State v. Bouvier

209 Conn. App. 9
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedDecember 7, 2021
DocketAC42430
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 209 Conn. App. 9 (State v. Bouvier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bouvier, 209 Conn. App. 9 (Colo. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

*********************************************** The “officially released” date that appears near the be- ginning of each opinion is the date the opinion will be pub- lished in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it was released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the be- ginning of all time periods for filing postopinion motions and petitions for certification is the “officially released” date appearing in the opinion.

All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the Connecticut Reports and Connecticut Appellate Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the advance release version of an opinion and the latest version appearing in the Connecticut Law Journal and subsequently in the Connecticut Reports or Connecticut Appellate Reports, the latest version is to be considered authoritative.

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. MICHAEL BRYANT BOUVIER (AC 42430) Prescott, Moll and Suarez, Js.

Syllabus

The defendant, who was convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and reckless driving, and whose sentence was enhanced for twice previously having been convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs, appealed to this court. The entirety of the motor vehicle stop that led to his arrest was recorded by a camera in the arresting state trooper’s vehicle, although the audio recording was briefly inter- rupted when the trooper, K, temporarily turned off the microphone on his uniform, to speak with a second trooper, Q. The defendant claimed that the trial court improperly denied his motion to suppress certain statements he made to the police during a postarrest interview, as he claimed he had not voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently waived his rights under Miranda v. Arizona (384 U.S. 436), denied his motion to preclude the testimony of the arresting state troopers as a sanction for K having turned off his microphone, and sustained the state’s objection to questions regarding a finding by a hearing officer of the Department of Motor Vehicles that no probable cause existed to arrest the defen- dant. Held: 1. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statements to the police during his postarrest interview: the court properly determined that the defendant had been advised of his Miranda rights before he made his statements in response to police interrogation, the defendant having previously conceded that he was advised of his rights both while being transported to the police station and while at the station and the defendant failed to challenge the first advisement as invalid, thus, the defendant conceded that he was taken into custody, properly advised of his rights prior to interrogation, remained silent, and later decided to speak during interrogation; moreover, the court properly determined that the defen- dant implicitly had waived his Miranda rights voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently prior to making statements to the police, as it reasonably could be inferred that the defendant understood his right to remain silent, as he did so after K initially advised him of his rights, and, at the police station, he was again advised of his rights as well as the consequences of refusing a Breathalyzer test, which he acknowledged; furthermore, the defendant’s knowledge of his rights from his two prior arrests further supported the court’s conclusion that he understood those rights, as did the defendant’s course of conduct in voluntarily answering multiple questions by the police and declining the opportunity to contact an attorney after it had been offered to him. 2. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant’s motion in limine, in which he sought either to preclude the testimony of K and Q or an instruction permitting the jury to draw an adverse inference against the state because K intentionally had turned off his body camera during the traffic stop, as K’s action did not constitute a failure to preserve evidence or the destruction of evidence: the evidence before the court showed that K had acted in a manner that failed to create an audio recording, thus, evidence consisting of such a recording did not actually exist; moreover, the defendant failed to cite to any authority demonstrating that the troopers had a legal duty to record their conversation at the scene of the motor vehicle stop, as the administrative guidelines cited by the defendant did not create a cognizable due process interest in the defendant, and the court made no finding that the troopers actually violated those guidelines. 3. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the trial court erred in sustaining the state’s objection to questions defense counsel asked K regarding a finding by a hearing officer of the Department of Motor Vehicles that no probable cause existed to arrest the defendant: the court properly did not admit the hearing officer’s finding of no probable cause to permit the defendant to impeach the arresting officers’ credibil- ity as the finding constituted extrinsic evidence, and defense counsel properly was permitted to, and did, cross-examine the arresting officers regarding their administration of field sobriety tests; moreover, the defendant’s unpreserved claim that the hearing officer’s finding was relevant and admissible to prove that no probable cause existed to arrest the defendant was not reviewable pursuant to the second prong of State v. Golding (213 Conn. 233) because the claim was purely evidentiary in nature and not of constitutional magnitude; furthermore, even if this court were to reach the merits of the defendant’s claim, the finding, if offered to prove that there was no probable cause to arrest the defendant, would be inadmissible, as probable cause to arrest the defendant was not an element of either of the offenses on which the defendant was tried, thus, the finding was not material to the jury’s determination of the case before it. Argued April 5—officially released December 7, 2021

Procedural History

Two part substitute information charging the defen- dant, in the first part, with the crimes of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and reckless driving, and, in the second part, with twice previously having been convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Hartford, geographical area number fourteen, where the court, D’Addabbo, J., denied the defendant’s motion in limine to preclude certain testi- mony; thereafter, the court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress certain evidence; subsequently, the first part of the information was tried to the jury before D’Addabbo, J.; verdict of guilty; thereafter, the defen- dant was tried to the court, D’Addabbo, J., on the second part of the information; finding of guilty; judgment of guilty, from which the defendant appealed to this court. Affirmed. Patrick Tomasiewicz, for the appellant (defendant). Felicia Valentino, special deputy assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Sharmese Wal- cott, state’s attorney, and Denise Smoker and Robert Diaz, senior assistant state’s attorneys, for the appel- lee (state). Opinion

PRESCOTT, J.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Devin M.
229 Conn. App. 158 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2024)
VanDeusen v. Commissioner of Correction
212 Conn. App. 427 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2022)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
209 Conn. App. 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bouvier-connappct-2021.