State v. Collins

Opinion

DRANGINIS, J.

The defendant, Patrick Collins, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a juiy trial, of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly (1) failed to admit eyewitness testimony of specific acts of abuse perpetrated on the defendant by the victim, and (2) admitted evidence of prior bad acts and bad character of the defendant. We reverse the judgment of the trial court.

The following facts are not in dispute. On January 17, 1998, the defendant, who was sixteen years old at the time, stabbed…