The mission of the Connecticut Judicial Branch is to serve the interests of justice and the public by resolving matters brought before it in a fair, timely, efficient and open manner.

Criminal Law Supreme Court Opinion

by Townsend, Karen

 

SC20815 - State v. Sharpe (“This appeal requires us to determine, among other things, whether the police may, without a warrant, collect DNA found on lawfully obtained items and analyze the DNA for identification purposes. The defendant, Michael Sharpe, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of eight counts of kidnapping in the first degree. He claims that the extraction and testing of his DNA from a belt the police lawfully retrieved from his trash constituted an unreasonable search and seizure that violated his right to privacy under the fourth amendment to the United States constitution and article first, § 7, of the Connecticut constitution. He further claims that the trial court’s use of a flowchart as a guide to its lengthy instructions misled the jury because it omitted the factors this court articulated in State v. Salamon, 287 Conn. 509, 548, 949 A.2d 1092 (2008). We disagree and affirm the trial court’s judgment of conviction.”)