State v. Thomas S.

222 Conn. App. 201
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedOctober 31, 2023
DocketAC45104
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 222 Conn. App. 201 (State v. Thomas S.) 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. Thomas S., 222 Conn. App. 201 (Colo. Ct. App. 2023).

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. THOMAS S.* (AC 45104) Prescott, Clark and Bear, Js.**

Syllabus

Convicted, after a jury trial, of criminal violation of a protective order and of being a persistent serious felony offender, the defendant appealed to this court. The trial court issued the protective order prohibiting the defendant from contacting P, an individual with whom he had previously been in a relationship, following his arrest on various charges for inci- dents involving P. The protective order specifically prevented the defen- dant from contacting P’s home or her workplace, which was a liquor store that she owned. The order did, however, permit the defendant to return to P’s home one time, with a police escort, to retrieve his belong- ings. P moved the defendant’s belongings to the liquor store and instead attempted to arrange for one of the defendant’s family members to pick them up. Thereafter, the defendant contacted the local police department and requested a police escort to accompany him to the liquor store so that he could retrieve his belongings. The defendant arrived at the liquor store prior to the police escort. He entered the store and immediately turned off a security camera. He then took money out of the register, cigarettes from behind the register, and tools from a back room. He also took bottles of alcohol off the shelves and placed them into multiple bins. P was not at the store at this time and the defendant told R, P’s employee, not to contact her or to try and stop him from removing the items he had collected. When the police escort arrived, the officer helped the defendant load the items into the vehicle in which the defendant had arrived, unaware that there was a criminal protective order in place. The defendant then left the liquor store. Shortly thereafter, P arrived at the store and was greeted by the police officer, who testified that P appeared to be angry and there was fear in her face and in her voice. P became very upset after entering the store and discovering the items that had been taken. She informed the police officer that everything that the defendant had taken, other than the box of his personal belongings, belonged to her. The police officer then called the defendant and instructed him to have a third party return the items to the liquor store. With the exception of one bottle of alcohol and a few packs of cigarettes, the items were returned. Held that there was sufficient evidence from which the jury reasonably could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty of violating the protective order: although the effective information charged the defendant with only one count of criminal violation of a protective order and the evidence presented at trial supported multiple, separate incidents of conduct in violation of the protective order, this court was not required to address whether a unanimity issue existed because the defendant did not raise such a claim at trial or in his appellate brief, nor did he ask this court to review the unpreserved claim pursuant to State v. Golding (213 Conn. 233); moreover, contrary to the defendant’s argument that he had complied with the protective order and did not voluntarily go to the liquor store because he necessarily had to go there to retrieve his belongings, there was sufficient evidence from which the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant was guilty of violating the protective order because he deliberately went to P’s workplace, as criminal violation of a protective order is a general intent crime, and, accordingly, it was not necessary for the state to prove that the defendant knew that his conduct violated the protective order or to disprove his alleged subjective belief that his conduct did not violate the protective order; furthermore, there was sufficient evidence from which the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant was guilty of violating the protective order because he deliberately had contact with R in a manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm to P, as the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant, while in the presence of R, took items from the liquor store after turning off the store’s security camera and, in a confronta- tional manner, warned R not to call P, contact that could cause P to fear that the defendant would continue to act in an angry and confrontational manner toward her and others associated with her. Argued September 7—officially released October 31, 2023

Procedural History

Two part substitute information charging the defen- dant, in the first part, with the crimes of criminal viola- tion of a protective order and larceny in the sixth degree, and, in the second part, with being a persistent serious felony offender, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Danbury, geographical area number three, where the first part of the information was tried to the jury before D’Andrea, J.; verdict of guilty of criminal violation of a protective order; there- after, the court, D’Andrea, J., declared a mistrial as to the charge of larceny in the sixth degree, and the state entered a nolle prosequi as to that charge; subsequently, the second part of the information was tried to the jury before D’Andrea, J.; verdict of guilty; thereafter, the court, D’Andrea, J., rendered judgment in accordance with the verdicts, from which the defendant appealed to this court. Affirmed. Robert L. O’Brien, assigned counsel, with whom, on the brief, was Christopher Y. Duby, assigned counsel, for the appellant (defendant). Brett R. Aiello, assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, were David R. Applegate, state’s attorney, and Kristin Chiriatti, assistant state’s attorney, for the appellee (state). Opinion

PRESCOTT, J. The defendant, Thomas S., appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered following a jury trial, of criminal violation of a protective order in violation of General Statutes § 53a-223.1 On appeal, the defendant claims that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had the requi- site intent to violate the protective order. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. The following facts, which the jury reasonably could have found, and procedural history are pertinent to this appeal. On January 28, 2019, the trial court issued a criminal protective order identifying P, a person for- mally romantically involved with the defendant, as the protected person and the defendant as the respondent.

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Bluebook (online)
222 Conn. App. 201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thomas-s-connappct-2023.