Category Archives: ct legal news

The obscenity of risk of injury

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Connecticut General Statute 53-21 states, in relevant part:

a) Any person who (1) wilfully or unlawfully causes or permits any child under the age of sixteen years to be placed in such a situation that the life or limb of such child is endangered, the health of such child is likely to be injured or the morals of such child are likely to be impaired, or does any act likely to impair the health or morals of any such child, or (2) has contact with the intimate parts, as defined in section 53a-65, of a child under the age of sixteen years or subjects a child under sixteen years of age to contact with the intimate parts of such person, in a sexual and indecent manner likely to impair the health or morals of such child

is guilty of “Risk of Injury to a Minor”. A conviction under subsection (1) is a Class C felony carrying a maximum prison term of 10 years and a conviction under subsection (2) is a Class B felony, carrying a maximum prison term of 20 years.

The motivation behind the enacting of this statute is noble:

The general purpose of § 53-21 is to protect the physical and psychological well-being of children from the potentially harmful conduct of adults.

State v. Payne, 240 Conn. 766. Yet the statute is so poorly worded and generally vague, that it has required years upon years of judicial interpretation and gloss to enable it to pass Constitutional muster:

We then proceeded to review the general features of § 53-21, noting that, “on its face, § 53-21 fails to articulate a definite standard for determining whether the conduct of [Schriver was] permitted or prohibited. ‘Any act’ may violate the statute so long as it is ‘likely to impair’ a minor’s health or morals. Standing alone, the phrase ‘any act’ provides no guidance to potential violators, police officers or juries, particularly because specific intent is not an element of the offense as charged in this case. . . . Nor is the focus of the statute measurably narrowed by the phrase ‘likely to impair.’ In its ordinary meaning, this phrase would seem to authorize police officers and jurors to determine culpability subjectively, on an ad hoc basis. Rather than providing objective certainty, this phrase compounds the vagueness of the statute because it invites jurors to base criminal liability on their own moral [predilections] and personal predictions of likely harm.” (Citations omitted.) Id., 461-62. After observing that other jurisdictions had deemed similar statutes unconstitutional, we concluded that, “in like fashion, § 53-21 fails to manifest minimal guidelines by which innocent acts can be objectively and foreseeably distinguished from conduct that violates the statute. . . . [Consequently], the constitutionality of § 53-21 depends upon a determination of the extent to which prior decisions of this court have supplied sufficient guidelines to save the statute from its facial invalidity.” (Citation omitted.) Id., 462.

Although the risk of injury statute was amended in 1995 to forbid expressly the sexual and indecent touching of intimate parts, the more general statutory language that proscribes an “act likely to impair the health or morals of . . . [a] child,” in subdivision (1) of § 53-21, has remained unchanged since this court’s decision in Schriver. Compare General Statutes § 53-21 (a) (1) with General Statutes (Rev. to 1987) § 53-21. The passage of time alone has not cured the facial vagueness of § 53-21 (1), nor has it altered the need to adhere to constitutional principles of due process of law in the application and enforcement of that statute. Cf. State v. Schriver, supra, 207 Conn. 459-61. Thus, the constitutionality of § 53-21 (1), as that statute is applied in any given case, continues to depend predominantly “upon a determination of the extent to which prior decisions of this court have supplied sufficient guidelines to save the statute from its facial invalidity.” Id., 462. In order to render § 53-21 (1) constitutionally viable, the decisions of this court must state with reasonable particularity the conduct that is proscribed by that statute.

State v. Robert H. The extent to which the Connecticut Supreme Court has gone to save an admittedly infirm statute is staggering. A statute that, upon fair reading, gives notice that a very limited set of actions are proscribed, has been judicially expanded to cover every perceived slight against a minor that a prosecutor with an infertile imagination can be counted upon to summon.

But that’s not my particular peeve with this statute and its judicially emboldened meaning. My grudge lies with the (lack of) meaning of the all-too-important phrase “likely to impair”. Continue reading →

CT’s top death prosecutor in federal probe

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I stumbled across this brief news item today, which could have monumental consequences for the death penalty in Connecticut, among other criminal justice issues. Waterbury’s chief prosecutor and former Commissioner of Public Safety John Connelly is apparently the subject of a Federal grand jury investigation, with allegations of improper consideration of his good friend, defense attorney Marty Minella’s clients, in exchange for gifts and vacations, swirling around the courthouse.

Connelly is known by most in the State as the prosecutor who put most of CT’s death row inmates on the row. The proportion of death row inmates from his jurisdiction have prompted valid calls for an examination of the application of the death penalty in Connecticut and allegations of racial and geographical disparity in sentencings and death penalty prosecutions. Connelly has a reputation for being a ruthlessly efficient prosecutor, who makes juries melt in his hands, and up to now, has been beyond reproach.

One can only begin to ponder the implications on the future of the death penalty and the criminal justice system as a whole if this story has any legs, if the federal probe turns into an indictment and a prosecution.

According to several sources who asked not to be identified, the feds are looking into whether Connelly’s ties with Atty. Martin Minnella have grown improperly close, and whether prosecutorial behavior in certain court cases can be connected – directly or indirectly – to gifts, vacations and other emoluments. The sources say federal investigators have seized records from both Minnella and Connelly, and that the list of potential witnesses is growing. Tom Carson, a spokesman at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Haven, said only, “We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a grand jury investigation.”

Connelly has been on the job in Waterbury since the 1980s. Over 25 years, he has developed a reputation as a take-no-prisoners prosecutor who has, among other things, sought, and won, the death penalty in several big cases.

By last count, there were 6 inmates sent to death row by Connelly, of which two had their death sentences reversed. There are currently 9 on death row, excluding those two.

[It's really important for me to state this here: this is based on "anonymous sources" and it is about the very, very secretive federal grand jury. The extent of the investigation may be different, its focus may be different. But I've now heard this from several sources (yes, I have sources), who have other "anonymous sources", so it's pretty clear there's something going on, we just don't know exactly what.]

One man’s regret is another man’s disparity

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Statistics at most may show only a likelihood that a particular factor entered into some decisions. There is, of course, some risk of racial prejudice influencing a jury’s decision in a criminal case. There are similar risks that other kinds of prejudice will influence other criminal trials. See infra, at 315-318. The question is at what point that risk becomes constitutionally unacceptable,” Turner v. Murray, 476 U. S. 28, 36, n. 8 (1986). McCleskey asks us to accept the likelihood allegedly shown by the Baldus study as the constitutional measure of an unacceptable risk of racial prejudice influencing capital sentencing decisions. This we decline to do.

Justice Powell, writing for the majority in McCleskey v. Kemp.

["I have come to think that capital punishment should be abolished."] Asked whether he would change his vote in any of the cases that had come before him, the Justice replied: “Yes, McCleskey v. Kemp.” Indeed, he added that he now found capital punishment itself unworkable and would vote against it in any case.

Justice Powell, to his biographer John C. Jeffries, from this contemporaneous account. McCleskey, courtesy of that opinion by Justice Powell, was the (pardon the pun) death knell for Constitutional challenges to the death penalty itself. Sure, in Federal courts we now challenge the method of the imposition of the death penalty, but any direct challenge to its Constitutionality is foreclosed by a cursory cite to McCleskey. McCleskey was a classic ivory tower opinion: it eschewed the actual effect of a law on the individuals of the country in favor of a more elusive “discriminatory purpose” test. A test that is simply impossible to meet. So while the evidence continues to pile up that there is a severe disparity in the application of the death penalty, the conscience of the country is placated by the hollow mantra that while that may be true, it doesn’t matter, because no State would ever intend to discriminate against minorities. The effect is an unfortunate side-effect. Continue reading →

Rell vetoes sentencing commission

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Rell, intent on breaking the world record for vetoes and dumbass moves as Governor before she leaves office this year (can that day come soon enough? I say no), vetoed yet another important criminal justice bill yesterday. The bill, which would have created a sentencing commission to evaluate the state’s statutes and sentencing practices and analyze them for disparity – including those of the racial kind – apparently carried a very hefty price tag, which is what prompted her veto.

The gargantuan sum of $130,000 a year easily dwarfed the $150,000 price tag for each of the 9 new judges that she nominated, that the State didn’t need, but were eventually confirmed.

“While I appreciate the need for review of our sentencing statutes and practices, given our State’s ongoing economic challenges, this is simply the wrong time to create yet another state entity,” Rell said. “I have spent much of the last year examining our state budget to find ways to save money so that we would not have to increase the burden borne by our already struggling taxpayers. Some of the cuts we have made were painful; none were easy.”

She said. I rolled my eyes. Continue reading →

All drivers are dangerous and the police are the Borg

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Consider the facts:

On April 1, 2006, Officers Craig Miller, David Rivera and Charles Gargano of the New Haven police department were patrolling the Fair Haven  neighborhood as part of their duties with that city’s drug interdiction unit. The neighborhood was known for frequent drug trafficking activity. The  officers  were in an unmarked patrol car, operated by Rivera. At approximately 5:15 p.m., the officers observed a Chevrolet Impala turn right from Ferry Street onto Grand Street without signaling. The officers followed the Impala around the block, during which time they also observed that the  defendant, who was operating the car, was not wearing a seat belt. Pursuant to police department policy, the officers called dispatch to request a  marked cruiser in order to effectuate a motor vehicle violation stop.

Three marked patrol cars responded to the dispatch call, and stopped the Impala at the corner of Ferry Street and Grand Street. The unmarked  patrol car stopped approximately one half of a car length behind the Impala. While still in their unmarked patrol car, Rivera, Miller and Gargano  observed the defendant make a movement toward his right side, which led them to believe that the defendant might be concealing a weapon. The  three officers then approached the Impala. As they were approaching, Miller observed the defendant close the center console in the front seat.

Rivera removed the defendant from the vehicle, handcuffed him, and frisked him for weapons. While frisking the defendant for weapons, Rivera  discovered $1369 in cash and several cell phones on his person. At the same time, Miller and Gargano, as well as several officers from the other  patrol cars, removed the two passengers from the vehicle, handcuffed them, and frisked them for weapons. Miller then returned to the car and  observed some plastic protruding from the center console. He opened the console and removed plastic bags that he believed to contain crack  cocaine. The officers also determined that the Impala was owned by a rental car company. Subsequent testing revealed that the bags discovered in  the console contained approximately 21.5 grams of freebase cocaine, commonly referred to as crack cocaine.

So, let’s recap, in normalspeak: officers were in a “minority high crime neighborhood”, looking for an excuse to pull someone over. They saw the defendant commit a motor vehicle violation. They pulled the car over and saw the defendant “make a movement toward his right side” (whatever the hell that means) and decide not only that he was armed, but because he was in a “MHCN”, he was dangerous and probably selling drugs. They handcuffed everybody and searched them and the car with impunity. We now contort ourselves to affirm this stream of clearly illegal activity by the police.

The defendant filed a motion to suppress relying on Arizona v. Gant, which holds that once you have arrested the occupants of the vehicle, there is no more legitimate “officer safety concern”, so a warrant must be obtained.

The Court rejects (emphatically!) the defendants contention that Gant applies since the defendant wasn’t technically arrested until after the drugs were discovered and instead agrees with the State that the “protective search” rubric of Michigan v. Long must control. In Long, the Supreme Court said that the:

purpose of protective searches to be the concern that if the suspect is not placed under arrest, he will be permitted to . . . [go free], and he will then  have access to any weapons

and thus, when analyzing a warrantless search under Long:

our focus is on whether the officers had a reasonable and articulable suspicion to believe that the defendant posed a danger and might access the  vehicle to gain control of a weapon.

Well, clearly, since the defendant wasn’t actually arrested and merely in a state of “custodial arrest (maybe)”, the question then becomes whether the officers had a reasonable and articulable suspicion that he posed a danger and that there was a weapon in the vehicle.

Remember now, that this was in a “minority high crime neighborhood” and that all three officers saw a “movement to his right side” and one saw him “close the center console”. That same officer then innocently “returned to the car” and saw “some plastic protruding” from that very same center console.

But that’s not enough, is it? Surely even the CT Supreme Court would not hold that that is sufficient to conduct a warrantless search of a motor vehicle? Of course not. Which is why we have the “collective knowledge of law enforcement” exception to the Fourth Amendment.

In conducting this analysis, we are cognizant of ‘‘the well settled principle that, in testing the amount of evidence that supports probable cause, it  is not the personal knowledge of the arresting officer, but the collective knowledge of the law enforcement organization at the time of the  arrest that must be considered. See Poulos v. Pfizer, Inc., 244 Conn. 598, 619 (1998) (McDonald, J., concurring) (Fourth  amendment law recognizes that the collective knowledge of the police determines probable cause. See Whiteley v. Warden, 401 U.S. 560, 568 [1971]; see 2 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure [3d Ed. 1996] § 3.5 [b], p. 259 n.46.); State v. Acquin, 187 Conn.  647, 657 (1982) (when we test the quantum of [evidence supporting] probable cause, it is not the personal knowledge of the  arresting officer but the collective knowledge of the law enforcement organization at the time of the arrest which must be considered)’’

Justice Who?

Miller and Rivera saw the defendant “make a movement to his right side”, Miller saw the defendant close the center console, Rivera frisked the defendant and pulled out a gun-like cell phone and cash, and Miller saw the plastic in the console. Of course, they all knew that it was a minority high crime area. And there was testimony that Miller and Rivera shared their observations and findings with one another. Wait, there wasn’t? Oh nevermind. Their knowledge is imputed onto one another.

In fact, applying Whiteley, why stop there? What if Rivera wasn’t on the scene and hadn’t discovered the call signs of drug activity: cell phones and cash? Wherever he was, he must’ve known that those items indicate drug activity. And Officer Krupke, on his beat at the other end of town surely knows that anyone who has cell phones and cash is an armed and dangerous drug dealer! So, of course, the officer at the scene had articulable and reasonable suspicion to search the vehicle. And look, they don’t even have to arrest anyone! Wheee!!!

Because anyone in the police department anywhere is cognizant of the fact that if you’re driving in a minority high crime neighborhood without a seatbelt and you make a movement to your right side and close the center console and happen to have cash and a cell phone, you must be an armed and dangerous drug kingpin. It’s in their – and your – DNA.

Welcome to the 24th Century, where the police are the Borg. The Fourth Amendment will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. Don’t drive.

[A plea: if anyone figures out what "movement to his right side" means, please leave a comment. I have no fucking clue. Kthxbai.]

Effective misadvice is ineffective

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[Or: Leave your ego in law school]

When Ahmed Kenyatta Ebron was told by his lawyer that he should reject the State’s offer and instead plead guilty without an agreement because “he couldn’t do much worse or words to that effect”, he did what all of us usually hope our clients do: take our advice.

At this open plea, armed with the client’s record and an unfavorable pre-sentence investigation report, the judge imposed a sentence of 11 years to serve, 5 more than the State’s offer of 6.

Mr. Ebron, relying on counsel’s advice, is serving 5 more years than he should be. For now, at least. His conviction has been reversed, based on ineffective assistance of counsel, and that reversal has survived the Appellate Court (I’m not optimistic about its chances at the Supreme Court).

The events leading up to Mr. Ebron’s conviction, the habeas itself and the aftermath raise several points.

First, it is easy to forget that at the end of the day, we are in a service industry. As criminal defense lawyers, our job description is limited to the service of another. We are protecting the rights of others, we are helping others make important decisions about their lives and we are, ultimately, representatives of other people.

That this is easy to forget should come as no surprise. Lawyers have famously large egos. But there is a danger in letting the sense of self overwhelm the duty and responsibility that we have.

It is that duty to the client that compels us to treat each case with the attention that we would give to it were we the defendant. There is no greater sin that can be committed by the defense lawyer than misadvising the client.

Clients rely on us to show them the way, to spell out the alternatives and to recommend one over the other, based on our knowledge, skill and experience, keeping their best interests in mind.

It is imperative that we fully inform ourselves of the facts and circumstances of the client’s case and then, and only then, recommend a final course of action.

I am not suggesting that we must force a client to take our advice; the client remains free to make stupid decisions. But the advice that we give clients must be sound. There are some that take the view that our job is to present the alternatives to the client and then accept whatever decision the client makes. I am not of that view. I believe – and certainly I may take some flak for this – that it is our responsibility to do our best to convince the client to choose the course of action that is in his/her best interests, despite the client’s seeming disapproval of that path.

This, however, can only be done if the advice we give is informed. We can only stand behind the advice we give if we are convinced that it is the best alternative and that decision can only be made with a full understanding of all the circumstances and an awareness of the pitfalls of that and every other course of action. If someone else, years down the road, decides that the advice was unreasonable, so be it. No one gets hurt by that and it only helps the client.

Ebron’s lawyer didn’t do that (and to his credit, took responsibility for it). The standard for effective assistance of counsel is woefully low. To scrape by and meet Constitutional scrutiny, a lawyer needn’t do much. But if you’re aiming for the standard, then you’re not really fulfilling your duty. If you truly believe it is sufficient to perform at a minimum level, then there are other areas of law that might be better suited for you. Stop meddling with the liberties and freedoms of fellow men and women.

…

Ineffective assistance of counsel is a sort of “dirty” phrase in the criminal defense world. It is viewed by many as a personal attack and is met with scorn, anger and derision directed toward those who practice in the post-conviction arena. That this view is prevalent among the bar is alarming. It belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the duties and responsibilities of the defense lawyer in the criminal justice system.

IAC claims are not a taint on your reputation nor is it an indictment of your abilities. It is a recognition of the simple fact that we are all working within a juggernaut of a system that from time to time overwhelms even the best of us.

At the end of the day, it is you and I who go home to our comfortable beds. You and I have the ability to walk outside in the free world and to buy what we choose and talk to whom we want, whenever we want. To place our petty egos and some twisted sense of self-worth before the complaints of the convicted client, who has nothing but a badly beaten and bruised writ to use to seek his release from the oppressive conditions of confinement in our penal institutions is pettiness of the ugliest kind.

The local listserve erupted with comments after the release of the Ebron decision: there were voices from both sides – those that praised the decision and those that lamented the additional burdens it seemingly placed on the defense lawyer (based, it seems to me, on a misreading of the case and the responsibilities it underlines).

Why does IAC evoke such polarized reactions among us? Are we that sensitive? Or is it because we view ourselves as separate and distinct from our clients? Do we believe that the players in the criminal justice system are the State, the judge, the defendant and the defense lawyer? If so, that is a terribly misbegotten view.

This may be getting repetitive, but it cannot be said enough that in order to truly serve our clients we must view ourselves as nothing but an extension of the individual client. We must be the client, at every moment that we represent them. We – criminal defense lawyers – are not parties to a criminal case. The client is. We are his representative. We must, at all times, remember that and act like it.

I will not lie to help a client, but I will not add my name to the list of those that violate his Constitutional rights.

It’s criminal!: an analysis of CT Supreme Ct opinions

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Two long years ago, on a bored Saturday afternoon, spurred by my (now AWOL) muse Miranda, I wrote this post which superficially analyzed Connecticut Supreme Court decisions. The analysis was pretty limited: how many times did the State win and how many times did the defendant win.

Well. I’ve done it again. Here is my updated count, from February 2008 to today.

In that time period, the Supreme Court decided approximately 110 cases dealing with criminal law (I’ve left out the habeas corpus cases because…well, this was fucking depressing enough. If I include habeas cases, the numbers are sure to get worse for defendants).

Of those 110 cases, an astounding 64 were direct appeals to the Supreme Court. This is either a direct appeal by statute (few) or a transfer to the Supreme Court before the Appellate Court got to decide it (many, many more than in years past).

Of those 64 direct appeals, 52 were affirmances of convictions.

Of the 46 cases that went through the Appellate Court, the State was granted cert in 28 cases, the defendant in 18 (the numbers may be off by one or two, because there were a couple of “cross-appeals”. I don’t remember how I counted them).

Of all the cases that came from the Appellate Court, the breakdown is as follows:

  • When the State appealed a reversal of a conviction, the Appellate Court was affirmed 8 times.
  • When the defendant appealed an affirmance of a conviction, the Appellate Court was affirmed 14 times.
  • When the defendant appealed an affirmance of a conviction, the Appellate Court was reversed only twice (!).

and the big kahuna:

  • When the State appealed a reversal of a conviction, the Appellate Court was reversed 21 times.

So, in 29 cases where the State appealed from the Appellate Court’s reversal of a conviction, they won 21 times, which is 75%.

The Appellate Court was reversed by the Supreme Court in 23 cases out of 46, which is a 50% failure rate.

Of the reversals, the defendant “lost” 91.3% of the time.

A conviction upheld by the Appellate Court was upheld by the Supreme Court 87.5% of the time.

A defendant was successful in the Supreme Court in only 10 out of 46 cases, which is a paltry 21% success rate.

[Keep in mind that I have included partial wins as wins.]

Overall, out of the 110 criminal-ish cases considered by the Supreme Court, the defendant was ultimately successful in getting either an acquittal or new trial in 22 cases, which is a 20% rate of success. By contrast, the State “won” in 80% of all cases considered by the Supreme Court.

Also keep in mind that over the course of the last two plus years, the Supreme Court has issued some very, very bad decisions and one or two good decisions, which they promptly started to roll back.

Liberal, defendant-loving judges indeed. Welcome to Connecticut, the Texas of the Northeast.

http://apublicdefender.com/2008/02/02/superficial-analysis-of-ct-supreme-court-decisions/