State v. Wade

998 A.2d 1114, 297 Conn. 262, 2010 Conn. LEXIS 231
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedJuly 6, 2010
DocketSC 18510
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 998 A.2d 1114 (State v. Wade) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Wade, 998 A.2d 1114, 297 Conn. 262, 2010 Conn. LEXIS 231 (Colo. 2010).

Opinion

Opinion

NORCOTT, J.

This appeal requires us to consider the applicability and constitutionality of the “aggregate *265 package” theory of sentencing (aggregate package theory) to the resentencing of a defendant after the partial reversal of a multicount conviction on the basis of insufficient evidence. The defendant, Sidney Wade, appeals 1 from the judgment of the trial court resentencing him to a total effective sentence of twenty-three years imprisonment, on remand from the judgment of the Appellate Court, which had reversed, in part, his conviction of manslaughter in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-55 (a) (3), and modified the judgment of conviction to manslaughter in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-56 (a) (1). State v. Wade, 106 Conn. App. 467, 492-93, 942 A.2d 1085, cert. granted, 287 Conn. 908, 950 A.2d 1286 (2008) (appeal withdrawn June 12,2008). On appeal, the defendant claims that: (1) the trial court improperly resentenced him on all of his convictions because the Appellate Court’s order directed resentencing only on the reversed count; (2) the aggregate package theory, adopted by this court in State v. Miranda, 260 Conn. 93, 794 A.2d 506, cert. denied, 537 U.S. 902, 123 S. Ct. 224, 154 L. Ed. 2d 175 (2002), does not apply when the reversal of a conviction is based on insufficient evidence; (3) under North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S. Ct. 2072, 23 L. Ed. 2d 656 (1969), the trial court’s decision to increase the sentences on the affirmed counts violated the defendant’s due process rights under the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution 2 and, alternatively, article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution; 3 and (4) we should *266 vacate his sentences under our supervisory powers over the administration of justice. We disagree and, therefore, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

In connection with the death of the victim, Rebecca J. Calverley, from a drug overdose, 4 the state charged the defendant with two counts of sale of narcotics by a person who is not drug-dependent in violation of General Statutes § 21a-278 (b), two counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent in violation of § 21a-278 (b), one count of manslaughter in the first degree in violation of § 53a-55 (a) (3) and one count of manslaughter in the second degree in violation of § 53a-56 (a) (1). The case was tried to the jury, which found the defendant guilty of two counts each of sale of narcotics by a person who is not drug-dependent and possession of narcotics with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent, and one count of manslaughter in the first degree. 5 6 The trial court rendered a judgment of conviction in accordance with the jury’s verdict and sentenced the defendant to a total effective sentence of twenty-five years imprisonment, structured as follows: the court imposed concurrent seven year terms of incarceration, with a five year mandatory minimum, on each of the four narcotics convictions and ordered that they be served consecutively to an eighteen year term of incarceration on the first degree manslaughter conviction.

The defendant appealed from the judgment of conviction to the Appellate Court, which reversed the judgment in part, concluding that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding that he was guilty of manslaughter in the first degree in violation of § 53a- *267 55 (a) (3), but also that the evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction of manslaughter in the second degree in violation of § 53a-56 (a) (1) because the evidence established that the defendant “was aware of and consciously disregarded the substantial and unjustifiable risk of illegally distributing prescription medication and therefore acted recklessly.” State v. Wade, supra, 106 Conn. App. 490. The Appellate Court, therefore, remanded the case to the trial court “with direction to modify the judgment to reflect a conviction of manslaughter in the second degree in violation of § 53a-56 (a) (1) and to resentence the defendant in accordance with that conviction.” Id., 493.

On remand, following a resentencing hearing, the trial court vacated the sentences on all counts in the judgment and modified the judgment to reflect a conviction of manslaughter in the second degree, along with the four original narcotics convictions that the Appellate Court had affirmed. The trial court then imposed a new total effective sentence of twenty-three years imprisonment by restructuring the defendant’s original sentence as follows: the court increased the defendant’s concurrent terms of imprisonment on the narcotics counts from seven years to thirteen years and ordered that they be served consecutively to a ten year term of imprisonment for the manslaughter in the second degree conviction. This appeal followed. See footnote 1 of this opinion.

On appeal, the defendant claims that: (1) the aggregate package theory does not apply in the present case, wherein the reversal of a conviction was based on insufficient evidence; (2) the trial court improperly resentenced him on all of his convictions when the Appellate Court’s rescript ordered the court to resentence him only on the manslaughter conviction; (3) the trial court’s increase of the sentences on the counts that were affirmed was vindictive, violating both his federal and *268 state due process rights; and (4) in the alternative, his sentences should be vacated under our supervisory powers. We address each claim in turn.

I

We ordinarily would begin with the defendant’s claim that the trial court improperly resentenced him on all of his convictions when the Appellate Court had directed that court to resentence him only on the manslaughter conviction. This claim, which requires interpreting the Appellate Court’s rescript in State v. Wade, supra, 106 Conn. App. 467, cannot, however, be decided properly without first resolving the underlying legal issue, namely, the defendant’s claim that the aggregate package theory does not apply to this case, wherein the partial reversal of a conviction was based on insufficient evidence, rather than on an illegal sentence or violations of the constitutional prohibitions against double jeopardy. In response, the state contends that the trial court complied with the Appellate Court’s mandate when it vacated the defendant’s multicount conviction in its entirety and restructured it in accordance with its original sentencing intent because, in State v. Miranda, supra, 260 Conn. 93, we adopted the aggregate package theory without restriction as to the underlying reason for remand for resentencing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
998 A.2d 1114, 297 Conn. 262, 2010 Conn. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wade-conn-2010.