State v. Mitchell

Citations

• 195 Conn. App. 543

Syllabus

The defendant, who previously had been convicted of the crimes of attempt to commit murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping in the first degree, conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the first degree, sexual assault in the first degree, conspiracy to commit sexual assault in the first degree, assault in the first degree, conspiracy to commit assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a firearm, appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court denying his motion to correct an illegal sentence. The defendant claimed that the court improperly concluded that his convictions for sexual assault in the first degree and assault in the first degree, both predicated on liability under Pinkerton v. United States (328 U.S. 640), did not violate the prohibition against double jeopardy when considered in light of his conviction for conspir- acy to commit kidnapping in the first degree. Held that the trial court properly denied the defendant's motion to correct an illegal sentence, as the double jeopardy claim advanced by the defendant was untenable: each of the crimes of sexual assault in the first degree, assault in the first degree and conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the first degree plainly required proof of a fact that the others did not, and they were not the same offense under the test enunciated in Blockburger v. United States (284 U.S. 299); moreover, this court could not conclude that the statutes in question evinced a clear legislative intent to prohibit a defendant from being punished for the offenses of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the first degree, sexual assault in the first degree, and assault in the first degree when they arise from the same transaction, as the burden of demonstrating a contrary legislative intent rested with the defendant, and he made no attempt to demonstrate such contrary legislative intent; furthermore, like the defendants in Pinkerton, the defendant's convictions and subsequent punishments for the conspira