State v. Bolden

Citations

• 353 Conn. 769

Syllabus

The defendant appealed, on the granting of certification, from the judgment of the Appellate Court, which had affirmed his conviction of evasion of responsibility in the operation of a motor vehicle and tampering with physical evidence. The defendant's conviction stemmed from an incident in which he struck and killed a pedestrian with the sport utility vehicle (SUV) he was driving, fled the scene, and, when the SUV broke down shortly thereafter, left the SUV in the driveway of a private residence. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the Appellate Court had incorrectly concluded that there was sufficient evidence to sustain his conviction of tampering with physical evidence. Held: The Appellate Court incorrectly concluded that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the defendant's conviction of tampering with physical evidence, as the facts did not establish that the defendant's conduct constituted con- cealment under the applicable criminal statute (§ 53a-155 (a)). Whatever the defendant's intention or plan may have been when he fled the scene and left the SUV backed into a private driveway in front of other vehicles that were parked there, the defendant did not conceal any part of SUV, as an SUV sitting uncovered at the end of a driveway with its damaged front end facing a public roadway is not concealed in any sense of that term. Accordingly, this court reversed in part the Appellate Court's judgment, the trial court was directed on remand to render a judgment of acquittal on the charge of tampering with physical evidence, and this court left it to the discretion of the trial court whether to resentence the defendant on remand. Argued November 5—officially released December 16, 2025