State v. Butler

Citations

• 348 Conn. 51

Syllabus

The defendant appealed to the Appellate Court, challenging the trial court's decision to grant the state's motion to open the judgment dismissing certain criminal charges, including risk of injury to a child, that had been filed against the defendant. The charges stemmed from an incident in which the defendant allegedly had inappropriate contact with a twelve year old child. After the charges were filed, the defendant applied for 52 SEPTEMBER, 2023 348 Conn. 51 State v. Butler and was granted admission to a statutory (§ 54-56l) two year, supervised diversionary program for individuals with psychiatric disabilities, which would lead to dismissal of the charges following his successful comple- tion thereof. As a condition to being admitted to the program, the defen- dant agreed that he would have no contact with minors, including in a volunteer or work capacity, and that he would not be present at any locations frequented by minors. Thereafter, the trial court received a report noting that the defendant had successfully completed the pro- gram, and it held a hearing to address the possible dismissal of the charges under § 54-56l (i). At that hearing, the prosecutor argued that the court should not grant a dismissal in light of a final progress report, issued by the Court Support Services Division, that indicated that the defendant had not satisfactorily completed the program, and in light of a letter from the defendant's probation officer that indicated that he received information from an anonymous source that the defendant had recently volunteered for an excursion sponsored by a local YMCA that involved minors. That letter also indicated that the defendant was not allowed to enter two local YMCAs due to certain undisclosed incidents and that he had unsuccessfully applied for employment positions as a camp counselor at a third local YMCA while he was participating in the program. That letter further indicated that the defendant had failed to report to his probation o