State v. Santiago

206 Conn. App. 390
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedAugust 3, 2021
DocketAC42234
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 206 Conn. App. 390 (State v. Santiago) 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. Santiago, 206 Conn. App. 390 (Colo. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

*********************************************** The “officially released” date that appears near the be- ginning of each opinion is the date the opinion will be pub- lished in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it was released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the be- ginning of all time periods for filing postopinion motions and petitions for certification is the “officially released” date appearing in the opinion.

All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the Connecticut Reports and Connecticut Appellate Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the advance release version of an opinion and the latest version appearing in the Connecticut Law Journal and subsequently in the Connecticut Reports or Connecticut Appellate Reports, the latest version is to be considered authoritative.

The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publica- tions, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut. *********************************************** STATE OF CONNECTICUT v. ISRAEL SANTIAGO (AC 42234) Alvord, Elgo and Alexander, Js.

Syllabus

Convicted of various crimes in connection with his actions toward two police officers when they attempted a stop of his motor vehicle, the defendant appealed to this court. The police officers, L and M, separately responded to an early morning call regarding a suspicious individual in a silver car who appeared to be attempting to break into vehicles in a residential neighborhood. On their arrival, the officers encountered the defendant driving a vehicle matching that description and followed him, each in their own marked cruiser, down a dead end road. Near the end of the road, the defendant turned his car around. After an unsuccessful attempt to make a vehicle stop, L angled his cruiser across the road to try to prevent the defendant from leaving the area. The defendant drove over the curb and around L’s vehicle. M then engaged his lights and siren and similarly angled his cruiser across the road to try and block the defendant. The defendant hit M’s cruiser while attempting to drive around it. Assuming that the crash had disabled the defendant’s vehicle, both L and M exited their cruisers and ordered the defendant to shut off his vehicle. Instead, the defendant reversed quickly toward L, who had to kick off the side of the defendant’s car to avoid being hit by it. The defendant again advanced his car toward M, who was then standing near the back of his vehicle. The defendant briefly stopped his car between the two officers. After unsuccessfully trying to open the defen- dant’s car door, L used the butt of his gun to break open the driver’s side window of the defendant’s vehicle, in an attempt to grab him. The defendant again quickly reversed and L stumbled out of the car’s path. M, believing that L had been hit, fired a single shot at the defendant’s vehicle in an attempt to disable it. The defendant then drove around M’s cruiser and continued approximately one quarter of a mile down the road before his vehicle broke down. The defendant exited the vehicle and ran into the woods. He was apprehended shortly thereafter. Various items, which had been reported as missing from the vehicles of area residents, were recovered from the defendant’s car. Although the jury found the defendant not guilty of attempt to commit assault in the first degree with respect to his actions against L, he was convicted of one count of attempt to commit assault in the first degree with respect to his actions against M, two counts of attempt to commit assault of a peace officer with respect to his actions against L and M, respectively, and one count of engaging an officer in pursuit. On appeal, the defendant claimed that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction of attempt to commit assault in the first degree and that the trial court erred in accepting the jury’s verdict of guilty of attempt to commit assault of a peace officer because that crime was not legally cognizable or, in the alternative, because the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of both counts. Held: 1. The evidence was sufficient to support the defendant’s conviction of attempt to commit assault in the first degree: there was ample evidence from which the jury reasonably could have found, by the cumulative impact of the evidence and the rational inferences permissibly drawn therefrom, that the defendant’s intent was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, as the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant was aware of M’s presence and location, that he intended to hit M with his car, that he had a motive to assault M, as the defendant’s car had several stolen items in it that evening, many plainly visible, and that he did not mistakenly accelerate toward M. 2. The trial court did not err in accepting the jury’s verdict of guilty of two counts of attempt to commit assault of a peace officer: the defendant’s claim that the crime was not legally cognizable was unpreserved because he failed to raise it at trial; moreover, the claim failed under the third prong of State v. Golding (213 Conn. 233), because the defendant failed to establish that there was a constitutional violation, as this court had previously determined in State v. Jones (96 Conn. App. 634), that attempt to commit assault of a peace officer was a legally cognizable crime; furthermore, the defendant’s claim that there was insufficient evidence of the requisite intent to support his conviction pertaining to his actions against M failed because the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant intended to cause serious physical injury to M, which would be sufficient to support a finding that the defendant acted with an intent to prevent M from performing his duties; additionally, the defendant abandoned his claim that there was insufficient evidence of the requisite intent to support his conviction pertaining to his actions against L because his briefing was devoid of any analysis to support his claim, merely incorporating his arguments set forth with respect to his chal- lenge to his conviction of attempt to commit assault in the first degree, which related only to his actions against M, and, accordingly, this court declined to review the claim. Argued February 17—officially released August 3, 2021

Procedural History

Substitute information charging the defendant with two counts each of the crimes of attempt to commit assault in the first degree and attempt to commit assault of a peace officer, and with one count of the crime of engaging an officer in pursuit, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of New Haven, geographical area number twenty-three, and tried to the jury before B. Fischer, J.; verdict and judgment of guilty of one count of attempt to commit assault in the first degree, two counts of attempt to commit assault of a peace officer and one count of engaging an officer in pursuit, from which the defendant appealed to this court. Affirmed. Megan L. Wade, assigned counsel, with whom was Emily Graner Sexton, assigned counsel, for the appel- lant (defendant). Nancy L. Chupak, senior assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Patrick J. Griffin, state’s attorney, and Karen Roberg, assistant state’s attorney, for the appellee (state). Opinion

ALVORD, J.

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Related

State v. Leveille
232 Conn. App. 687 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2025)
State v. Miller
229 Conn. App. 435 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2024)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
206 Conn. App. 390, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-santiago-connappct-2021.