STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. GARRY RAMSEY, SC 20852

Judicial District of Hartford

Criminal; Whether Evidence Sufficient to Disprove Self-Defense Claim Based on Statutory Exceptions of Duty to Retreat and Initial Aggressor. The defendant admitted to the stabbing death of Bob Callahan on June 5, 2021, but claimed he did it in self-defense. On the evening of the crime, the defendant drove to Callahan's apartment in Manchester to confront Tiffany Menendez because he was angry with her over the condition in which she left a hotel room that he had rented in his name. When the defendant arrived, he approached Callahan, who was parked outside. The defendant claimed that he had no conflict with Callahan, that they had a "nice" conversation, and that he asked if Menendez was in the apartment. Callahan responded in the negative, and the two men drove away. Callahan immediately returned, parked behind his apartment, and entered through the back door. The defendant also returned and knocked on the front door of the apartment. Callahan opened the door and again denied that Menendez was inside. The defendant did not believe Callahan and proceeded into the apartment. The defendant claimed that Callahan kicked him in the leg, causing him to fall to his knees, and that when he turned around, Callahan was coming at him with a knife to stab him. The defendant claimed that the two men tussled, Callahan dropped the knife, and the defendant picked it up. The defendant further claimed that Callahan then came at him and that he stabbed Callahan in the chest. The defendant did not call emergency services but, rather, fled the apartment, drove away, and disposed of the knife. There was evidence at trial that Callahan had cocaine and fentanyl in his blood at the time of his death, that he had defensive wounds on his hands, arms and legs, and that a pair of brass knuckles was recovered on the front lawn near where his body was found. There was also testimony from the defendant's prison cellmate that the defendant had told him that when he and Callahan tussled, the defendant pulled out a knife and stabbed Callahan. The jury convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree, and the defendant filed this appeal from his conviction directly to the Supreme Court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (b). On appeal, the defendant claims that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the exceptions set forth in General Statutes § 53a-19, which provide that a person is not justified in using deadly physical force in self-defense if the person knows that he can avoid it in complete safety by retreating or when the person is the initial aggressor, applied to disprove his claim of self-defense.