State v. Russo

Citations

• 221 Conn. App. 729

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 53a-71 (a) (8)), a person is guilty of sexual assault in the second degree when that person engages in sexual intercourse with another person and, inter alia, the actor is a school employee and the other person is a student enrolled in a school in which the actor works. The defendant, who had been convicted, following a conditional plea of nolo contendere, of the crime of sexual assault in the second degree, appealed to this court, claiming that the trial court improperly denied his motions to dismiss. The defendant was employed as an assistant soccer coach for a girls soccer team at a local public high school. The victim attended the same high school and was a player on the girls soccer team. The victim, then seventeen years old, and the defendant began a sexual relationship in November, 2018, after the end of the soccer season, and the relationship continued through August, 2019. From the start of their relationship until the end of the school year, the victim remained a student at the high school but was no longer a member of the soccer team as a result of the season ending. The high school principal stated to the police that the defendant had resigned his position as a coach of the girls soccer team following their meeting in May, 2019, due to his travel associated with his employment as a pharmaceutical representative and his recent move. The defendant was arrested and charged, by way of a substitute information, with sexual assault in the second degree in violation of § 53a-71 (a) (8). The defendant filed two motions to dismiss the substitute information, both of which the court denied. Thereafter, the defendant entered a plea of nolo contendere that was conditioned on his right to appeal the denials of his motions to dismiss. On the defendant's appeal to this court, held: 1. The trial court properly denied the defendant's first motion to dismiss that claimed that the facts set forth in the arrest warrant affidavit were insufficient to s