State v. Lopez

Citations

• 341 Conn. 793

Syllabus

The defendant appealed from the judgment of the trial court revoking his probation. The defendant previously had been convicted of two felony offenses and received a suspended sentence and five years of probation. The conditions of the defendant's probation prohibited him from vio- lating any state or federal criminal law and from possessing any ''fire- arm,'' as that term was defined by statute (§ 53a-3 (19)). While the defendant was serving his term of probation, he was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a firearm after the police found an airsoft pellet gun in his residence while executing a search warrant. In light of that arrest, the defendant was charged with violating the condi- tions of his probation. The court held an evidentiary hearing, at which a detective, W, testified that the airsoft pellet gun functioned as intended by its manufacturer in that it used air to push round, plastic projectiles out of the barrel. In response to a question from the court, however, W could not say whether it was capable of discharging a projectile with enough velocity to ''put a person's eye out.'' At the close of evidence, defense counsel moved for, inter alia, a finding of no violation of proba- tion, claiming that the state had failed to establish that the airsoft pellet gun was a firearm within the meaning of § 53a-3 (19), which defines ''firearm'' in relevant part as ''any . . . weapon . . . from which a shot may be discharged . . . .'' The court denied that motion and, instead, found that the airsoft pellet gun was a firearm under § 53a-3 (19) because it was capable of discharging a shot, namely, a six millimeter pellet. Accordingly, the court concluded that the defendant had violated the conditions of his probation prohibiting him from violating the law and possessing a firearm, and rendered judgment revoking the defendant's probation, from which the defendant appealed. Held that the evidence was insufficient to support the trial court's factual finding