State v. Silva
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The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of one count of murder with special circumstances and imposing a mandatory sentence under Conn. Gen. Stat. 53a-35a(1)(B) of life imprisonment without the possibility of release, holding that there was no error in the proceedings below.
Specifically, the Supreme Court held that the trial court (1) correctly instructed the jury on the "in the course of a single transaction" element of murder with special circumstances; (2) did not commit plain error by failing to provide the jury, sua sponte, with a special credibility instruction with respect to one of the State’s witnesses, who Defendant claimed was the actual perpetrator of the murders; and (3) did not violate Defendant's state and federal constitutional rights to counsel and to present a defense by precluding defense counsel from making a certain argument in closing argument.
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