State v. Gyuro

242 A.2d 734, 156 Conn. 391, 1968 Conn. LEXIS 617
Supreme Court of Connecticut·Decided April 23, 1968·Published·Cited by 25 cases

Opinion

Alcorn, J.

The defendant was presented in the Superior Court on an information in two counts filed by the state’s attorney. The first count accused the defendant of attempted larceny in violation of [393] General Statutes §§ 54-198 and 53-63. The second count accused him of breaking and entering without permission in violation of General Statutes § 53-75. Both of the offenses charged were infamous crimes. Drazen v. New Haven Taxicab Co., 95 Conn. 500, 508, 111 A. 861. The defendant moved to quash or dismiss the information on the ground that he was being required to answer for infamous crimes without presentment to or indictment by a grand jury in violation of the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the constitution of the United States. The court denied the motion, and the defendant, following a not guilty plea, was convicted by a jury on both counts. Motions to set aside the verdict and for a new trial were denied, and judgment was rendered on the verdict. The defendant has appealed from that judgment.

We first consider the defendant’s claim that his rights under the constitution of the United States were violated because he was not presented for indictment before a grand jury. An identical claim was made in a recent habeas corpus proceeding in the Superior Court arising out of breaking and entering and larceny convictions; Smith v. Warden, 25 Conn. Sup. 509, 209 A.2d 521; in which the application for the writ was denied, and the United States Supreme Court, as recently as June 1, 1965, dismissed an appeal and denied certiorari. Smith v. Warden, 381 U.S. 411, 85 S. Ct. 1584, 14 L. Ed. 2d 698. The defendant nevertheless urges us to reexamine our decision in Kennedy v. Walker, 135 Conn. 262, 63 A.2d 589, aff’d, 337 U.S. 901, 69 S. Ct. 1046, 93 L. Ed. 1715, rehearing denied, 337 U.S. 934, 69 S. Ct. 1493, 93 L. Ed. 1740, which discusses the reasons why the federal constitutional requirement of a grand jury indictment does not apply in the [394] case of infamous crimes such as the present ones. We find nothing in the more recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court which requires a change in the rule in that case. Beck v. Washington, 369 U.S. 541, 545, 82 S. Ct. 955, 8 L. Ed. 2d 98; State v. Jones, 153 Conn. 451, 457, 217 A.2d 691; see also United States ex rel. Cooper v. Reincke, 333 F.2d 608, 611 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 909, 85 S. Ct. 205, 13 L. Ed. 2d 181. Article first, § 8, of the constitution of Connecticut requires an indictment by a grand jury only in the case of crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment, and for all other crimes the prosecution may be initiated by complaint or information. General Statutes § 54-46. The defendant was properly presented for trial on the information filed by the state’s attorney. State v. Stallings, 154 Conn. 272, 278, 224 A.2d 718. The defendant’s claim that he should have been charged only in an indictment by a grand jury is without merit, and the court properly denied the motion to quash or dismiss the information.

Another claim made by the defendant is. that he was not arrested under authority of a warrant supported by oath or affirmation and that, in this respect also, his constitutional rights were violated. The constitutional right involved is not specified, but the brief indicates reliance on the rule of State v. Licari, 153 Conn. 127, 132, 214 A.2d 900. Incident to this claim are attacks on the court’s failure “to find that the defendant was not arrested by a warrant supported by oath and affirmation, which fact is apparent on the face of the record” and also on the court’s finding that the defendant has waived the claim of an illegal arrest which he now makes. The court found that no claim of an illegal arrest was made until after the trial or until this appeal [395] was taken. These findings are unchallenged. There was no request made of the court to find that the defendant “was not arrested by a warrant supported by oath and affirmation.” The record fails to disclose how the defendant was arrested. So far as appears he may have voluntarily surrendered. Nothing is laid before us except the fact that, in the Circuit Court, after the defendant had pleaded not guilty, that court found probable cause and ordered the defendant bound over to the Superior Court on a charge of attempted larceny made on the complaint of the prosecuting attorney of the Circuit Court, and, thereafter, that he was informed against, pleaded not guilty, and was tried and convicted in the Superior Court on that charge and on the added charge of breaking and entering. State v. Stallings, supra. There is no merit to the claim of an illegal arrest which is now made for the first time and no indication that the defendant has been denied due process of law. Reed v. Reincke, 155 Conn. 591, 600, 236 A.2d 909; State v. Darwin, 155 Conn. 124, 141, 230 A.2d 573.

The remaining assignments of error concern an asserted denial by the court of a motion to direct a verdict, the charge to the jury and a ruling on evidence. No basis is shown for making any correction in the finding.

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State v. Gyuro, 242 A.2d 734, 156 Conn. 391, 1968 Conn. LEXIS 617 (Colo. 1968).

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