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 Appellate Court Opinion

by Booth, George

 

AC38367 - State v. Andriulaitis (Disorderly conduct; "In State v. Indrisano, 228 Conn. 795, 640 A.2d 986 (1994), our Supreme Court applied an interpretive gloss to certain provisions of the disorderly conduct statute, General Statutes § 53a-182, in order to preserve their constitutionality. At issue in this appeal is the gloss providing that the phrase "offensive or disorderly conduct" in § 53a-182 (a) (2) means "conduct that is grossly offensive, under contemporary community standards, to a person who actually overhears it or sees it." Id., 818. The defendant, William Andriulaitis, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a trial to the court, of disorderly conduct in violation of § 53a-182 (a) (2). On appeal, the defendant claims that there was insufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he engaged in conduct that was "offensive or disorderly" under the standard set forth in Indrisano, and that the court improperly failed to consider the Indrisano gloss in its deliberations because it did not reference the gloss when explaining the evidentiary and factual bases for its guilty verdict.The court, however, is presumed to have applied the proper legal standard in arriving at its legal conclusions, and the defendant has not identified any basis in the record to rebut that presumption. In any case, the defendant's argument that his conviction should be reversed simply because the court did not reference the Indrisano gloss when announcing its verdict misapprehends this court's standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence claims. Our review, by long-standing precedent, focuses on whether, in light of the entire evidentiary record together with all reasonable inferences that may be drawn therefrom, a rational fact finder could find that the state proved all of the necessary elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. We conclude that the evidence adduced at trial meets this standard and, accordingly, affirm the defendant's conviction.")