State v. Coltherst

Citations

• 205 Conn. App. 1

Syllabus

The defendant, who had been convicted of numerous crimes in connection with the shooting of the victim, appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court dismissing his motion to correct an illegal sentence. The defendant, who was seventeen years old at the time of the shooting, had been sentenced to a term of eighty-five years of imprisonment that was to run consecutively to a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release that he was then serving as a result of a prior criminal incident. The defendant claimed that he was entitled to be resentenced because, inter alia, his original sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the state and federal constitu- tions in that the sentencing court imposed an effective life sentence without having first considered his age and the hallmark characteristics of youth. The trial court determined that it was precluded from granting the defendant's motion to correct because our Supreme Court deter- mined in State v. Delgado (323 Conn. 801) that a juvenile defendant who received a sentence of more than ten years imprisonment and was eligible for parole following the passage of No. 15-84 of the 2015 Public Acts, which amended the statute (§ 54-125a) concerning parole eligibil- ity, could no longer allege a violation of Miller v. Alabama (567 U.S. 460) on the basis of a sentencing court's alleged failure to consider the defendant's status as a youth. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that his sentencing proceeding was merely an academic exercise that contravened the intent of the legislature in eliminating the availabil- ity of a capital felony for juvenile defendants and that he is still being harmed because he has never been afforded a sentencing proceeding in which the appropriate factors were considered. Held that the trial court properly dismissed the defendant's motion to correct, as the sen- tence imposed on him could not be considered illegal because any alleged h