State v. Ramon A. G.

Citations

• 336 Conn. 386

Syllabus

Convicted of assault in the third degree, the defendant appealed to the Appellate Court, claiming that the trial court improperly had declined to instruct the jury on the defense of personal property with respect to the assault charge. The victim, who had been romantically involved with the defendant, visited with the defendant during a gathering at his mother's apartment. The victim surreptitiously took a set of car keys belonging to the defendant's mother from that apartment and began to walk home. The victim threw the keys into a bush along her route home, and, shortly thereafter, the defendant emerged from a car, physically attacked her, rummaged through her backpack for his mother's keys, and left the area with the backpack. At trial, the defendant filed a written request to charge, seeking an instruction on the defense of personal property pursuant to statute (§ 53a-21). The trial court held a formal charging conference, and defense counsel did not voice any concern with respect to the court's draft instructions, which limited the defense of personal property instruction to the charge of second degree robbery, of which the defendant was found not guilty. The Appellate Court affirmed the judgment of conviction, concluding, inter alia, that the defendant's written request to charge was insufficient to preserve his claim that the trial court improperly failed to instruct the jury on the defense of personal property with respect to the assault charge and that the defendant implicitly waived appellate review of that claim under State v. Kitchens (299 Conn. 447). On the granting of certification, the defendant appealed to this court. Held: 1. The Appellate Court correctly concluded that the defendant's claim of instructional error was unpreserved: the trial court clearly believed that it had satisfied the defendant's written request to charge on the defense of personal property, as that court granted the request without qualifica- tion, provided multiple drafts of i