State v. Butler

Citations

• 209 Conn. App. 63

Syllabus

The defendant, against whom the charges of the crimes of risk of injury to a child and breach of the peace in the second degree were dismissed following his completion of a statutory (§ 54-56l) two year, supervised diversionary program for persons with psychiatric disabilities, appealed from the judgment of the trial court granting the state's motion to open the judgment of dismissal. As a condition to his admission to the diversionary program, the defendant agreed that he would not have any contact with minors, which included volunteering or working with minors in any capacity and visiting any areas that were frequented by minors. After the trial court received a report stating that the defendant had successfully completed all of the counseling sessions required by the program, it held a hearing to address the dismissal of the charges. At that hearing, the state argued that the court should not grant a dismissal in light of a final progress report, issued by the Court Support Services Division, which stated that the defendant had not completed the program satisfactorily, and a letter from the defendant's probation officer, which was attached to the report and indicated that the officer had received information from an anonymous source that the defendant recently had volunteered for a YMCA trip that involved minors. The officer stated that he was unable to verify the accuracy of this claim but that the director of a local YMCA had informed him that the defendant had unsuccessfully applied for three employment positions as a camp counselor while he was enrolled in the diversionary program. Addition- ally, the officer's letter stated that the defendant had failed to report to probation for his last scheduled appointment. The state did not request a continuance or a stay to conduct further investigation into these allegations nor did it offer any testimony or other evidence to corrobo- rate the defendant's purported lack of success in completing the pro- gram. In respo