State v. Pierce

779 A.2d 233, 64 Conn. App. 208, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 353
Connecticut Appellate Court·Decided July 10, 2001·No. AC 18364·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

Opinion

STOUGHTON, J.

The defendant, William D. Pierce, appeals from the judgment of the trial court finding him in violation of probation and revoking his probation. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

On appeal, the defendant initially claimed that (1) the trial court improperly determined that he violated [210] the conditions of his probation because the evidence was insufficient to establish a burglary in the first degree and (2) even if the trial court properly found the defendant in violation of his probation, the court’s revocation of his probation and imposition of a two year sentence was fatally flawed because the court considered the defendant to have violated a class B felony rather than merely a class A misdemeanor.

On August 28, 1998, the defendant filed a motion for the trial court to articulate the basis for its decision and the factual findings on which it was made. The court denied this request. We granted the defendant’s request for review but denied the relief requested. After briefs were filed and oral arguments were heard, this court vacated its earlier order, granted in part the relief requested in the defendant’s motion for review and ordered supplemental briefs addressing the articulation.

We ordered the trial court to articulate the following request made by the defendant: “Upon what charge did the court find a violation of probation? Was the basis burglary in the first degree, a lesser included offense, possession of burglary tools or any combination of these?” In response, the trial court rendered the following articulation: “As ordered by the Appellate Court on July 18, 2000, the basis upon which this court found a violation of probation was a violation by the defendant of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-101 burglary in the first degree, [General Statutes] § 53a-103 burglary in the third degree and [General Statutes] § 53a-106 possession of burglar’s tools. Burglary in the third degree is a lesser included offense of burglary in the first degree.”

On the basis of the articulation, the defendant, in his supplemental brief, claims that (1) there was no evidence that he was armed with a dangerous instru[211] ment, (2) the trial court improperly relied on possession of burglar’s tools and burglary in the third degree because those crimes were not alleged by the prosecutor and (3) a probation violation may not be based on a finding of a lesser included offense.

The following facts are relevant to this appeal. On October 28, 1993, the defendant was sentenced to the custody of the commissioner of correction on three counts of burglary in the third degree. He received a total effective sentence of seven years, execution suspended after four years, followed by three years probation. On December 26, 1996, he was released on probation. On February 13, 1997, the defendant was arrested and charged with burglary in the first degree in violation of § SSa-lOl1 and possession of burglar’s tools in violation of § 53a-106.2

On April 14, 1997, the defendant was arrested on a warrant for violation of probation. The affidavit in the arrest warrant application referred to the defendant’s arrest for burglary in the first degree and possession of burglar’s tools. The trial court conducted a hearing, found that the defendant had violated the conditions of probation, revoked his probation and imposed a term of two years imprisonment.

[212] The defendant’s period of probation began on December 26, 1996. The defendant was suspected of committing a rash of residential burglaries in Norwich. On February 13, 1997, the Norwich police began watching the defendant’s residence. On that date, when the defendant drove away from his residence, the police followed him and found his car parked in a Montville neighborhood. The police watched the car while they hid in a wooded area behind some houses. The police eventually saw a man walking behind some houses in the dark and, upon investigation, found the defendant hiding behind a woodpile with a blue metal crowbar, a pair of gloves and a flashlight directly in front of him. The back of a nearby residence showed signs of forced entry, and it appeared that someone had rummaged through the bureau drawers in several rooms.

The defendant subsequently was taken to the Mont-ville police department and was advised of his constitutional rights. He gave a written statement in which he admitted that after 6 p.m., on February 13, 1997, he had driven to Montville, had parked on a side street and had walked to an unlit residence. He rang the doorbell and, after receiving no answer, went to the back of the residence and pried open the basement garage door. He then pried open an inside door and went upstairs where he went through the drawers and closets. He found no cash or jewelry and left by way of sliding glass doors. At the time the defendant gave his statement, he was under arrest for possession of burglar’s tools and he also admitted to having committed several other burglaries.

Under General Statutes § 53a-32, a probation revocation hearing is comprised of two distinct components. State v. Davis, 229 Conn. 285, 289, 641 A.2d 370 (1994). The trial court must first determine by a fair preponderance of the evidence whether the defendant has in fact [213] violated a condition of probation. Id., 295. If a determination is made that a violation has been established, the trial court then determines whether the defendant’s probation should be revoked. Id., 290. “On the basis of its consideration of the whole record, the trial court may continue or revoke the sentence of probation or conditional discharge or modify or enlarge the conditions, and, if such sentence is revoked, require the defendant to serve the sentence imposed or impose any lesser sentence. General Statutes § 53a-32 (b).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Davis, supra, 290. “In making its factual determination, the trial court is entitled to draw reasonable and logical inferences from the evidence. . . . This court may reverse the trial court’s initial factual determination that a condition of probation has been violated only if we determine that such a finding was clearly erroneous.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Treat, 38 Conn. App. 762, 769, 664 A.2d 785, cert. denied, 235 Conn. 920, 665 A.2d 907 (1995).

I

The defendant first claims that the court improperly determined that he had violated the conditions of his probation. The defendant argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to establish that he committed burglary in the first degree, (2) he did not receive notice of any basis for the revocation of probation other than burglary in the first degree, (3) because burglary in the third degree was not stated at the hearing as a basis for finding a violation of probation, it cannot be used as a basis for a violation of probation by the trial court or by this court and (4) his lack of notice claim warrants Golding review or plain error review. We disagree and discuss each claim in turn.

A

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State v. Pierce, 779 A.2d 233, 64 Conn. App. 208, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 353 (Colo. Ct. App. 2001).

779 A.2d 233 (State v. Pierce) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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