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.
AC46561 - State v. Nathan S. ("The defendant, Nathan S., appeals from
the judgment of conviction, rendered following a jury
trial, of the crimes of sexual assault in the fourth degree
in violation of General Statutes § 53a-73a (a) (1) (A), risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes
§ 53-21 (a) (2), and risk of injury to a child in violation
of § 53-21 (a) (1). On appeal, the defendant claims that
(1) the trial court improperly admitted certain testimony from his son, U, regarding statements made to
U by the defendant concerning the physical appearances of U’s middle school female classmates (a) pursuant to § 4-5 (b) of the Connecticut Code of Evidence
as evidence of other sexual misconduct by the defendant to establish that he had a propensity to engage in
aberrant and compulsive sexual misconduct, and (b)
pursuant to § 4-5 (c) of the Connecticut Code of Evidence as evidence of the defendant’s specific intent to
obtain sexual gratification for purposes of the charge
of sexual assault in the fourth degree, and that he was
harmed by the erroneous admission of that testimony,
(2) the prosecutor engaged in impropriety during cross-examination of an expert witness for the defense by
suggesting to the jury, without a scientific or evidentiary
basis, that it could conduct its own review of certain
DNA evidence to determine whether it matched the
defendant’s DNA profile, even though the uncontradicted scientific expert testimony established that the
defendant was excluded as a possible contributor to
the DNA evidence, and (3) the trial court violated his
constitutional right to a unanimous verdict with respect
to the charge of sexual assault in the fourth degree by
failing to give a proper specific unanimity instruction
to the jury. We disagree and affirm the judgment of
the court.")
- AC46561 Concurrence - State v. Nathan S.
AC46735 - State v. Valle ("The defendant, David Valle, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered following a jury trial, of two counts of cruelty to animals in violation of General Statutes § 53-247 (a), one count of threatening in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-62 (a), and one count of interfering with an officer in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 2019) § 53a-167a.3 On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) the trial court erred in submitting to the jury exhibits that were relevant only to counts that had been dismissed after the court granted his motion for judgment of acquittal and (2) § 53-247 (a) is unconstitutionally vague as applied to the facts of this case. We affirm the judgment of the trial court")