyrone Adams, a new trial. After the unsuccessful appeal of his conviction for aiding and abetting manslaughter in the first degree, the petitioner had petitioned for a new trial based on the newly discovered testimony of Crystal Greene, which he claimed could be used to impeach the only eyewitness to the crime. The dispositive issue raised on appeal is whether the trial court improperly concluded that its decision on the petition was controlled, in large part, by our decision in State v. Valentine, 240 Conn. 395, 398, 692 A.2d 727 (1997), wherein we held that the trial court's exclusion of Greene's testimony in the trial of Daryl Valentine, the petitioner's co-defendant, constituted reversible error. More specifically, the state claims that by relying on our decision in Valentine, wherein we held that Greene's testimony, if produced during the course of Valentine's trial and believed by the jury, more likely than not would have affected the result therein, the trial court improperly failed to undertake an independent evaluation of Greene's credibility. We agree with the state and, therefore, we reverse the judgment granting a new trial. The petitioner in this case originally was charged with two counts of aiding and abetting murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-8 2 and 53a-54a, 3 and one count of aiding and abetting assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-8 and 53a-59 (a) (1). 4 Following a jury trial, he was convicted of two lesser included offenses of aiding and abetting manslaughter in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-8 and 53a-55 (a) (1). 5