State v. Flynn

539 A.2d 1005, 14 Conn. App. 10, 1988 Conn. App. LEXIS 91
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedApril 5, 1988
Docket4132; 4153
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 539 A.2d 1005 (State v. Flynn) 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. Flynn, 539 A.2d 1005, 14 Conn. App. 10, 1988 Conn. App. LEXIS 91 (Colo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

Dupont, C. J.

The defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction, after a jury trial, of the crimes of assault on a peace officer in violation of General Statutes § 53a-167c, reckless endangerment in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-64, breach of the peace in violation of General Statutes § 53a-181, and interfering with an officer in violation of General Statutes § 53a-167a. The defendant claims that the trial court erred (1) in imposing multiple punishments for the same offense in violation of his fifth amendment right' against double jeopardy, (2) in rendering judgment upon inconsistent verdicts, (3) in denying his motion to view the scene of the alleged crimes, (4) in its instructions to the jury regarding circumstantial evidence and on interfering with an officer, and in commenting on the evidence, and (5) in failing to instruct the jury that it was required to reach unanimity on alternative elements of an offense.1

The jury could reasonably have found the following facts. On Saturday, November 17, 1984, at approximately 2:30 a.m., four Milford police officers, Officers Mitchell Greenberg, John Kranyak, Gary Stacoffe, and Douglas Youd, arrived at a local bar in response to an assault complaint. After investigation, the officers concluded that the suspect had left that bar to go to another nearby bar, the Double Play Saloon. The officers went to the Double Play Saloon in search of the suspect, who was not the defendant here. Kranyak, Stacoffe and Youd entered the Double Play through the front door, and walked toward the rear dance floor area. Greenberg [13]*13entered the bar a minute later. All officers were in uniform. The bar was crowded, dark and noisy. While Kranyak and Stacoffe were standing near the dance floor, with their backs to the bar area, Kranyak was struck on the right shoulder by a beer bottle and Stacoffe was struck on the back of the head by a hard blunt object, allegedly a beer bottle.

At trial, Youd testified that he had been standing behind Stacoffe and Kranyak, and that he saw the defendant throw a full or partially full beer bottle at the two officers, although he did not actually see it strike the officers. He further testified that he grabbed the defendant and informed him that he was under arrest and that the defendant had resisted the attempts to arrest him. Stacoffe testified that he heard a “scuffling” and both he and Kranyak became aware that Youd was attempting to make an arrest, that the defendant was kicking and struggling and that it required the efforts of all four officers to handcuff and remove him from the Double Play Saloon.

Witnesses for the prosecution testified that at the police station, after Youd had informed the. defendant of his Miranda rights; Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966); the defendant asked several times what the charges were against him and then made the comment: “That’s why I threw the bottle.”

At trial, the defendant took the stand in his own defense and denied that he had thrown the bottle or that he had resisted arrest. Several witnesses for the defense corroborated the defendant’s version of the events.

The jury found the defendant guilty on all four counts charged in the short-form information. On April 12, 1985, the trial court sentenced the defendant to the following terms of imprisonment: three years for assault [14]*14on a peace officer; six months for reckless endangerment in the second degree; six months for breach of peace; and one year for interfering with an officer. The sentences imposed were ordered to run consecutively, for a total effective sentence of five years.

I

The defendant first claims that the trial court imposed multiple punishments for the same offense in violation of his federal and state constitutional rights to be free from being placed twice in jeopardy. The defendant argues (1) that the crime of interfering with an officer is a lesser included offense of assault on a peace officer, and (2) that the crime of reckless endangerment in the second degree is a lesser included offense of assault on a peace officer. Although the defendant did not raise the double jeopardy issue at trial, it is reviewable under State v. Evans, 165 Conn. 61, 69-70, 372 A.2d 576 (1973), because “this claim involves a question of a fundamental constitutional right” and is adequately supported by the record. State v. Devino, 195 Conn. 70, 73, 485 A.2d 1302 (1985); State v. Williams, 12 Conn. App. 225, 229, 530 A.2d 627 (1987).

The fifth amendment to the United States constitution declares that no person shall “be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . . .” This amendment is fully applicable to the states through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution. Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S. Ct. 2056, 23 L. Ed. 2d 707 (1969). Although the Connecticut constitution does not include a specific double jeopardy provision, our Supreme Court “has long recognized as a fundamental principle of common law that no one shall be put in jeopardy more than once for the same offense.” State v. Langley, 156 Conn. 598, 600-601, 244 A.2d 366 [15]*15(1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1069, 89 S. Ct. 726, 21 L. Ed. 2d 712 (1969). The due process guarantees of article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution, therefore, have been held to encompass protection against double jeopardy. Kohlfuss v. Warden, 149 Conn. 692, 695, 183 A.2d 626, cert. denied, 371 U.S. 928, 83 S. Ct. 298, 9 L. Ed. 2d 235 (1962).2

One of the protections flowing from the double jeopardy guarantee is that “against multiple punishments for the same offense” in a single trial. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S. Ct. 2072, 23 L. Ed. 2d 656 (1969); State v. Goldson, 178 Conn. 422, 423-24, 423 A.2d 114 (1979). In State v. Johns, 184 Conn. 369, 439 A.2d 1049 (1981), our Supreme Court reaffirmed the proposition that “ ‘[wjhere consecutive sentences are imposed at a single criminal trial, the role of the constitutional guarantee [against double jeopardy] is limited to assuring that the court does not exceed its legislative authorization by imposing multiple punishments for the same offense . . . .’ ” Id., 376, quoting Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 165, 97 S. Ct. 2221, 53 L. Ed. 2d 187 (1977). The United States Supreme Court in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S. Ct. 180, 76 L. Ed. 306 (1932), articulated the governing standard for determining whether two offenses are sufficiently distinguishable to permit the imposition of cumulative punishment. “The applicable rule is that where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.” [16]*16Id., 304.

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Bluebook (online)
539 A.2d 1005, 14 Conn. App. 10, 1988 Conn. App. LEXIS 91, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-flynn-connappct-1988.