State v. Devin M.

Citations

• 229 Conn. App. 158

Syllabus

Convicted of the crimes of sexual assault in the fourth degree and risk of injury to a child, the defendant appealed. He claimed, inter alia, that the trial court violated his right to due process under the state constitution when it denied his pretrial motion to dismiss the charges against him, in which he alleged that the police improperly failed to preserve and to collect certain evidence. Held: The defendant's due process claim that the police failed to preserve the contents of a certain clothes hamper, which was predicated on his claim that the police failed to seize that hamper, failed as a matter of law, as the failure by the police to collect and preserve that evidence did not implicate the defendant's right to due process pursuant to State v. Morales (232 Conn. 707). The defendant was not deprived of his state constitutional right to due process by the state's failure to preserve certain evidence, namely, two photographs, as all four factors of the balancing test set forth in State v. Asherman (193 Conn. 695) weighed against the defendant with respect to the lost photographs. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by declining to engage in extensive inquiry into an allegation of juror misconduct, as the inquiry it conducted was adequate pursuant to State v. Brown (235 Conn. 502). Argued September 17—officially released November 19, 2024