State v. Bemer

339 Conn. 528
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedJuly 14, 2021
DocketSC20195
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 339 Conn. 528 (State v. Bemer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bemer, 339 Conn. 528 (Colo. 2021).

Opinion

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The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publica- tions, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut. *********************************************** STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. BRUCE JOHN BEMER (SC 20195) Robinson, C. J., and Palmer, McDonald, D’Auria, Mullins, Kahn and Vertefeuille, Js.*

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 54-102a (a)), a court presiding over a pending case involving a violation of certain sex offenses, including patronizing a prostitute who was the victim of human trafficking, may order that the accused be examined for any sexually transmitted disease (STD). Pursuant further to statute (§ 54-102a (b)), a court presiding over a pending case involving a violation of certain sex offenses during which a sexual act occurred, including patronizing a prostitute who was the victim of human trafficking, may order that the accused be tested for the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), ‘‘[n]otwithstanding the provisions of’’ the statute (§ 19a-582) requiring a person’s ‘‘general con- sent’’ for that person’s HIV-related testing. The defendant, who had been charged with the crimes of patronizing a prostitute who was the victim of human trafficking and conspiracy to commit trafficking in persons, appealed from the trial court’s order, in response to motions filed by the state and certain of the defendant’s alleged victims, requiring that he submit to an examination for STDs pursuant to § 54-102a (a) and HIV testing pursuant to § 54-102a (b). The charges stemmed from the defendant’s involvement with a person who had arranged for young males to engage in sexual activities with the defendant in exchange for money. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that the trial court had abused its discretion in ordering HIV testing on the ground that the trial court was required to find, before issuing such an order, that there was a clear and imminent danger to the public health or the health of a person and that there was a compelling need for the HIV test result that could not be accommodated by other means, and the state presented no evidence in furtherance of satisfying that standard. The defendant also contended that, to the extent that an examination for STDs and HIV testing could be ordered under § 54-102a (a) and (b), respectively, without a finding of a compelling need, those statutory provisions violated the defendant’s constitutional rights. Dur- ing the pendency of this appeal, the defendant was convicted of the charged crimes. Held: 1. The trial court’s order was an appealable final judgment, and the defen- dant’s conviction of the charged crimes had no bearing, jurisdictional or otherwise, on this appeal: the court’s order terminated a separate and distinct proceeding, as it involved a discrete matter entirely distinct from and independent of the adjudication of the defendant’s guilt, and, accordingly, the proceedings concerning the propriety of that order were wholly severable from the proceedings pertaining to the resolution of the defendant’s criminal case, which could and did advance separate and apart from this appeal; moreover, although § 54-102a authorizes a trial court to issue an order pursuant to that statute while a case is ‘‘pending’’ in that court, whereas a related statute (§ 54-102b) delineates the circumstances under which a defendant’s HIV testing shall be ordered upon motion following conviction, there was nothing in § 54- 102a or § 54-102b to suggest that § 54-102b was intended to place a temporal limitation on the execution of an order properly issued pursu- ant to § 54-102a prior to a conviction, and § 54-102b made no provision for the HIV testing of persons convicted of offenses of which the defen- dant ultimately was convicted. 2. The trial court did not abuse the discretion conferred on it by § 54-102a (b) in ordering that the defendant submit to HIV testing: there was no merit to the defendant’s claim that the trial court was obligated to adhere to the requirement set forth in § 19a-582 (d) (8) that it find, before ordering HIV testing, a clear and imminent danger to the public health or the health of a person and that the person seeking the testing of the defendant has demonstrated a compelling need for the test result that cannot be accommodated by other means, as a review of the language of § 54-102a (b), its legislative history, and related statutes, as well as the language of § 19a-582, indicated that the legislature did not intend for the requirement of § 19a-582 (d) (8) to apply to an order for HIV testing under § 54-102a (b); accordingly, § 54-102a (b) broadly authorizes a trial court to order HIV testing when, as in the present case, the conditions of that statute—that the defendant has been charged with committing an offense enumerated in that statute, the offense involved a sexual act, and the charge is pending before the court—have been met. 3. To comport with the provision of the Connecticut constitution (art. I, § 7) prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures, a court is required to make a finding, prior to ordering an examination for STDs pursuant to § 54-102a (a) or HIV testing pursuant to § 54-102a (b), that such an examination or testing would provide useful, practical information to a victim that could not reasonably be obtained in another manner, but this court rejected the defendant’s contention that a trial court must find, before issuing an order for such an examination or testing, that there is probable cause to believe that the defendant has an STD or HIV: this court reviewed the factors set forth in State v. Geisler (222 Conn.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
339 Conn. 528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bemer-conn-2021.