State v. Douglas C.

Citations

• 345 Conn. 421

Syllabus

A criminal information is duplicitous when it charges a defendant in a single count with two or more distinct and separate criminal offenses, thereby implicating the defendant's constitutional right to a unanimous jury verdict. Convicted of five counts of the crime of risk of injury to a child in connection with the sexual abuse of five victims, including N, S, and T, the defendant appealed to the Appellate Court. The defendant allegedly had sexual and indecent contact with the intimate parts of the victims, all of whom were under sixteen years of age at the time, on multiple occasions over the course of several years, while at the defendant's home. Each of the five risk of injury counts pertained to a different child. At the defendant's trial, N and T testified regarding the defendant's frequent touching of their breasts, and S testified about a single evening during which the In accordance with our policy of protecting the privacy interests of victims of the crime of risk of injury to a child, we decline to use the defendant's full name or to identify the victims or others through whom the victims' identities may be ascertained. See General Statutes § 54-86e. Moreover, in accordance with federal law; see 18 U.S.C. § 2265 (d) (3) (2018), as amended by the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022, Pub. L. No. 117-103, § 106, 136 Stat. 49, 851; we decline to identify any person protected or sought to be protected under a protection order, protective order, or a restraining order that was issued or applied for, or others through whom that person's identity may be ascertained. 422 JANUARY, 2023 345 Conn. 421 State v. Douglas C. defendant touched her vagina multiple times and made contact with her breasts. During the defendant's trial, defense counsel requested that the court provide a specific unanimity jury instruction on each of the risk of injury counts, claiming that the evidence demonstrated that there were discrete incidents of abuse and not a conti