SC20400 - State v. Watson (Whether supreme court should overrule State v. Morales, where appellate court held that trial court's postverdict determination of whether strangulation, unlawful restraint and assault occurred "Upon the same incident" under general statutes § 53a-64bb (b) does not violate right to a fair trial; "A jury found the defendant, James Henry Watson, guilty of three distinct crimes in connection with his attack on a single victim over the course of an eight or nine hour period on a single day in October, 2016, namely, assault in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-61 (a) (1), unlawful restraint in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-95 (a), and strangulation in the second degree in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 2015) § 53a-64bb (a). This verdict implicates the provision in § 53a-64bb (b) providing in relevant part that "[n]o person shall be found guilty of strangulation in the second degree and unlawful restraint or assault upon the same incident . . . ." The trial court determined that the jury's findings were not "based upon the same incident" and rendered a judgment of conviction on all three counts in accordance with the jury's verdict. The defendant appealed on the ground that the prohibition in § 53a-64bb (b) designates an element of the offense of strangulation that must be decided by the jury. See Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000).

In this certified appeal, we consider whether the Appellate Court correctly concluded that the defendant's constitutional right to a jury trial was not violated when the trial court rather than the jury determined that the charges of assault in the third degree and unlawful restraint in the first degree were not "upon the same incident" as that giving rise to the charge of strangulation in the second degree. See State v. Watson, 192 Conn. App. 353, 361, 217 A.3d 1052 (2019). We affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.")