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Criminal Law Keyed to Gershowitz
State of Connecticut v. Jose Colon
Citation:
257 Conn. 587, 778 A.2d 875.Facts
The police received an anonymous telephone call alerting them to a homicide at an abandoned building. When the police arrived, they discovered the body of Hector Nieves. The victim had been stabbed several times in the head, neck, arms and torso, and also appeared to have been beaten about the head.
Police officers began questioning local residents about the homicide. They interviewed Kevin Soto and realized that his voice was the unidentified 911 caller. He admitted to his role in the murder and also implicated the defendant. The defendant was arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was convicted of both.
Kevin Soto, in a separate trial, was acquitted of conspiracy. The defendant appealed, arguing that because his sole alleged coconspirator, Soto, was tried on the same charges, based on identical underlying facts, and acquitted by a jury of the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, he also must be acquitted of the conspiracy charges.
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