State v. Davenport

15 A.3d 1154, 127 Conn. App. 760, 2011 Conn. App. LEXIS 155
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedApril 12, 2011
DocketAC 31784
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 15 A.3d 1154 (State v. Davenport) 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. Davenport, 15 A.3d 1154, 127 Conn. App. 760, 2011 Conn. App. LEXIS 155 (Colo. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Opinion

HARPER, J.

The defendant, Taurus J. Davenport, appeals from the judgment of conviction rendered after he pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine1 to one count of risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes § 53-21 (a) (2). The defendant claims that his conviction should be reversed and the case should be remanded so that he may withdraw his plea because the trial court improperly accepted his plea without first complying with the mandates of General Statutes § 54-251 (a) and ensuring that he understood that he would be required to register as a sex offender as a consequence of his plea. We agree.

The record reveals the following facts and procedural history that are relevant to the resolution of the defendant’s claim on appeal. On September 23, 2009, the defendant entered a plea of guilty under the Alford doctrine to one count of risk of injury to a child in violation of § 53-21 (a) (2). On December 2, 2009, the defendant was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment, execution suspended, with ten years of probation. The defendant also was required to register as a sex offender [763]*763pursuant to § 54-251 for a period of ten years. On December 22, 2009, the defendant filed a notice of appeal, a motion for stay of probation and sex offender registration pending appeal, and a motion to correct an illegal sentence. On January 15, 2010, the court granted the defendant’s motion to stay probation and sex offender registration pending appeal. The defendant subsequently withdrew his motion to correct an illegal sentence. At no point did the defendant file a motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

The defendant claims that the trial court erred in failing to comply with the provisions of § 54-251 (a) by accepting his guilty plea without adequately informing him that he would be required to register as a sex offender as a consequence of his plea. The defendant contends that because the court failed to comply with § 54-251 (a), his conviction should be reversed and his case remanded so that he may withdraw his plea. We agree.

As an initial matter, we must address the defendant’s failure to properly preserve his claim by filing a timely motion to withdraw his plea pursuant to Practice Book § 39-26. “Practice Book 39-26 provides in relevant part: A defendant may not withdraw his or her plea after the conclusion of the proceeding at which the sentence was imposed. . . . Our courts have held that [b]ecause Practice Book § [39-26] precludes a defendant from withdrawing his plea after the conclusion of sentencing, [t]he failure of the defendant to make a motion to withdraw his plea before the conclusion of the proceeding at which the sentence was imposed ordinarily precludes review of claimed infirmities in the acceptance of a plea.” (Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Webb, 62 Conn. App. 805, 810, 772 A. 2d 690 (2001). The defendant, however, seeks redress of his claim under the plain error doctrine.2

[764]*764“[The plain error] doctrine, codified at Practice Book § 60-5, is an extraordinary remedy used by appellate courts to rectify errors committed at trial that, although unpreserved, are of such monumental proportion that they threaten to erode our system of justice and work a serious and manifest injustice on the aggrieved party. [T]he plain error doctrine ... is not ... a rule of reviewability. It is a rule of reversibility. That is, it is a doctrine that this court invokes in order to rectify a trial court ruling that, although either not properly preserved or never raised at all in the trial court, nonetheless requires reversal of the trial court’s judgment, for reasons of policy. ... In addition, the plain error doctrine is reserved for truly extraordinary situations [in which] the existence of the error is so obvious that it affects the fairness and integrity of and public confidence in the judicial proceedings. . . . Plain error is a doctrine that should be invoked sparingly. . . . Implicit in this very demanding standard is the notion . . . that invocation of the plain error doctrine is reserved for occasions requiring the reversal of the judgment under review. . . . [Thus, an appellant] cannot prevail under [the plain error doctrine] . . . unless he demonstrates that the claimed error is both so clear and so harmful that a failure to reverse the judgment would result in manifest injustice.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Myers, 290 Conn. 278, 289, 963 A.2d 11 (2009).

“[W]e recently clarified the two step framework under which we review claims of plain error. First, we must determine whether the trial court in fact committed an error and, if it did, whether that error was indeed plain in the sense that it is patent [or] readily discemable on the face of a factually adequate record, [and] also [765]*765. . . obvious in the sense of not debatable. . . . [T]his inquiry entails a relatively high standard, under which it is not enough for the defendant simply to demonstrate that his position is correct. Rather, the party seeking plain error review must demonstrate that the claimed impropriety was so clear, obvious and indisputable as to warrant the extraordinary remedy of reversal. . . .

“In addition, although a clear and obvious mistake on the part of the trial court is a prerequisite for reversal under the plain error doctrine, such a finding is not, without more, sufficient to warrant the application of the doctrine. Because [a] party cannot prevail under plain error unless it has demonstrated that the failure to grant relief will result in manifest injustice . . . under the second prong of the analysis we must determine whether the consequences of the error are so grievous as to be fundamentally unfair or manifestly unjust. . . . Only if both prongs of the analysis are satisfied can the appealing party obtain relief.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Crawford v. Commissioner of Correction, 294 Conn. 165, 205, 982 A.2d 620 (2009).

Although not a per se rule; see State v. Myers, supra, 290 Conn. 290 n.10; both this court and our Supreme Court have often found plain error in instances where a trial court failed to comply with the mandatory requirements of an applicable statute. See, e.g., Genovese v. Gallo Wine Merchants, Inc., 226 Conn. 475, 480 n.6, 628 A.2d 946 (1993) (“[i]t is plain error for a trial court to fail to apply an applicable statute, even in the absence of the statute having been brought to its attention by the parties”); State v. Burke, 182 Conn. 330, 331-32, 438 A.2d 93 (1980) (“[wjhere the legislature has chosen specific means to effectuate a fundamental right, failure to follow the mandatory provisions of the statute is plain error”); State v. Ellis, 32 Conn. App. 849, 853, 632 A.2d 47 (1993) (trial court’s failure to [766]*766comply with applicable rule of practice constituted plain error).

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Related

State v. Williams
206 Conn. App. 539 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2021)
Flomo v. Commissioner of Correction
149 A.3d 185 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2016)
Zuberi v. Commissioner of Correction
60 A.3d 337 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2013)
State v. Davenport
21 A.3d 464 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 A.3d 1154, 127 Conn. App. 760, 2011 Conn. App. LEXIS 155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-davenport-connappct-2011.