State v. Thomas S.

Citations

• 222 Conn. App. 201

Syllabus

Convicted, after a jury trial, of criminal violation of a protective order and of being a persistent serious felony offender, the defendant appealed to this court. The trial court issued the protective order prohibiting the defendant from contacting P, an individual with whom he had previously been in a relationship, following his arrest on various charges for inci- dents involving P. The protective order specifically prevented the defen- dant from contacting P's home or her workplace, which was a liquor store that she owned. The order did, however, permit the defendant to return to P's home one time, with a police escort, to retrieve his belong- ings. P moved the defendant's belongings to the liquor store and instead attempted to arrange for one of the defendant's family members to pick them up. Thereafter, the defendant contacted the local police department and requested a police escort to accompany him to the liquor store so that he could retrieve his belongings. The defendant arrived at the liquor store prior to the police escort. He entered the store and immediately turned off a security camera. He then took money out of the register, cigarettes from behind the register, and tools from a back room. He also took bottles of alcohol off the shelves and placed them into multiple bins. P was not at the store at this time and the defendant told R, P's employee, not to contact her or to try and stop him from removing the items he had collected. When the police escort arrived, the officer helped the defendant load the items into the vehicle in which the defendant had arrived, unaware that there was a criminal protective order in place. The defendant then left the liquor store. Shortly thereafter, P arrived at the store and was greeted by the police officer, who testified that P appeared to be angry and there was fear in her face and in her voice. P became very upset after entering the store and discovering the items that had been taken. She informed the police officer