State v. Coltherst

Citations

• 341 Conn. 97

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 54-91g), when sentencing a child whose case has been transferred from the docket for juvenile matters to the regular criminal docket of the Superior Court and the child has been convicted of a class A or B felony pursuant to such transfer, the sentencing court is required 98 FEBRUARY, 2022 341 Conn. 97 State v. Coltherst to consider certain factors, including the defendant's age at the time of the offense and the hallmark features of adolescence. Pursuant further to statute (§ 54-125a (f) (1)), a person convicted of a crime or crimes committed while such person was under the age of eighteen years of age and serving a sentence for that crime or crimes of more than fifty years of imprisonment shall be eligible for parole after serving thirty years. The defendant, who had been convicted of numerous crimes, including capital felony, murder and felony murder, in connection with the shoot- ing death of the victim, appealed to the Appellate Court, challenging the sentence imposed by the trial court following its granting of his motion to correct an illegal sentence. The defendant, who was seventeen years old at the time of the shooting and, pursuant to then applicable law, was charged and tried as an adult, originally had been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of release followed by sev- enty-one years of imprisonment. In light of the enactment of legislation (P.A. 15-84), which, pursuant to certain of its provisions, retroactively afforded certain juvenile offenders, including the defendant, parole eligi- bility and rendered the defendant's capital felony conviction invalid, the defendant filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence in which he sought to have his conviction of capital felony vacated and argued that § 54-91g required the trial court, in resentencing him, to consider the relevant factors set forth therein. The trial court granted the defendant's motion and, following a hearing, dismissed the capital felony and fe