State v. Alicea

Citations

• 339 Conn. 385

Syllabus

The defendant was convicted of two counts of assault in the first degree in connection with his conduct in cutting the victim's throat with a razor blade. At the time of the incident, the defendant and the victim were engaged in an argument at a fast-food restaurant, where they both were employed. The defendant was subsequently charged with both inten- tional assault and reckless assault. At trial, after the close of the state's case, the defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing that the charges were legally inconsistent because each charge required a mutually exclusive mental state. The trial court denied the motion. Subsequently, the jury found the defendant guilty of both of the charged crimes. The defendant then filed another motion for a judgment of acquittal, as well as a motion for a new trial, asserting that the jury's verdict was legally inconsistent. The trial court denied both motions and rendered a judgment of conviction on both counts. The defendant appealed to the Appellate Court, which affirmed the trial court's judg- ment, and the defendant, on the granting of certification, appealed to this court. Held that, contrary to the defendant's claim, the jury's verdict of guilty of intentional assault and reckless assault was not legally inconsistent: the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant had intended to cause the victim serious physical injury and simultane- ously disregarded the risk that his conduct would cause the victim's death, and this court had previously held that convictions involving both intentional and reckless mental states may be legally consistent when each mental state pertains to a different result; moreover, this court rejected the defendant's claim that two different injuries are required for a defendant to be convicted of two different offenses requiring proof of mutually exclusive mental states, as the relevant inquiry is whether 386 NOVEMBER, 2021 339 Conn. 385 State v. Alicea the opposing mental states r