"Connecticut court rules on disputed eyewitness ID" by Pat Eaton-Robb | Associated Press September 20, 2014
HARTFORD — The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld Friday the murder conviction of a New York man that was based in large part on the testimony of a witness who pointed to a legal intern when asked to pick out the shooter in court.
Dashawn Revels of Brooklyn is serving a 55-year sentence for the March 31, 2009, murder of Bryan Davila on a New London street.
The witness, Fidelia Carrillo, saw the crime from her fifth-floor apartment window, about 250 feet away.
She gave police a description of the shooter, and later that night officials made an arrest based on that description. She identified Revels as the killer when New London police drove her to where he was being detained and shined the cruiser spotlight on him. She said he was wearing the same clothes as the killer.
During an evidence suppression hearing in 2011, she was asked to identify the shooter. She pointed to an intern sitting at the defense table.
‘‘But you don’t see that they’re the same? And two years have gone by since all this,’’ she said during cross-examination.
A day later, during trial testimony, she picked out Revels.
Defense attorneys contended Carrillo was unduly influenced on the night of the shooting by seeing Revels in handcuffs and surrounded by police.
Justice Carmen Espinosa, writing on behalf of a unanimous court, said that bringing Carrillo to the arrest was suggestive but warranted.
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"Connecticut ex-governor convicted of new crimes" by PAT EATON-ROBB | Associated Press September 20, 2014
HARTFORD — Former Connecticut governor John G. Rowland, who resigned from office a decade ago in a corruption scandal, was convicted Friday of federal charges that he conspired to hide payment for work on two congressional campaigns.
Rowland, once a rising star for the Republican Party, served 10 months in prison for taking illegal gifts while in office and now as a repeat offender faces the possibility of a much stiffer sentence.
A federal jury in New Haven convicted Rowland, 57, of all seven counts, including conspiracy, falsifying records in a federal investigation, causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission, and causing illegal campaign contributions.
Rowland’s lawyer, Reid Weingarten, said he would appeal.
The government’s case centered around a contract between Rowland and a nursing home chain owned by the husband of 2012 congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley. Rowland’s attorneys argued he volunteered for the campaign while receiving $35,000 to consult for her husband’s company, but prosecutors said the money was an illegal payment for campaign services.
Much of the evidence against Rowland came from e-mail correspondence, including one in which he wrote to Wilson-Foley’s husband, Brian Foley, shortly after proposing he become a paid political consultant for his wife. Foley testified during the trial that Wilson-Foley wanted Rowland’s help but believed his involvement, if made public, would attract negative publicity.
In March, the Foleys each pleaded guilty to conspiring to make illegal campaign contributions, a misdemeanor. They each face up to a year in prison when they are sentenced. Brian Foley became the government’s star witness, testifying he paid Rowland for campaign work and the work Rowland did for Foley’s company, Apple Health Care Inc., was only cursory.
Rowland was also convicted of trying to cut a similar business deal with another politician. Republican Mark Greenberg testified Rowland proposed becoming a consultant to his 2010 congressional campaign while being paid as though he was working for the candidate’s animal rescue organization. Greenberg said he turned down the proposal.
Rowland’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12.
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Also see: Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Foley’s tax return summaries show wide income swings
