Middletown v. Wagner

Citations

• 228 Conn. App. 265

Syllabus

The defendant appealed from the trial court's judgment vesting in the plaintiff city ownership of certain dogs seized from a barn that was leased by the defendant and J, after the court found that the dogs were neglected. The defendant claimed, inter alia, that his rights under the fourth amendment to the United States constitution were violated because the evidence pre- sented did not permit a finding that the police reasonably believed a war- rantless entry was necessary to help an animal in immediate need of assis- tance. Held: The trial court properly applied the applicable statute (§ 22-329a (a)) in denying the defendant's motion to suppress, and, because the evidence supported the court's finding that the plaintiff's animal control officers reasonably concluded that the dogs confined in the barn were in imminent harm and were neglected, the warrantless search did not violate the defen- dant's rights under the fourth amendment. The applicable statutes (§§ 22-329a and 53-247) afforded the defendant and J adequate notice of the type of conduct prohibited thereby, and, accordingly, the defendant failed to demonstrate that the statutes were unconstitution- ally vague. This court declined to review the defendant's inadequately briefed claim that the police did not provide J with fair notice of the law because they failed to notify her that the lack of ventilation in the barn constituted neglect under § 22-329a. The trial court applied the proper legal standard in determining that the dogs in the barn, having been neglected by the defendant and J, were properly subject to a warrantless seizure pursuant to § 22-329a (a) because it was clear from the plain language of § 53-247 that the neglect referred to in § 22- 329a included neglect committed by individuals, not just neglect committed by commercial kennels or large breeding operations. The evidence was sufficient to support the trial court's finding that the dogs in the barn were neglected because, pursuant to § 22-