State v. Drakes

70 A.3d 1104, 143 Conn. App. 510, 2013 WL 2990650, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 324
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJune 25, 2013
DocketAC 33327; AC 34570
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 70 A.3d 1104 (State v. Drakes) 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. Drakes, 70 A.3d 1104, 143 Conn. App. 510, 2013 WL 2990650, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 324 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Opinion

LAVINE, J.

The principal questions in these consolidated appeals are (1) whether the trial court properly granted the state permission to use reasonable physical force to obtain a DNA sample from a felon in the custody of the commissioner of correction (commissioner) pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 2003) § 54-102g (a), as amended by Public Acts 2003, No. 03-242, § 1 (a) (P.A. 03-242),1 and Public Acts 2011, No. 11-144, § 1 (i), and (2) whether the statute as applied to a person convicted of a felony in 2005 violates the due process, ex post facto and double jeopardy provisions of the federal constitution. We answer the first question in the affirmative and the second in the negative.

In AC 33327, the defendant, Roosevelt Drakes, appeals from the judgment of the trial court, rendered when it granted the state’s motion to use reasonable physical force to obtain a DNA sample (motion to use [513]*513reasonable force) from him.2 In AC 34570, the defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction in 2010, rendered after a jury trial, of refusing to provide a blood or other biological sample for DNA analysis (DNA sample) in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 2009) § 54-102g (g). We affirm the judgments of the trial courts.

The following facts and procedural history are relevant to our decisions. The defendant was accused of committing murder on May 2, 2003. On April 18, 2005, he pleaded guilty to murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a and criminal possession of a firearm in violation of General Statutes § 53a-217. The court, Miaño, J., sentenced the defendant to thirty years in prison. At the time he was sentenced, the defendant was advised that, because he was a convicted felon, he was required to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in the state DNA data bank.

On December 3, 2009, the defendant was in the custody of the commissioner, who directed him to submit to the taking of a DNA sample. A department of correction (department) employee again directed the defendant to submit a DNA sample on December 28, 2009. On that date, the department employee advised the defendant that a refusal to submit to the taking of a DNA sample was a criminal offense. Despite the advisement, the defendant refused to submit to the taking of a DNA sample. On March 17, 2010, a department employee once more directed the defendant to provide a DNA sample for inclusion in the state data bank. The [514]*514defendant again refused to comply with the directive and refused to sign the advisement form.

On May 19, 2010, the state filed a motion for permission to use reasonable physical force to obtain a DNA sample from the defendant. On August 12, 2010, the defendant filed a memorandum of law opposing the motion to use reasonable physical force, arguing that prosecution pursuant to § 54-102g (g)3 is the only remedy available when a felon in the commissioner’s custody refuses to submit a DNA sample. Moreover, the defendant argued that, although the statute had been amended several times, the legislature had never authorized the use of force to obtain a DNA sample. The defendant appeared before the court, Mullarkey, J., to argue in opposition to the motion to use reasonable physical force. In a consolidated memorandum of decision issued on February 8, 2011,4 the court granted the state’s motion to use reasonable physical force to obtain a DNA sample from the defendant, but stayed its order to permit the defendant to take an appeal. The defendant’s appeal from that judgment is AC 33327.

On June 9,2010, the defendant was arrested for refusing to submit a DNA sample pursuant to § 54-102g. On December 20,2010, the state filed an information charging the defendant with refusing to submit to the taking of a DNA sample in violation of § 54-102g (a). The information further alleged that the defendant was convicted of murder on April 20, 2005, and that he was in the custody of the commissioner. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss the charge claiming that the charges violated his state and federal constitutional guarantees against double jeopardy. The defendant argued that [515]*515prosecuting him for failing to submit a DNA sample imposed a second punishment for the murder of which he had been convicted. The court, Dewey, J., denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss the charge.

On January 10, 2011, the defendant was tried to a jury that found him guilty of one count of refusing to submit a DNA sample. Judge Dewey sentenced him to one year in prison consecutive to the sentence he was then serving. The defendant’s appeal from the judgment of conviction is AC 34570.

In each of the defendant’s appeals, he has raised claims that are questions of law to which an appellate court gives plenary review. See State v. Alexander, 269 Conn. 107, 112, 847 A.2d 970 (2004) (court’s subject matter jurisdiction question of law); State v. Parra, 251 Conn. 617, 622, 741 A.2d 902 (1999) (statutory construction question of law); State v. Marsala, 93 Conn. App. 582, 587, 889 A.2d 943 (constitutional issue question of law), cert. denied, 278 Conn. 902, 896 A.2d 105 (2006).

I

AC 33327

On appeal, the defendant claims that it was error for Judge Mullarkey to grant the state’s motion to use reasonable physical force to obtain a DNA sample from him because (1) the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, (2) application of § 54-102g to him violates the due process and ex post facto provisions of the federal constitution and (3) the statute does not provide for the use of force to obtain a DNA sample. We disagree with the defendant’s claims.

The following additional facts are relevant to our resolution of the defendant’s claims. On February 8, 2011, the court issued a memorandum of decision in which it undertook a thorough analysis of the claims raised by the defendant and Mark Banks; see State v. [516]*516Banks, 143 Conn. App. 485, 71 A.3d 582 (2013); in their objections to the state’s motions for permission to use reasonable physical force. See footnote 5 of this opinion. The court found that the defendant was in the custody of the commissioner and that he was subject to the conditions of § 54-102g (a). The court concluded that it had subject matter jurisdiction to rule on the state’s motion to use reasonable force; its order would not affect the sentence that the defendant was serving; the statute is regulatory, not penal, in nature; the defendant was not denied due process of law; application of the statute to the defendant did not violate the ex post facto clause; and the use of reasonable physical force was inherent in the statute to effectuate the legislature’s goal of establishing a DNA data bank to assist in future criminal investigations.

The claims raised by the defendant in this appeal are similar to the claims raised in the companion case that we decided today. See State v. Banks, supra, 143 Conn. App. 492. Our discussion of the claims raised in Banks resolves the claims raised by the defendant in this appeal. See id., 492-508.

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Related

State v. Drakes
146 A.3d 21 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2016)
State v. Banks
71 A.3d 582 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 A.3d 1104, 143 Conn. App. 510, 2013 WL 2990650, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-drakes-connappct-2013.