State v. Robert H.

Citations

• 333 Conn. 172

Syllabus

Convicted of two counts of the crime of risk of injury to a child, and found to be in violation of his probation, the defendant appealed to the Appellate Court from the trial court's judgments, claiming that his conviction on one of the two risk of injury counts violated the corpus delicti rule insofar as statements that he had made to the police were the only evidence that he committed the misconduct giving rise to his 5 In light of the critical nature of Allain's testimony, I do not find persuasive the state's passing mention in its brief that the evidence of the defendant's guilt was overwhelming, making any error harmless. In accordance with our policy of protecting the privacy interests of the victims of the crime of risk of injury to a child, we decline to use the defendant's full name or to identify the victim or others through whom the victim's identity may be ascertained. See General Statutes § 54-86e. The listing of justices reflects their seniority status on this court as of the date of oral argument. 333 Conn. 172 SEPTEMBER, 2019 173 State v. Robert H. conviction on that count. The Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's judgments, concluding that, because corpus delicti is an evidentiary rule, the defendant's claim was unreviewable on the ground that he failed to raise the corpus delicti issue or challenge the admissibility of his statements at trial. On the granting of certification, the defendant appealed to this court, claiming, inter alia, that the Appellate Court incorrectly concluded that corpus delicti is a rule of admissibility and, therefore, that his claim was unreviewable. Held that the resolution of the defendant's appeal was controlled by this court's decision in State v. Leniart (333 Conn. 88), in which the court concluded that the corpus delicti rule is a hybrid evidentiary-substantive rule that implicates a defendant's fundamental right not to be convicted in the absence of evidence sufficient to establish every essential element of t