State v. Faria

In State v. Faria, 47 Conn. App. 159, 703 A.2d 1149 (1997), cert. denied, 243 Conn. 965, 707 A.2d 1266 (1998), the defendant was charged in a two part information. The first part charged him with the crimes of kidnapping in the first degree, attempt to commit sexual assault in the first degree and sexual assault in the third degree, and the jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts. Id., at 161. The second part of the information charged the defendant with being a persistent serious felony offender to which he pleaded guilty. The trial court admitted evidence of uncharged misconduct, specifically, regarding the defendant's actions with a prostitute. The Court, recognizing that the decision was "'a close call'"; id., at 170; concluded that although the uncharged misconduct was relevant to at least one of the exceptions to the general rule that uncharged misconduct is inadmissible, "the prejudicial effect of the other misconduct evidence outweighed its minimal probative value and that its admission into evidence constituted an abuse of the trial court's discretion." Id., at 175.