[Download] "State v. Stallings" by Supreme Court of Connecticut # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: State v. Stallings
- Author : Supreme Court of Connecticut
- Release Date : January 29, 1966
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
On the morning of April 27, 1964, Mrs. Ida Kantrowitz, a woman about seventy-eight years old, was found dead of strangulation in her apartment in Hartford. She was bound hand and foot, both eyes were blackened, her nose was crushed, a gag in her mouth had lacerated the root of her tongue, and her hyoid bone, or Adam's apple, and the laryngeal cartilage surrounding it were fractured. Mrs. Kantrowitz was last seen alive on her back porch about midnight on April 26, 1964. The defendant was arrested and presented in the Circuit Court on April 28, 1964, charged with murder in the first degree. The public defender was called as soon as the defendant was arrested and has acted as his counsel ever since. On April 28, 1964, the Circuit Court continued the case until May 27, 1964, and ordered the defendant held without bond. The defendant was committed to jail under a Circuit Court mittimus for the period of the continuance. On May 15, 1964, a bench warrant, charging the defendant with murder in the first degree, was issued by the Superior Court and served on him, and he did not appear further in the Circuit Court although his counsel was present, prepared for a hearing in probable cause, on May 27, the continuance date. On June 2, 1964, a grand jury was legally impaneled and sworn in the Superior Court to hear evidence on an indictment charging the defendant with the murder of Mrs. Kantrowitz. On June 3, 1964, the grand jury returned a true bill, and, on October 14, 1964, the defendant, before being put to plea, filed a motion to quash or dismiss the indictment. The grounds of the motion were that (1) the defendant, after his arrest and presentation in the Circuit Court, was denied a hearing in probable cause in violation of General Statutes 54-76a (later amended by Public Acts 1965, No. 321); (2) the grand jury heard evidence which would not have been admissible in the trial of the case and considered it in determining whether or not to return a true bill; and (3) the defendant was not permitted to have counsel with him in the grand jury room. The court denied the motion on October 22, 1964, and, on October 27, 1964, the defendant was put to plea, pleaded not guilty and elected trial by jury. On November 24, 1964, following a trial, the jury found the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, and the court accepted the verdict. The defendant moved to set aside the verdict, and the court denied the motion. The case was then submitted to the jury on the issue of the penalty, and they found that the defendant should be sentenced to the state prison for life. General Statutes 53-10. The court accepted the verdict, and, on December 1, 1964, judgment was rendered accordingly.