State v. Christian3/9/2004
e, that there was no substantial inconsistency between the in-court testimony and the statements on the run sheets because Ruggerio and Ford both acknowledged having stated, on their run sheets, that the defendant was confused and not oriented. Therefore, the introduction of the run sheets would have been cumulative evidence. See Conn. Code Evid. § 610 (c) (" f a prior inconsistent statement made by a witness is shown to or if the contents of the statement are disclosed to the witness at the time the witness testifies, and if the witness admits to making the statement, extrinsic evidence of the statement is inadmissible, except in the discretion of the court").
"In deciding whether the statement is admissible, the trial court must review it in light of the witness' entire testimony to determine whether it is, in fact, inconsistent with that testimony; State v. Richardson, 214 Conn. 752, 764, 574 A.2d 182 (1990); State v. Whelan, [supra, 200 Conn. 748 n.4]; State v. Piskorski, 177 Conn. 677, 710, 419 A.2d 866, cert. denied, 444 U.S. 935, 100 S. Ct. 283, 62 L. Ed. 2d 194 (1979); and, if so, whether such inconsistency is substantial and relate to a material matter.... State v. Richardson, supra, 763-64. Such a determination as to inconsistency lies within the discretionary authority of the trial court." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Bova, 240 Conn. 210, 227, 690 A.2d 1370 (1997). As the trial court correctly determined, both witnesses admitted, in their testimony, to their prior statements on the run sheets. Therefore, the run sheets were not inconsistent with the testimony elicited at trial. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in precluding the run sheets as prior inconsistent statements for the purpose of impeaching the witnesses and as substantive evidence.
B.
The defendant next claims that the trial court improperly precluded the run sheets under the business record exception to the hearsay rule. Specifically, the defendant claims that the run sheets are business records because they "are made in the regular course of the business of [ambulance] companies" and emergency medical technicians have "a duty to write the run sheets contemporaneously with the ambulance user." He further contends that the run sheets were admissible, as business records, under General Statutes § 52-180, because they were relevant to the material issue of whether the defendant was coherent when he told Ruggiero and Ford that he had been driving at the time of the accident. The state contends, in response, that the defendant has not established that the run sheets were business records in accordance with the requirements of § 52-180 (a). The state also contends that any error in the trial court's evidentiary ruling was harmless because the proferred evidence would have been cumulative.
"Section 52-180 sets forth an exception to the evidentiary rule otherwise barring admission of hearsay evidence for business records that satisfy express criteria. Calcano v. Calcano, 257 Conn. 230, 240, 777 A.2d 633 (2001); New England Savings Bank v. Bedford Realty Corp., 246 Conn. 594, 600, 717 A.2d 713 (1998); see also Conn. Code Evid. § 8-4 (incorporating § 52-180). Section 52-180 (a) provides that a record of an act, transaction, occurrence or event is admissible as evidence of that act, transaction, occurrence, or event, provided that the record was made in the regular course of business. Pagano v. Ippoliti, 245 Conn. 640, 650-51, 716 A.2d 848 (1998). The rationale for the exception derives from the inherent trustworthiness of records on which businesses rely to conduct their daily affairs. Calcano v. Calcano, supra, 240-41 (§ 52-180 recognizes the inherent trustworthines
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