EVELEIGH, J.
The defendant, David B. Terwilliger, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of one count of intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm pursuant to General Statutes §§ 53a-55a and 53a-55.
In 2005, the defendant was tried for the murder of Donald Kennedy (Donald). The jury acquitted the defendant of murder, but convicted him of the lesser included offense of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm. See State v. Terwilliger, 294 Conn. 399, 403-406, 984 A.2d 721 (2009). The jury empaneled in the 2005 trial did not specify whether it found the defendant guilty of intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm or reckless manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm. "The defendant appealed to the Appellate Court, which reversed the judgment of conviction and ordered a new trial after concluding that it was reasonably possible that the trial court's jury instruction on defense of premises misled the jury." Id., at 406, 984 A.2d 721. The state petitioned for certification, and this court affirmed the judgment of the Appellate Court. Id., at 400-401, 984 A.2d 721. The defendant was retried in 2011. The state charged the defendant with two counts of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm. Specifically, the state charged the defendant with one count of intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm pursuant to §§ 53a-55a and 53a-55 (a)(1), and with one count of reckless manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm pursuant to §§ 53a-55a and 53a-55 (a)(3). The jury convicted the defendant of intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm. This appeal followed.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. The defendant is married to Beverly Daniels. Daniels is the mother of Christine Kennedy (Christine). Christine married Donald, and together they had three children, Shauna Kennedy (Shauna), Kathryn Kennedy (Kathryn), and James Kennedy (James). In 2003, Donald and Christine were not living together. Kathryn and her four year old daughter were living with the defendant and Daniels. Donald had also previously lived in the basement of the defendant's home with the defendant's permission, but since that time he had moved out and rented an apartment in Webster, Massachusetts.
At some point during the day on January 5, 2003, James had an altercation with another young man from the neighborhood, Steven Gardner, which resulted in Gardner striking James. That evening, the defendant was inside of his home with Daniels, Kathryn, and Kathryn's daughter,
Prior to the defendant's second trial in 2011, the defendant moved to dismiss the prosecution, claiming that the continued prosecution of him for the events that occurred on January 5, 2003, constituted a violation of his right against double jeopardy. The trial court denied the motion, relying on State v. Boyd, 221 Conn. 685, 691, 607 A.2d 376, cert. denied, 506 U.S. 923, 113 S.Ct. 344, 121 L.Ed.2d 259 (1992), and concluded that, by failing to take steps to clarify the jury's verdict following the first trial while simultaneously seeking reversal of his conviction, the defendant had waived his right against double jeopardy. The defendant moved for reconsideration of the denial of his motion to dismiss, and the trial court, again relying on this court's decision in Boyd, denied the motion. The defendant subsequently renewed his motion following the trial.
In addition, at trial, the defendant specifically requested a jury instruction on defense of premises pursuant to General Statutes § 53a-20.
The defendant first claims that, because the state cannot demonstrate that there is not a reasonable possibility that the defendant was acquitted of intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm by the jury following his trial in 2005, his 2011 conviction for intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm pursuant to § 53a-55a should be vacated because it violates his right against double jeopardy secured by the fifth amendment to the United States constitution. In response, the state makes the following claims: (1) the defendant's double jeopardy claim is unpreserved because he failed to raise the issue at his first trial; (2) pursuant to this court's approach to its review of unpreserved claimed constitutional violations; see State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233, 239-40, 567 A.2d 823 (1989); the defendant's double jeopardy claim is unreviewable because the defendant cannot show that a constitutional violation "clearly exists"; and (3) should this court reach the merits of the defendant's claim, the defendant cannot establish that he was acquitted of either intentional or reckless manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm. We conclude that accepting the defendant's position would necessitate us to speculate as to the jury's determination in the first trial. We decline to engage in a double jeopardy analysis on the basis of speculation. Further, even if we were to engage in such an analysis, under the particular circumstances of this case, we hold that the defendant was not prejudiced. Therefore, we affirm the conviction.
The following additional facts and procedural history are relevant to this issue. During the first trial, the theory of the state's case against the defendant was that he had acted with the intent to kill Donald. The prosecution relied on the following evidence in an attempt to show intent: (1) statements that the defendant made to Donald shortly before he shot him, which indicated that the defendant would shoot Donald if he did not leave; (2) evidence indicating that the defendant initially hid
Correspondingly, the defendant's primary theory of defense during the first trial was that he had been justified in using deadly force against Donald. To counter the prosecution's theory of the case, the defendant relied primarily on evidence and testimony indicating that: (1) Donald had a reputation for being a violent person; (2) Donald was intoxicated; (3) Donald was carrying a closed folding knife on his person, of which the defendant was aware; and (4) during the confrontation, Donald had knocked a telephone from the defendant's hand and made several threatening statements, the most serious of which was a threat to assault or possibly kill Daniels. The defendant, however, also advanced a second theory during the first trial, namely, that the defendant had not acted with any kind of intent. This theory was supported primarily by a statement made by the defendant during his testimony, in which he stated that Donald had "jump[ed]" at him during the confrontation, as a result of which the defendant's gun went off.
We now turn to the applicable standard of review and governing legal principles. "The defendant's double jeopardy claim presents a question of law, over which our review is plenary.... The fifth amendment to the United States constitution provides in relevant part: No person shall ... be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.... The double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment is made applicable to the states through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Burnell, 290 Conn. 634, 642, 966 A.2d 168 (2009). "We have recognized that the [d]ouble [j]eopardy [c]lause consists of several protections: It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction. And it protects against multiple punishments for the same offense." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.
We now examine the merits of the defendant's claim.
The defendant claims that the situation at issue in the present case is similar to the one this court faced in State v. Hedge, 297 Conn. 621, 1 A.3d 1051 (2010). In Hedge, the defendant was charged with, inter alia, possession of cocaine with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent in violation of General Statutes § 21a-278 (b), possession of opium with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent in violation of § 21a-278 (b), and possession of narcotics with intent to sell within 1500 feet of a public housing project in violation of General Statutes § 21a-278a (b). See id., at 662, 1 A.3d 1051. The case proceeded to trial, and at the close of evidence, "the trial court dismissed the charge of possession of opium with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent on the ground that the state had failed to prove that one of the narcotic substances that was seized from the defendant's vehicle was, in fact, opium. Thereafter, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on the failure to appear charge but was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining two drug charges. The trial court thereafter declared a mistrial as to those charges." (Footnote omitted.) Id. The state decided to retry the defendant, ultimately charging him with, inter alia: "transporting `a narcotic substance, to wit: cocaine and heroin' with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent...." Id., at 664, 1 A.3d 1051. "After the state filed the second amended information, the defendant moved to dismiss the charges as they related to heroin on double jeopardy grounds."
This court also stated in Hedge that "[a]s a general matter, when the state charges a defendant in separate counts with a jeopardy barred offense and an offense that is not so barred, and the jury finds the defendant guilty on both counts, the defendant is entitled to a new trial on the nonbarred offense unless the state is able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the joinder of the two charges did not prejudice the defendant." Id., at 666-67, 1 A.3d 1051. Because this court could not be certain that the jury had not found the defendant guilty on the charge of unlawfully transporting a narcotic substance with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent in violation of § 21a-278 (b) on the basis of a conclusion that the defendant had transported heroin with the requisite intent — a conclusion that would have been in violation of the defendant's right against double jeopardy — this court determined that it was necessary to reverse the defendant's conviction with regard to that charge. Id., at 668, 1 A.3d 1051. Moreover, because, pursuant to the trial court's instructions, the jury could have conceivably found the defendant guilty on this charge by determining that he was only transporting heroin with intent to sell, this court also determined that the defendant could not subsequently be retried for the unlawful transportation of cocaine with intent to sell "unless the state can demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that he was not acquitted of that charge at his first trial." Id.
This court ultimately concluded in Hedge that, in a subsequent retrial, the state would be able to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had not been acquitted of unlawfully transporting cocaine with intent to sell, given that (1) in a separate count, the same jury found the defendant guilty of possession of cocaine, and (2) the drugs recovered by the police consisted of 189 packages of cocaine and 15 "folds" of heroin, and 100 of the packages of cocaine were found in the same bag as the folds of heroin. Id., at 669, 1 A.3d 1051. As a result, this court concluded that "it is virtually inconceivable that the jury found the defendant guilty of transporting narcotics with intent to sell on the basis of the defendant's possession of heroin but also found that he had not transported with intent to sell the much larger quantity of cocaine, which was found in the very same container as the heroin." Id.
The defendant claims that, akin to the situation in Hedge, the state cannot show beyond a reasonable doubt in the present case that he was not acquitted of intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm at his first trial. During the first trial in 2005, the trial court instructed the jury that it could find the defendant guilty of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm if it concluded that the defendant acted intentionally or if it concluded that the defendant acted recklessly while engaging in conduct that created a grave risk of death to another person and actually caused the death of that person. See General Statutes §§ 53a-55 (a)(1) and (3), and 53a-55a (a). The trial court also instructed the jury that, if it concluded that the defendant had committed a lesser included offense, it "must be unanimous as to the facts of how the crime was committed to return a guilty verdict." The defendant contends that this court has previously held that a person cannot act intentionally at the same time that he or she acts recklessly; see, e.g., Griffin v. Parker, 219 Conn. 363, 370, 593 A.2d 124 (1991); and, thus, the jury necessarily acquitted the defendant of either reckless or intentional manslaughter in the first degree. Relying on Hedge, the defendant claims that the state bears the burden of proving that the
The state claims that Hedge is distinguishable because, unlike the situation in Hedge, there has been no clear acquittal in the present case. Specifically, the state claims that the defendant here failed to clarify the initial verdict of the jury and, thus, failed to preserve his claim that the second prosecution violated his right against double jeopardy. To the extent that this court may review unpreserved constitutional claims pursuant to Golding, the state claims that the record is inadequate for review because the defendant has not shown that a constitutional violation "clearly exists." In addition, the state contends that the defendant cannot demonstrate that an acquittal necessarily occurred in the present case because, the state claims, this court has previously held in State v. Rodriguez, 180 Conn. 382, 403-405, 429 A.2d 919 (1980), that a mental state involving a specific intent to commit a crime and the mental state of recklessness are not inconsistent with one another for purposes of charging lesser included offenses.
The defendant contends that, in finding the defendant guilty of manslaughter, the jury at the defendant's first trial must have necessarily determined that he committed the crime with either the requisite intent or recklessly. See General Statutes § 53a-55 (a)(1) and (3). Building on this logic, the defendant claims that in deciding that he acted with one mental state, the jury implicitly determined that he did not possess the other. The defendant asserts that it would have been reasonable for the jury to convict the defendant of either intentional or reckless manslaughter at the first trial, and, thus, it was equally reasonable for the jury to have acquitted the defendant under either subdivision of § 53a-55 (a). Thus, because the first jury's general verdict was never clarified, the defendant contends that the state has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that no reasonable possibility exists that the defendant was prejudiced by his subsequent prosecution for both intentional and reckless manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm. To put it differently, because the state cannot prove that the defendant was not implicitly acquitted of intentional manslaughter in the first degree during the first trial, it cannot now prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no reasonable possibility that the defendant's conviction for intentional manslaughter at his second trial was not barred by the double jeopardy clause.
In State v. King, 216 Conn. 585, 592-95, 583 A.2d 896 (1990), this court held that a person cannot act both intentionally and recklessly at the same time. See id., at 593-94, 583 A.2d 896 (Relying on, inter alia, this court's decision in State v. Beccia, 199 Conn. 1, 4, 505 A.2d 683 [ (1986) ], this court concluded that "[t]he intent to cause death required for a conviction of attempted murder ... necessitated a finding that the defendant acted with the conscious objective to cause death. The reckless conduct necessary to be found for a conviction of assault under the subsection charged ... required a finding that the defendant acted without such a conscious objective" and that "the statutory definitions of `intentionally' and `recklessly' are mutually exclusive and inconsistent. `Reckless conduct is not intentional conduct because one who acts recklessly does not have a conscious objective to cause a particular result.' ... Therefore, the transgression that caused the victim's injuries
During jury instructions, the trial court gave the jury an "acquittal first" instruction,
Both subdivisions (1) and (3) of § 53a-55 (a) require that the defendant cause the death of a person; where the two subdivisions differ is with regard to the mental state of the defendant at the time of the act in question. Moreover, both the state and the defendant conceded that the defendant was the person who shot Donald. Thus, it is argued by the defendant, the jury, in delivering its verdict, necessarily determined that the defendant acted either with the intent to cause serious injury to Donald, or it concluded that the defendant had acted in conscious disregard of the risk that his actions would cause Donald's death.
As the defendant states in his brief, in asserting that the state had the burden to show that there was no reasonable possibility of an acquittal, "any attempt to divine the factual basis of the first jury's verdict would have been speculative, futile, and disingenuous...." This is a critical distinction between the present case and the situation in Hedge. In Hedge, at the conclusion of his first trial, the judge clearly dismissed the charge of possession of opium because there was no proof that the defendant had possessed opium, thus preventing the state from relitigating this point in a subsequent trial. See State v. Hedge, supra, 297 Conn. at 662-66, 1 A.3d 1051. In the present case, the jury's verdict, as acknowledged by both parties, was ambiguous as to its decision regarding the defendant's mental state. The evidence presented at the first trial, and the arguments made by the parties therefrom, as described previously in this opinion, was entirely consistent with a jury verdict convicting the defendant of either intentional or reckless manslaughter in the first degree. Thus, the jury verdict did not necessarily depend on a finding that the defendant lacked the intent to inflict a serious physical injury on Donald. Therefore, we would have to resort to speculation in order to divine the jury's intention. We decline the defendant's invitation to do so.
We are not the first court to choose to avoid undue speculation when faced with a general jury verdict that convicts the defendant of a single offense but is ambiguous as to the specific theory on which the jury relied in rendering its verdict. Numerous courts, when wrestling with the issues presented by similar verdicts, have found that this sort of general verdict does not have the same preclusive effect as would a general verdict of acquittal. See, e.g., United States v. Garcia, 938 F.2d 12, 13-16 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1030, 112 S.Ct. 868, 116 L.Ed.2d 774 (1992); State v. Wright, 165 Wn.2d 783, 790-91, 796-803, 203 P.3d 1027 (2009). For example, in Garcia, the defendants were charged with, inter alia, extortion, and at their first trial the prosecutor argued that the defendants could be convicted of this crime pursuant to either one of two alternative legal theories, "extortion by wrongful use of fear and ... extortion under color of official right." United States v. Garcia, supra, at 13. The jury convicted the defendants of extortion, but did not indicate which of the two theories advanced by the prosecution it had accepted. Id. On an earlier appeal, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals had determined that, because the jury's reasoning in arriving
Similarly, Wright involved a case in which two defendants had each been convicted of second degree murder, but it was unclear pursuant to which theory each defendant had been convicted — intentional murder or felony murder. See State v. Wright, supra, 165 Wash.2d at 788-91, 203 P.3d 1027. The Washington Supreme Court then decided two cases, In re Personal Restraint of Andress, 147 Wn.2d 602, 605, 56 P.3d 981 (2002), and In re Personal Restraint of Hinton, 152 Wn.2d 853, 857, 100 P.3d 801 (2004), which invalidated one of the potential alternative theories on which the defendants' convictions had rested. The defendants in Wright both challenged the ability of the state to retry them on the remaining potential alternative on which their second degree murder convictions had rested, claiming that to permit the state to do so would violate the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment to the United States constitution. State v. Wright, supra, at 791-93, 203 P.3d 1027. The Washington Supreme Court rejected the defendants' claim, relying in large part on a footnote by the United States Supreme Court in
The statute pursuant to which the defendant was charged and convicted creates only one crime — manslaughter in the first degree — and treats the two subdivisions at issue here as alternative ways to commit that crime. See State v. Marino, 190 Conn. 639, 650-51, 462 A.2d 1021 (1983) (describing three subdivisions of § 53a-55 [a] as alternative ways to commit one crime), overruled on other grounds by State v. Chapman, 229 Conn. 529, 643 A.2d 1213 (1994). This court's analysis of a similarly worded statute in State v. Tanzella, 226 Conn. 601, 607-14, 628 A.2d 973 (1993), is also informative. In Tanzella, the state charged the defendant with, inter alia, assault in the third degree based on the theory that the defendant had recklessly caused serious physical injury. Id., at 606, 628 A.2d 973. The state then sought to amend the information, charging the defendant with having violated the same statute, but this time under the theory that he had assaulted his victim with intent to cause physical injury. Id. This court concluded that the amendment of the information was not improper pursuant to Practice Book (1993) § 624 (now § 36-18) because "the [subdivisions] of the statutes in question do not constitute different crimes.... [T]hey describe alternative means of committing a single crime." Id., at 612, 628 A.2d 973.
The statute at issue in the present case, § 53a-55 (a), treats intentional manslaughter and manslaughter when committed recklessly under circumstances evincing an extreme indifference to human life
Further, this case does not present a situation that the double jeopardy clause was intended to prevent. In this opinion, we previously have noted the express purposes of the double jeopardy clause. First, there is no showing that there was a second prosecution in this case after an acquittal. We simply do not know, and will not speculate on, the jury's decision. Second, there was no prosecution for another offense after a conviction due to the appeal. Third, in view of the nature of the statute, there were not multiple punishments for the same offense. We are, therefore, confident that there was no double jeopardy violation established in this case.
The utter lack of prejudice to the defendant under the unique circumstances of this case buttresses our conclusion that the defendant's double jeopardy rights have not been violated. The Second Circuit has counseled that, in a retrial, there should be "no reasonable possibility that [a] violation of [the defendant's] constitutional rights worked to his prejudice." United States ex rel. Hetenyi v. Wilkins, 348 F.2d 844, 866-67 (2d Cir.1965), cert. denied sub nom. Mancusi v. Hetenyi, 383 U.S. 913, 86 S.Ct. 896, 15 L.Ed.2d 667 (1966). We are confident that there was no prejudice to the defendant in the present case.
In the present case, the evidence presented at both trials by the state would have been admissible regardless of the implicit acquittal by the jury of one of the charged subdivisions of § 53a-55.
In this respect, the present case is similar to United States ex rel. Jackson v. Follette, 462 F.2d 1041 (2d Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Jackson v. Follette, 409 U.S. 1045, 93 S.Ct. 544, 34 L.Ed.2d 496 (1972). In Follette, the defendant was accused of murdering a police officer following
Applying similar logic in the present case, it cannot be contested that the first jury concluded that the defendant had committed the crime of manslaughter in the first degree pursuant to either subdivision (1) or (3) of § 53a-55 (a). The only potential difference in the elements of those two charges is the mental state of the defendant while causing the death of
We note that the defendant had an opportunity to clarify the verdict at his first trial, and did not do so. We have not previously held that a defendant has any affirmative obligation to clarify a general or otherwise ambiguous verdict in order to preserve a subsequent double jeopardy violation, nor will we do so today.
Finally, we note that although the defendant has a valid interest in not being subjected
For the foregoing reasons, and limited to the extremely unusual circumstances presented by the present case, we conclude that the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment to the United States constitution does not require the defendant's conviction of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm pursuant to §§ 53a-55 (a)(1) and 53a-55a to be vacated.
The defendant next contends that he is entitled to a new trial because the trial court's jury instruction regarding defense of premises included a definition of the term "crime of violence" that was "too narrow and vague," and because the trial court declined to instruct the jury on the elements of those offenses that it included in the definition of "crimes of violence." Although we agree with the defendant to the extent that he suggests the definition provided by the trial court for the term "crime of violence" was incorrect, we conclude that the defendant was not entitled to an instruction on the elements of the various statutory offenses that he claims constitute "crimes of violence."
We first address the proper standard of review. "A fundamental element of due process is the right of a defendant charged with a crime to establish a defense.... An improper instruction on a defense, like an improper instruction on an element of an offense, is of constitutional dimension.... [T]he standard of review to be applied to the defendant's constitutional claim is whether it is reasonably possible that the jury was misled.... In determining whether the jury was misled, [i]t is well established that [a] charge to the jury is not to be critically dissected for the purpose of discovering possible inaccuracies of statement, but it is to be considered rather as to its probable effect [on] the jury in guiding [it] to a correct verdict in the case.... The test to be applied to any part of a charge is whether the charge, considered as a whole, presents the case to the jury so that no injustice will result.... In reviewing the trial court's failure to charge as requested, we must adopt the version of facts most favorable to the defendant which the evidence would reasonably support.... A challenge to the validity of jury instructions presents a question of law over which [we have] plenary review." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Terwilliger, supra, 294 Conn. at 411-12, 984 A.2d 721.
The defendant contends that the definition of the term "crime of violence" as it is used in § 53a-20 is coextensive with the list of crimes classified as "`violent offenses'" by the Board of Parole pursuant to General Statutes § 54-125a (b)(2). The defendant claims that this definition is also consistent with the definition of the term as it appears in 18 U.S.C. § 16. The
The state contends that, although it did not do so in the defendant's requested terminology, the trial court's instruction on defense of premises incorporated all of the defendant's requested included offenses except for third degree assault, and also included several offenses that the defendant had not requested. The state also asserts that, rather than looking to the term "crime of violence" as it is defined by the Board of Parole or in 18 U.S.C. § 16, this court should look to the common law to ascertain the legislature's intended meaning of "crime of violence" as it is used in § 53a-20. As a result, the state urges this court to read § 53a-20 in light of our decisions in cases construing other statutes which codified justification defenses, such as State v. Havican, 213 Conn. 593, 569 A.2d 1089 (1990), in which this court examined General Statutes § 53a-19, Connecticut's self-defense statute. The state contends that, when read in light of these decisions, the term "crime of violence" as used in § 53a-20 should be defined narrowly to avoid becoming duplicative. The state also rejects the defendant's claim that juries should be instructed on the elements of those offenses that are considered "crimes of violence," claiming that the defendant has failed to cite any authority for this proposition, and that the language of the statute reflects that the legislature intended to convey that the use of deadly force by an actor should be limited to "situations with the potential for serious violence." Finally, the state also contends that, regardless of any error by the trial court, there is no reasonable possibility that the verdict was affected by the court's failure to instruct the jury on the specific elements of the included crimes, contending that there was no support in the evidence presented at trial to suggest that it would have been objectively reasonable for the defendant to believe that Donald was about to commit the crime of burglary when the defendant fired his revolver. We agree with the state.
The following additional facts and procedural history are relevant to this issue. The defendant requested that the court instruct the jury on several defenses, including defense of premises as defined in § 53a-20.
In particular, the trial court disagreed with the defendant's proposed instruction regarding the term "crime of violence" as it is used in § 53a-20. Section 53a-20 (2) provides, inter alia, that a person is justified in using deadly force in defense of premises against a criminal trespasser "when he [or she] reasonably believes such to be necessary to prevent an attempt by the trespasser to commit arson or any crime of violence...." The defendant's proposed instruction defined the term to include the following statutory offenses: murder, as defined in General Statutes § 53a-54a; manslaughter in the first degree, as defined in § 53a-55, manslaughter in the second degree, as defined in General Statutes § 53a-56; assault in the first and second degrees, as defined in General Statutes §§ 53a-59 and 53a-60 respectively, including assault of a victim sixty years or older as defined in General Statutes §§ 53a-59a and 53a-60b; unlawful restraint in the first degree, as defined in General Statutes § 53a-95; and burglary in the first and second degrees, as defined in General Statutes §§ 53a-101 and 53a-102 respectively. In addition to an instruction indicating that the term "crime of violence" encompassed each of these statutory crimes, the defendant requested that the jury be instructed on the specific elements of each referenced statutory offense. Furthermore, with regard to the requested charge regarding burglary as a crime of violence, the defendant asked that the jury be instructed as to offenses such as assault in the third degree. In other words, the defendant requested that the jury be instructed that it could find that Donald had attempted to commit a burglary if they were to conclude that he intended to enter the defendant's home and commit a third degree assault against someone located therein.
The state objected to the defendant's proposed instruction, claiming that it was not a correct statement of law to say that the defendant would have been justified to use deadly force against Donald to prevent an assault in the third degree against someone inside the defendant's home. In addition, the state objected to the defendant's proposed instruction on this issue because it felt that it would be too confusing to the jury to define each statutory offense that conceivably qualified as a "crime of violence."
The trial court agreed with the state, explaining that the common-law definition of "crimes of violence" included only felonies, and, thus, found that the use of deadly force to prevent a third degree assault would not be warranted. The trial court
Our resolution of this issue turns on the meaning of the term "crime of violence," as it is used in § 53a-20, which the legislature has, thus far, left undefined. "The issue in this case presents a question of statutory interpretation that requires our plenary review. See Cogan v. Chase Manhattan Auto Financial Corp., 276 Conn. 1, 7, 882 A.2d 597 (2005). `When construing a statute, [o]ur fundamental objective is to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature.... In other words, we seek to determine, in a reasoned manner, the meaning of the statutory language as applied to the facts of [the] case, including the question of whether the language actually does apply.... In seeking to determine that meaning, General Statutes § 1-2z directs us first to consider the text of the statute itself and its relationship to other statutes. If, after examining such text and considering such relationship, the meaning of such text is plain and unambiguous and does not yield absurd or unworkable results, extratextual evidence of the meaning of the statute shall not be considered.... When a statute is not plain and unambiguous, we also look for interpretive guidance to the legislative history and circumstances surrounding its enactment, to the legislative policy it was designed to implement, and to its relationship to existing legislation and common law principles governing the same general subject matter....'" Caciopoli v. Lebowitz, 309 Conn. 62, 69, 68 A.3d 1150 (2013).
"In discussing the codification of the law of self-defense in § 53a-19, we have said that `[t]he statutes which enumerate the situations where the use of force is justified "attempt to restate the common law.
The law of defense of premises was initially codified when the legislature passed the first iteration of Connecticut's Penal Code through the passage of a Public Act during the 1969 session of the General Assembly. See Public Acts 1969, No. 828, § 20. At that time, the relevant language of the statute provided that a person could use deadly force in defense of premises "when he [or she] reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent an attempt by the trespasser to commit arson...." Public Acts 1969, No. 828, § 20. The term "crime of violence" did not appear until the Penal Code was amended during the 1973 session of the General Assembly when the term was added — without discussion — immediately following the word "arson." See Public Acts 1973, No. 73-639 § 2. Thus, the legislature has not yet precisely defined the term "crime of violence." However, the Commission to Revise the Criminal Statutes, the drafters of the original section, indicated in a comment that the language contained in § 53a-20 "is based on the rule of such cases as State v. Perkins, [88 Conn. 360, 91 A. 265] (1914). It adds, however, to the traditional common law rule as to the use of deadly force to prevent unlawful entry, the right to prevent such entry to one's `place of work' as well as one's dwelling. It also makes clear that deadly force is justified to prevent an attempted arson by the trespasser." Commission to Revise the Criminal Statutes, Penal Code Comments, Conn. Gen.Stat. Ann. § 53a-20 (West 2012), commission comment.
In Perkins, the defendant offered evidence that she had shot and killed the decedent, her estranged husband, under the following circumstances. "[The decedent] came to the house of the [defendant] and demanded admission, which was refused, and he immediately proceeded to break down the doors of the house, all the while threatening to kill the [defendant]. After he had broken down the storm-porch door, the [defendant] warned him that she had two revolvers, and that if he broke through the double house-doors and attempted to come in she would shoot him. Notwithstanding this warning [the decedent] continued his violent assault upon the double doors, and, as the right-hand door was giving way, he said to the [defendant], with an oath: `Now I've got you, and I'll cut your guts out.' The [defendant], at the time of his breaking into her house believed that the [decedent] intended to carry out his threats to kill her, and believed that her life was in imminent danger from [decedent].... After the [defendant] had warned the [decedent] that she would shoot if he broke in, and after he had broken down the right half of the house-doors, and was attempting to enter, the [defendant] attempted to fire a revolver at him, but it would not work. She then thought of the shotgun, which was kept [nearby], and fired at [the decedent]. The [defendant] shot the [decedent], as he was breaking into the house, to prevent his entering and taking her life." State v. Perkins, supra, 88 Conn. at 362, 91 A. 265. Under these circumstances, this court determined that "[t]he evidence and claims of the parties were such as to require a
In the present case, the trial court's instruction defined the term "crime of violence" to mean "a crime committed with violence" and provided examples of such crimes, namely "murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, arson, burglary, assault with the specific intent to cause great bodily harm or assault in which a risk of great bodily harm was created." This instruction is consistent with the sentiment expressed by this court in Perkins, which indicated that the common-law understanding of defense of premises authorized the use of deadly force only when the defendant felt that the threat posed by an assailant or invader on the defendant's premises posed at least a risk of great bodily harm. See State v. Perkins, supra, 88 Conn. at 363-64, 91 A. 265. In addition, this court has previously set out a list of crimes that were considered "crimes of violence" at common law in a case in which a defendant booby-trapped his blacksmith shop to prevent anyone from breaking and entering: "The class of crimes in prevention of which a man may, if necessary, exercise his natural right to repel force by force to the taking of the life of the aggressor, are felonies which are committed by violence and surprise; such as murder, robbery, burglary, arson, breaking a house in the day time with intent to rob, sodomy and rape." (Emphasis omitted.) State v. Moore, 31 Conn. 479, 483 (1863). This court has previously relied on this list to establish those crimes against which a person could justifiably use deadly force at common law. See State v. Havican, supra, 213 Conn. at 599, 569 A.2d 1089.
Of course, as the state points out, if a defendant reasonably believed that an actor today were about to commit many of the crimes listed by the court in its "crime of violence" instruction in the present case, then that defendant would already have been authorized to utilize deadly force against the actor in defense of premises pursuant to the other language contained in § 53a-20 that indicates that a person "may use deadly physical force under such circumstances only (1) in defense of a person as prescribed in section 53a-19 [the defense of persons statute]...." This is because most of these crimes necessarily involve an actor who is using or about to use deadly force or an actor who is inflicting or about to inflict great bodily harm. Thus, the term "crime of violence," as it is used in § 53a-20, must necessarily provide the defendant with the ability to use deadly force against a criminal trespasser when the trespasser is committing some crime that would not be encompassed by the statutory language of § 53a-19. "[I]n construing statutes, we presume that there is a purpose behind every sentence, clause, or phrase used in an act and that no part of a statute is superfluous." (Internal
We think it is significant that, when codifying this state's law on defense of premises, the legislature expressly listed the crime of arson immediately before the term "crime of violence." Under the doctrine of ejusdem generis, "when a general word or phrase follows a list of specifics, the general word or phrase will be interpreted to include only items of the same class as those listed." Black's Law Dictionary (9th Ed.2009). Thus, the phrase "crimes of violence" must consist only of those crimes that were considered "violent" at common law, and, within that class of crimes, only those crimes the elements of which do not necessarily involve either the use of deadly force or the infliction of great bodily harm. Of the offenses requested to be included by the defendant, only the offenses of burglary and arson meet both of these prerequisites.
The issue, then, is whether the defendant was entitled to have the jury instructed on the elements of burglary or arson when the trial court instructed the jury as to the meaning of the term "crime of violence." Even if we were to assume that, in a proper case, the defendant might be entitled to an instruction on the elements of these offenses or others that might fall within this definition of the term, we conclude that the defendant was not entitled to an instruction in the present case. Although the defendant has challenged the trial court's definition of the term "crime of violence," and its failure to instruct on the individual elements of each crime to fall within this definition, the defendant has not challenged on appeal the trial court's determination that there was no evidence whatsoever that Donald was attempting a burglary at the time of the incident, nor has the defendant challenged on appeal the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury that the defendant could have been acting in defense of the persons within the defendant's home at the time of the incident.
The situation, in this respect, is not unlike the situation faced by the court in State v. Bryan, 307 Conn. 823, 60 A.3d 246 (2013). In Bryan, the defendant challenged the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury regarding the law on defense of others. Id., at 830-31, 60 A.3d 246. We concluded that the trial court properly rejected the defendant's request. Id., at 836, 60 A.3d 246. "[I]n order to submit a defense of others defense to the jury, a defendant must introduce evidence that the defendant reasonably believed [the attacker's] unlawful violence to be imminent or immediate.... Under ... § 53a-19 (a), a person can, under appropriate circumstances, justifiably exercise repeated deadly force if he reasonably believes both that [the] attacker is using or about to use deadly force against [himself or a third person] and that deadly force is necessary to repel such attack.... The Connecticut test for the degree of force in self-defense [and the defense of others] is a subjectiveobjective one. The jury must view the situation from the perspective of the defendant. Section 53a-19 (a) requires, however, that the defendant's belief ultimately must be found to be reasonable.... [I]n reviewing the trial court's rejection of the defendant's request for a jury charge on [defense of others], we ... adopt the version of the facts most favorable to the defendant which the evidence would reasonably support." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 835-36, 60 A.3d 246. Ultimately, we concluded that the instruction was not warranted because "[n]o evidence ... supports
Here, the trial court's rulings finding a lack of evidence to support inferences that either (1) Donald was attempting to commit a burglary, or (2) the defendant was acting in defense of the persons located inside of his home at the time of the shooting, lead inevitably to the conclusion that no reasonable jury would be able to find that any subjective belief that may have been held by the defendant that Donald was attempting to commit burglary or arson was objectively reasonable.
In summary, we conclude that the term "crime of violence" as it is used in § 53a-20 does not include those crimes considered to be "crimes of violence" at common law against which the defendant would already have been authorized to defend himself pursuant to the statutory framework laid out in § 53a-19. Instead, the term involves only those offenses which fall within the traditional common-law definition and do not, by their essential elements, necessarily involve the use of deadly force or infliction of great bodily harm. We further conclude that, of those relevant crimes requested to be included by the defendant within the definition of "crime of violence," only the crimes of arson and burglary fall within that definition. Further, we conclude that, on the basis of the evidence before the trial court and its rulings thereon, a reasonable jury could not have found that it would have been objectively reasonable for the defendant to believe that Donald was attempting to commit either of these crimes, and, as a result, any error committed by the trial court in refusing to instruct the jury on the essential elements of those offenses was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion ROGERS, C.J., and PALMER and McDONALD, Js., concurred.
ROBINSON, J., with whom ZARELLA and ESPINOSA, Js., join, concurring.
I concur in the court's judgment affirming the conviction of the defendant, David B. Terwilliger, of one count of intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-55a (a) and 53a-55 (a)(1).
My analysis begins with well settled background principles. "We have recognized that the [d]ouble [j]eopardy [c]lause consists of several protections: It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal. It protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction. And it protects against multiple punishments for the same offense.... These protections stem from the underlying premise that a defendant should not be twice tried or punished for the same offense.... The [c]lause operates as a bar against repeated attempts to convict, with consequent subjection of the defendant to embarrassment, expense, anxiety, and insecurity, and the possibility that he may be found guilty even though innocent."
"[It has become] a venerable principl[e] of double jeopardy jurisprudence that [t]he successful appeal of a judgment of conviction, on any ground other than the insufficiency of the evidence to support the
A successful appeal does not, however, give the state the opportunity to take a complete "mulligan"
Moving beyond the federal cases, the implied acquittal doctrine has been well established as a matter of Connecticut law since this court's decision in State v. Troynack, 174 Conn. 89, 99, 384 A.2d 326 (1977). See, e.g., State v. Sawyer, 227 Conn. 566, 586-87, 630 A.2d 1064 (1993) (discussing double jeopardy implications stemming from implied acquittal doctrine in adopting "acquittal first instruction" to transition jury deliberation from charged greater offense to lesser included offenses); State v. Rodriguez, 180 Conn. 382, 398-99, 429 A.2d 919 (1980) ("where a defendant is convicted of a lesser offense than that charged, that conviction is an implicit acquittal on the greater offense").
Beyond lesser included offenses, the implied acquittal doctrine has a somewhat more limited application in cases wherein a defendant is charged and tried under multiple statutory alternatives for committing the same offense, such as manslaughter in the first degree committed intentionally in violation of § 53a-55 (a)(1) or recklessly in violation of § 53a-55 (a)(3). The jurisprudence of the lower federal courts and our sister states is near uniform in holding that, as a general rule, when a jury renders a verdict convicting a defendant of a single offense that is charged under multiple statutory alternatives that finds him guilty as to one alternative, but is silent as to the other alternatives, there is no implied acquittal with respect to those alternatives on which the jury remained silent. See United States ex rel. Jackson v. Follette, 462 F.2d 1041, 1045-46 (2d Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Jackson v. Follette, 409 U.S. 1045, 93 S.Ct. 544, 34 L.Ed.2d 496 (1972);
Thus, I turn to an examination of the record in the present case and the law concerning the first degree manslaughter charge to determine whether the jury's 2005 general verdict convicting the defendant of manslaughter with a firearm in the first degree in violation of § 53a-55a, which was silent as to whether the conviction via intentional manslaughter in violation of § 53a-55 (a)(1) or reckless manslaughter in violation of § 53a-55 (a)(3), had the effect of being an implied acquittal under Green v. United States, supra, 355 U.S. at 184, 78 S.Ct. 221 as to either statutory alternative, thereby precluding the defendant's retrial and conviction for the same offense in 2011. With respect to the nature of the manslaughter offense at issue in this appeal, I agree with the majority's characterization of §§ 53a-55a (a) and 53a-55 (a) under State v. Marino, 190 Conn. 639, 650-51, 462 A.2d 1021 (1983), overruled on other grounds by State v. Chapman, 229 Conn. 529, 541-42, 643 A.2d 1213 (1994), as "creat[ing] only one crime — manslaughter in the first degree — and treat[ing] the two subdivisionsections at issue here as alternative ways to commit that crime." I also agree with the majority that "the same evidence may support both mental states and, thus, the state may charge the defendant with offenses that include inconsistent mental states." (Emphasis omitted.) See footnote 9 of the majority opinion; see also State v. Rodriguez, supra, 180 Conn. at 404-405, 429 A.2d 919. Finally, I agree with the majority's decision to assume, without deciding,
I conclude that no aspect of the 2005 general verdict can be construed as an implied acquittal for purposes of triggering double jeopardy protections. I find especially persuasive the New Mexico Supreme Court's decision in State v. Torrez, supra, 305 P.3d at 947, wherein a jury returned a general verdict finding the defendant guilty of first degree murder at his first trial, after having been charged with that offense "under two alternative theories: felony murder and depraved mind murder." The trial judge then indicated in the judgment and sentence that the defendant
Similarly, in Garcia, the Second Circuit concluded that a general verdict of guilty on an extortion charge provides "no basis" for an implied acquittal under Green v. United States, supra, 355 U.S. at 184, 78 S.Ct. 221 because the defendants "were convicted on the contested charge, and the only unanswered question was under which of two extortion theories the jury had based its conviction. And since the jury was never asked to state the basis for its conviction on the extortion charge, its silence on the question, unlike the silence of the jury in Green, signifies nothing." (Emphasis added.) United States v. Garcia, supra, 938 F.2d at 15; see also id., at 16 ("Thus, here, as in so many other cases, the uncertainty over theories could have been clarified through the use of special interrogatories, which would have obviated the need for a retrial. Had the jury based its verdict on the `wrongful use of fear' theory only, then there would have been an implicit acquittal on the alternative theory and a retrial would have violated the double jeopardy clause. Had the jury clearly based its verdict on the theory of extortion under color of official right, or both theories, not only would there not have been a double jeopardy problem, but there would not even have been a reversal on the first appeal. Instead, we would have affirmed the convictions, because there was sufficient evidence to support a conviction for extortion under the official-right theory.").
Relying on these well reasoned authorities, I conclude that the jury's general verdict in 2005, which convicted the defendant of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm in violation of § 53a-55a (a), was not an implied acquittal as to either statutory alternative incorporated through § 53a-55 (a). As the majority observes, determining the factual basis for the general verdict would require impermissible speculation, and I decline to attribute the serious double jeopardy consequence of an acquittal to pure speculation, particularly given the significant public policy bases that support permitting retrials after most successful appeals. See, e.g., Montana v. Hall, supra, 481 U.S. at 402-403, 107 S.Ct. 1825; see also footnote 4 of this opinion. Accordingly, I agree with the majority's conclusion that the defendant has not demonstrated the existence of a double jeopardy violation, and would affirm his 2011 conviction for intentional manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm.
Manslaughter in the first degree is defined in General Statutes § 53a-55 (a), which provides: "A person is guilty of manslaughter in the first degree when: (1) With intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person; or (2) with intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person under circumstances which do not constitute murder because he committed the proscribed act or acts under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, as provided in subsection (a) of section 53a-54a, except that the fact that homicide was committed under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance constitutes a mitigating circumstance reducing murder to manslaughter in the first degree and need not be proved in any prosecution initiated under this subsection; or (3) under circumstances evincing an extreme indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby causes the death of another person."
General Statutes § 53a-19 provides in relevant part: "(a) Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, a person is justified in using reasonable physical force upon another person to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of physical force, and he may use such degree of force which he reasonably believes to be necessary for such purpose; except that deadly physical force may not be used unless the actor reasonably believes that such other person is (1) using or about to use deadly physical force, or (2) inflicting or about to inflict great bodily harm.
Similarly, we conclude that the trial court's ruling that it was not objectively reasonable for the jury to consider whether the defendant was acting in defense of Daniels, Kathryn, or Kathryn's daughter also rendered it impossible for a reasonable jury to conclude that any subjective belief by the defendant that Donald was attempting to commit arson was objectively reasonable. Although it is not an essential element of the crime of arson to intend harm to the occupants of a building; see, e.g., General Statutes § 53a-111; in this case, any attempt to set fire to or cause an explosion in the defendant's home necessarily would have carried with it the risk of serious physical injury to the occupants therein. Thus, in this case, by concluding that the jury could not consider whether the defendant was acting in defense of the occupants of his house — a ruling that the defendant has not challenged before this court — no reasonable jury could have concluded that, on the present facts, any subjective belief by the defendant that Donald was attempting to commit arson at the time he was shot was objectively reasonable.
General Statutes § 53a-55 (a) provides: "A person is guilty of manslaughter in the first degree when: (1) With intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person; or (2) with intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person under circumstances which do not constitute murder because he committed the proscribed act or acts under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, as provided in subsection (a) of section 53a-54a, except that the fact that homicide was committed under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance constitutes a mitigating circumstance reducing murder to manslaughter in the first degree and need not be proved in any prosecution initiated under this subsection; or (3) under circumstances evincing an extreme indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby causes the death of another person."