State v. Joseph E.

Citations

• 231 Conn. App. 556

Syllabus

Convicted, following a conditional plea of nolo contendere, of the crime of criminal possession of a firearm, the defendant appealed, claiming that the trial court had improperly denied his motion to suppress evidence of a shotgun the police seized during a search of his home. K, who had accused the defendant of harassing and threatening her, had taken a photograph of a shotgun in the defendant's home office when she was there to clean his house fourteen months before the search warrant was executed. The defendant contended that the lapse of time between when the photograph was taken and the date that the search warrant was issued rendered probable cause lacking to believe that the materials identified in the search warrant would be in his possession at the time the warrant was issued. Held: The trial court properly denied the defendant's motion to suppress, as the passage of fourteen months did not render the information in the search warrant affidavit stale, and, on the basis of that information, it was reason- able for the judge who issued the warrant to believe that the items sought to be seized would be found at the time the warrant was executed. Argued October 10, 2024—officially released March 25, 2025