State v. Rivera

This is the defendant’s appeal from his conviction of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a.1 The issues on appeal are whether the trial court improperly: (1) admitted the hearsay testimony of two witnesses who were unavailable to testify; (2) excluded an alleged declaration against penal interest for lack of trustworthiness; (3) admitted evidence of the defendant’s prior felony conviction for possession of narcotics; and (4) failed to instruct the jury that, if it were to reject the defendant’s claim of self-defense, it must be unanimous in its decision as to why it was rejecting…