State v. Hill

755 A.2d 919, 58 Conn. App. 797, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 338
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJuly 18, 2000
DocketAC 19996
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 755 A.2d 919 (State v. Hill) 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. Hill, 755 A.2d 919, 58 Conn. App. 797, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 338 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Opinion

FOTI, J.

The defendant, David Hill, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of kidnapping in the first degree in violation of General [799]*799Statutes § 53a-92 (a) (2) (A).1 On appeal,2 the defendant claims that his conviction should be set aside because (1) the statute is unconstitutionally void for vagueness as applied to the facts of this case and (2) the state failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove that he intended to abduct the victim. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

On the basis of the evidence adduced at trial, the jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On June 9, 1996, at approximately 3 a.m., the victim was walking alone on Beaver Street in New Britain, when she was approached by the defendant. He asked her if she wanted to have a “friendship” with him. She replied that she did not, at which time he pushed her and directed her from the street down the driveway of the side parking lot of a closed social club to an area under a stairwell. He pushed her to the ground onto her back, stopped her from escaping by holding down her wrists and arms, and raped her.3 Her further resistance was met by his placing his hand over her mouth; her struggle to free herself was to no avail. She was later observed to have red marks on her arms and throat.

I

The defendant first claims that § 53a-92 (a) (2) (A) is unconstitutionally vague4 as applied to the facts supporting the conviction of kidnapping in the first degree.

[800]*800Conceding that his claim is unpreserved, the defendant seeks review pursuant to State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233, 239-40, 567 A.2d 823 (1989).* 1*3*5 To enable us to review a claim that a statute is vague as applied, the record must reflect that the defendant was convicted under the statute in question and must also reflect the conduct that formed the basis of the conviction. State v. Indrisano, 228 Conn. 795, 800, 640 A.2d 986 (1994). Because the record is adequate for our review, we advance our analysis to the third prong of Golding, namely, whether the defendant was deprived of his constitutional right to a fair trial because § 53a-92 (a) (2) (A) is unconstitutionally vague as applied to his conduct.

The defendant claims that the statute is vague as applied to the facts supporting his conviction because of the element of “restraint” contained therein, which is defined in General Statutes § 53a-91 (l).6

[801]*801“The doctrine [of vagueness] requires statutes to provide fair notice of the conduct to which they pertain and to establish minimum guidelines to govern law enforcement.” State v. Indrisano, supra, 228 Conn. 802. “Our Supreme Court based its analysis in Indrisano on the three standards set out by the United States Supreme Court for evaluating vagueness. First, because we assume that man is free to steer between lawful and unlawful conduct, we insist that laws give the person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, so that he may act accordingly. . . . [A] law forbidding or requiring conduct in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates due process of law. . . .

“Second, if arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement is to be prevented, laws must provide explicit standards for those who apply them. A vague law impermissibly delegates basic policy matters to policemen, judges, and juries for resolution on an ad hoc and subjective basis, with the attendant dangers of arbitrary and discriminatory applications. . . . Therefore, a legislature [must] establish minimal guidelines to govern law enforcement.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Cummings, 46 Conn. App. 661, 667-68, 701 A.2d 663, cert. denied, 243 Conn. 940, 702 A.2d 645 (1997).

The defendant argues that “the evidence of sufficient unlawful restraint beyond what was needed to accomplish a sexual assault is lacking, and [his] conviction for kidnapping produces an ‘absurd and unconscionable result.’ ” We disagree.

Pursuant to § 53a-91 (1), restraint requires either a movement or a confinement, that is, a movement from one place to another, or a confinement either in the [802]*802place where the restriction begins or in a place where that person has been moved, without consent. It is clear from the facts, which obviously were found by the jury, that the defendant, without the victim’s consent, moved the victim from the street to the place of the rape by pushing and directing her, and that once there he confined her, again without her consent, when she attempted to leave. Either action is sufficient to constitute restraint under the statute. It matters not that the defendant’s underlying motive in either moving the victim from the street to the stairwell, or in confining her there, was to accomplish a rape. Such intent does not preclude a conviction for kidnapping. State v. Green, 55 Conn. App. 706, 715, 740 A.2d 450 (1999), cert. denied, 252 Conn. 920, 744 A.2d 438, cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1136, 120 S. Ct. 2019, 146 L. Ed. 2d 966 (2000). Accordingly, we conclude that the statute is not vague as applied to the defendant’s conduct. Thus, no constitutional violation clearly exists.

II

The defendant next claims that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he restrained the victim by moving her from one place to another and also that he intended to kidnap the victim. He argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for kidnapping in the first degree.

Our appellate courts have developed a two part standard of review of an insufficiency of evidence claim. First, the court must construe the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. State v. Salz, 226 Conn. 20, 31, 627 A.2d 862 (1993); State v. Scales, 38 Conn. App. 225, 228, 660 A.2d 860 (1995). Second, the court must determine whether, on the established facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, the jury could have reasonably concluded that the evidence established the defendant’s guilt beyond a rea[803]*803sonable doubt. State v. Rasmussen, 225 Conn. 55, 73-74, 621 A.2d 728 (1993); State v. Pinnock, 220 Conn. 765, 770, 601 A.2d 521 (1992).

A person is guilty of first degree kidnapping if he “abducts another person and . . . restrains the person abducted with intent to . . . violate or abuse [her] sexually. ...” General Statutes § 52a-92 (a) (2) (A).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
755 A.2d 919, 58 Conn. App. 797, 2000 Conn. App. LEXIS 338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hill-connappct-2000.