State v. MICHAEL A.

1 A.3d 46, 297 Conn. 808, 2010 Conn. LEXIS 280
Supreme Court of Connecticut·Decided August 17, 2010·No. SC 18464·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

Opinion

NORCOTT, J.

The defendant, Michael A., appeals 1 from the judgment of the trial court resentencing him to a total effective sentence of seventeen years imprisonment, after remand from the judgment of the Appellate Court, which had reversed his conviction of sexual assault in the second degree in violation of General *811 Statutes (Rev. to 1999) § 53a-71 (a) (l), 2 and affirmed his conviction of risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1999) § 53-21 (a) (2), as amended by Public Acts 2000, No. 00-207, § 6 (P.A. 00-207). 3 State v. Michael A., 99 Conn. App. 251, 254, 913 A.2d 1081 (2007). On appeal, the defendant claims that: (1) the trial court improperly resentenced him on the risk of injury to a child conviction because the Appellate Court’s order was limited to reversal of the sexual assault conviction; and (2) the trial court’s resentencing order, crafted under the persistent serious felony offender statute, General Statutes (Rev. to 1999) § 53a-40 (c) and (j), 4 as amended by Public Acts, Spec. Sess., *812 June, 1999, No. 99-2, §48 (P.A. 99-2), cannot stand because the defendant did not knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waive his right to a jury trial on the issue of whether an extended period of incarceration would best serve the public interest. We disagree and, accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The record reveals the following relevant facts and procedural history. In November, 2000, the state charged the defendant in a two part information with one count of sexual assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1999) § 53a-70 (a) (l) 5 and one count of risk of injury to a child in violation of § 53-21 (a) (2). The defendant was tried before a jury, which, in June, 2004, returned a verdict finding him guilty of risk of injury to a child and not guilty of sexual assault in the first degree. 6 The jury did, however, find the defendant guilty of sexual assault in the second *813 degree in violation of § 53a-71 (a) (1) as a lesser included offense of sexual assault in the first degree. After the defendant entered a plea of nolo contendere with respect to part B of the information charging him as a persistent serious felony offender under § 53a-40 (c), the trial court rendered a judgment of conviction in accordance with the jury’s verdict and sentenced him pursuant to § 53a-40 (j) to a total effective sentence of twenty-four years imprisonment, followed by ten years special parole and lifetime sexual offender registration. 7

The defendant appealed from the judgment of conviction to the Appellate Court, which reversed the conviction of sexual assault in the second degree. State v. Michael A., supra, 99 Conn. App. 254. The Appellate Court concluded that the trial court improperly had instructed the jury that it could find the defendant guilty of sexual assault in the second degree as a lesser included offense of sexual assault in the first degree; id., 262; which deprived the defendant of his “constitutional right to a fair trial . . . .” Id., 263. The court reversed the judgment “only as to the conviction of sexual assault in the second degree and . . . remanded with direction to render judgment of not guilty as to that offense only.” Id., 274.

On remand, the trial court held a resentencing hearing on April 4, 2008. The trial court vacated the defendant’s original sentence and, over his objections, 8 resentenced him to a total effective sentence of seventeen years imprisonment on the risk of injury to a child conviction, with no special parole, but with lifetime sexual offender registration. The new sentence, like the original sentence, reflected sentence enhancement under the per *814 sistent serious felony offender statute, § 53a-40 (j). The trial court also renewed its finding, at the state’s request, that the defendant’s history and character, as well as the nature of his criminal conduct, indicated that extended incarceration would best serve the public interest. This appeal followed.

On appeal, the defendant claims that: (1) the trial court lacked the authority to resentence him on the risk of injury to a child conviction because the Appellate Court’s order reversed only the sexual assault conviction; and (2) the trial court’s resentencing order, crafted under § 53a-40 (j), the persistent serious felony offender statute, was improper because he did not knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waive his right to a jury trial on the issue of whether an extended period of incarceration would best serve the public interest. We address each claim in turn and set forth additional relevant facts where necessary in the context of each claim.

I

We first address the defendant’s claim that the trial court did not have the authority to resentence him on the risk of injury to a child conviction. Specifically, the defendant argues that the Appellate Court’s remand order explicitly was limited to a reversal of the conviction of sexual assault in the second degree and did not authorize the trial court to fashion an entirely new sentence. The defendant also claims that the procedural posture of this case — a partially successful appeal and remand order — distinguishes this case from past precedent in which this court applied the “aggregate package” theory of sentencing (aggregate package theory), under which, inter alia, trial courts may reconstruct sentences following a partial reversal of a multicount conviction. In response, the state contends that the trial court properly resentenced the defendant under the aggregate package theory and that the Appellate Court’s *815 order should be interpreted in light of that court’s entire opinion and not read so restrictively. We agree with the state and conclude that our recent decision in State v. Wade, 297 Conn. 262, 998 A.2d 1114 (2010), controls the outcome of this claim.

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State v. MICHAEL A., 1 A.3d 46, 297 Conn. 808, 2010 Conn. LEXIS 280 (Colo. 2010).

1 A.3d 46 (State v. MICHAEL A.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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