State v. Felimon C.

Citations

• 206 Conn. App. 727

Syllabus

Convicted, following a plea of guilty, of the crimes of sexual assault in the second degree and risk of injury to a child, the defendant appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court denying his motion to correct an illegal sentence. The fourteen year old victim of the sexual assault indicated in a forensic interview that she and the defendant had engaged in two sexual encounters and, subsequently, she became pregnant. The victim delivered the child and arrangements were made for her sister to adopt the child. Under the plea agreement, the defendant's sentence included a condition of probation that he would not contest or interfere with the adoption of the child conceived by the sexual assault. The defendant claimed that the condition of probation at issue violated his constitutional rights and that the condition exceeded the court's authority. The court denied the defendant's motion, finding that the provisions of the applicable statute (§ 53a-30) were not exhaustive and that, given the severity of the offense, the condition was bargained for and was reasonable. Following oral argument before this court, this court ordered the trial court to resolve certain factual issues that were not clear from the record, and, after a hearing, the trial court found that the defendant's parental rights had been terminated by the Probate Court, the defendant's appeal of that decision had been dismissed, and the child had been adopted by order of the Probate Court. Held that because the defendant's parental rights had been terminated and the child had been adopted, the appeal was moot: the provisions of the applicable statute (§ 45a-719) concerning a motion to open or set aside a judgment terminating parental rights make clear that the court may not grant such a motion, if, prior to the filing of such a motion, a final decree of adoption has been issued; moreover, with respect to the adoption of the child, even if an avenue to challenge the adoption existed, the defen