State v. Smith
State v. Smith
Opinion
*717
The defendant, Jacqui Smith, appeals from the judgment of the trial court revoking his probation and sentencing him to five years incarceration. The defendant claims that (1) the court improperly denied his motion to dismiss the probation violation charge on the basis that the hearing did not occur within 120 days of his arraignment in violation of General Statutes § 53a-32 (c) and (2) the evidence was insufficient to prove that he had operated a motor vehicle while his driver's license was under suspension in violation of General Statutes § 14-215 (a) and, therefore, he is entitled to a new sentencing hearing. The state counters that, pursuant to
State
v.
Kelley
,
The following facts and procedural history are necessary for our discussion. The defendant was convicted of drug related offenses in January, 2013, and sentenced to ten years incarceration, execution suspended after three years, and three years of probation. He was released from custody on April 1, 2015, and first reported to his probation officer on April 9, 2015. During this meeting, the probation officer reviewed the conditions of probation with the defendant.
The standard conditions of probation provided, inter alia, that the defendant was not to violate any criminal law of the United States or the state of Connecticut, that he was to report as instructed to the probation officer and that he was to inform the probation officer if he was arrested. The specific conditions of probation required the defendant to complete a mental health evaluation, to complete a substance abuse evaluation and treatment, if necessary, to obtain full-time employment and/or educational/vocational training, to attend one "Project Safe Neighborhood Meeting" within the first three months of probation and not to possess drugs, narcotics or weapons. The defendant signed a form listing the conditions of his probation.
On June 15, 2015, the state charged the defendant with violating his probation. See *596 General Statutes § 53a-32 (a). It alleged that on May 25, 2015, Bridgeport police officers observed the defendant driving a motor vehicle and noticed that the occupants were not wearing seat-belts. After a brief investigation, the officers issued the defendant a misdemeanor summons for operating a motor vehicle while his driver's license was under suspension in violation of § 14-215 (a) and without minimum insurance in violation of General Statutes § 14-213b. The state also claimed that the defendant had *719 missed four appointments for an integrated mental health and substance abuse assessment. The defendant was arraigned on the violation of probation charge on June 30, 2015.
On December 16, 2015, the defendant moved to dismiss the probation violation charge pursuant to § 53a-32 (c). Specifically, the defendant argued that he had "been held on this charge for more than 120 days in violation of said statute." On December 21, 2015, the court, Devlin, J. , held a hearing on the defendant's motion. After hearing from the parties, the court ruled as follows: "[A]s I read this statute, it is advisory. This is a statute which advises the court of the legislature's concern.... [T]he statute does not provide that the remedy for not having someone adjudicated on their violation of probation case is a dismissal of the charge. It doesn't provide for that.... So, I'm going to deny this motion to dismiss."
The next day, the court, Kavanewsky, J. , conducted a hearing on the probation violation charge. At the conclusion of the adjudicatory phase, 1 the court found the following facts. "The state has established that the defendant violated the terms and conditions of his probation in several different respects, including reporting as the probation officer directed him to, keep the probation officer advised of his general whereabouts, also more specific conditions relating to the defendant obtaining mental health, regarding substance abuse and *720 regarding attendance at, at least one project safe neighborhood meeting." It further found that the defendant had been advised of these conditions in April, 2015, but essentially "dropped off the radar" in May, 2015.
The court also expressly found, on the basis of the testimony of two police officers, that the defendant had operated a motor vehicle in violation of § 14-215 (a) on May 25, 2015. Accordingly, the court found, by a preponderance of the evidence, 2 that the defendant wilfully had violated the terms and conditions of his probation.
During the dispositional phase, the court determined that the beneficial aspects and purposes of probation were no longer being served. The court then stated: "[The defendant] was previously sentenced to ten years, suspended after three years, with three years' probation. The judgment previously entered is reopened. The sentence *597 is vacated and the defendant is sentenced ... to a period of five years to serve ...." This appeal followed.
On October 4, 2016, the trial court issued a memorandum of decision further explaining the oral decision denying the defendant's motion to dismiss. It concluded that our decision in
State
v.
Kelley
, supra,
*721 I
The defendant first claims that the court improperly denied his motion to dismiss the violation of probation charge. Specifically, he argues that the plain language of § 53a-32 (c) establishes a mandatory time period, 120 days from the arraignment, in which the probation violation hearing must occur. He also contends that the state failed to establish good cause for extending this time period. We are not persuaded.
We begin with our standard of review. "A motion to dismiss ... properly attacks the jurisdiction of the court, essentially asserting that the plaintiff cannot as a matter of law and fact state a cause of action that should be heard by the court.... [O]ur review of the trial court's ultimate legal conclusion and resulting [denial] of the motion to dismiss will be de novo.... Factual findings underlying the court's decision, however, will not be disturbed unless they are clearly erroneous.... The applicable standard of review for the denial of a motion to dismiss, therefore, generally turns on whether the appellant seeks to challenge the legal conclusions of the trial court or its factual determinations." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
State
v.
Pittman
,
Section 53a-32 (c) provides: "Upon notification by the probation officer of the arrest of the defendant or upon an arrest by warrant as herein provided, the court shall cause the defendant to be brought before it without unnecessary delay for a hearing on the violation *722 charges. At such hearing the defendant shall be informed of the manner in which such defendant is alleged to have violated the conditions of such defendant's probation or conditional discharge, shall be advised by the court that such defendant has the right to retain counsel and, if indigent, shall be entitled to the services of the public defender, and shall have the right to cross-examine witnesses and to present evidence in such defendant's own behalf. Unless good cause is shown, a charge of violation of any of the conditions of probation or conditional discharge shall be disposed of or scheduled for a hearing not later than one hundred twenty days after the defendant is arraigned on such charge ." (Emphasis added.)
In
State
v.
Kelley
, supra,
Second, we noted the legislative history regarding the 2008 enactment of the 120 day limitation demonstrated that it was intended to be "a goal, rather than a jurisdictional bar." Id., at 240,
In the present case, the court held the hearing on December 22, 2015, 175 days after the June 30, 2015 arraignment. The court initially concluded, in its oral decision, that the 120 day limitation of § 53a-32 (c) was advisory, and, thus, a violation of that limitation would not require a dismissal. Following the release of our decision in
State
v.
Kelley
, supra,
*724
On appeal, the defendant argues that the plain language of § 53a-32 (c) establishes a mandatory, rather than a directory,
5
*599
rule that the hearing must occur within 120 days, absent good cause. The defendant, in essence, urges us to ignore the judicial gloss placed on § 53a-32 (c) by both this court and our Supreme Court in the
Kelley
decisions. See, e.g.,
Williams
v.
Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities
,
The defendant next claims that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he had operated a motor vehicle while his driver's license was under suspension and, therefore, that he is entitled to a new sentencing hearing. Specifically, he argues that the state did not produce any evidence that the Department of Motor Vehicles had mailed a notice of suspension to his last known address, a necessary element for a violation of § 14-215 (a). 7 The state concedes that this element was not met, and that resentencing is required in this case. We agree with the parties.
At the outset, we set forth our standard of review. "The law governing the standard of proof for a violation of probation is well settled.... [A]ll that is required in a probation violation proceeding is enough to satisfy the court within its sound judicial discretion that the probationer has not met the terms of his probation.... It is also well settled that a trial court may not find a violation of probation unless it finds that the predicate facts underlying the violation have been established by a preponderance of the evidence at the hearing-that is, the evidence must induce a reasonable belief that it is more
*600
probable than not that the defendant has violated a condition of his or her probation.... In making its factual determination, the trial court is entitled to draw reasonable and logical inferences from the evidence.... Accordingly, [a] challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is based on the court's factual findings. The proper standard of review is
*726
whether the court's findings were clearly erroneous based on the evidence.... A court's finding of fact is clearly erroneous and its conclusions drawn from that finding lack sufficient evidence when there is no evidence in the record to support [the court's finding of fact] ... or when although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
State
v.
Acker
,
In
State
v.
Valinski
,
"[ Section] 14-111 (a) does not require personal service of a notice of suspension but provides that a notice forwarded by bulk certified mail to the address of the person registered as owner or operator of any motor vehicle as shown by the records of the commissioner shall be sufficient notice to such person .... The statute does not require that a defendant actually receive notice, or that a motor vehicle department receive a return receipt. Constructive notice by the motor vehicle department is all that is required.... The requirements of § 14-111 (a) were satisfied by a showing of competent evidence that notice of the suspension was mailed to the defendant at his last known address as indicated by the records of the commissioner." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.)
State
v.
Torma
,
*727
In the present case, the state failed to produce any evidence that notice of the suspension had been mailed to the defendant at his last known address. The state agrees that the absence of such evidence prevents a finding that the defendant violated § 14-215 (a). The state further agrees that the defendant is entitled to a new sentencing hearing because the court expressly relied on the violation of § 14-215 (a) in sentencing the defendant to five years incarceration. See
State
v.
Johnson
,
The judgment is reversed only as to the sentence imposed and the case is remanded with direction to resentence the defendant; the judgment is affirmed in all other respects.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
"Our Supreme Court has recognized that revocation of probation hearings, pursuant to § 53a-32, are comprised of two distinct phases, each with a distinct purpose.... In the evidentiary phase, [a] factual determination by a trial court as to whether a probationer has violated a condition of probation must first be made.... In the dispositional phase, [i]f a violation is found, a court must next determine whether probation should be revoked because the beneficial aspects of probation are no longer being served." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
State
v.
Altajir
,
See
State
v.
Fisher
,
Specifically, the court stated: "Although not decided at the time of the hearing, the present motion [to dismiss] is governed by the Appellate Court's decision in
State
v.
Kelley
, [supra],
With respect to the issue of good cause, the court determined that "the reason that the defendant's [violation of probation] was not adjudicated within 120 days of his arrest was due to an attempt to resolve all of his pending cases in a comprehensive plea agreement. Such an approach is usually in the defendant's interest and would support a good cause reason to delay resolving the [violation of probation] independently of the other pending cases."
See, e.g.,
State
v.
Banks
,
We also note that the court's finding of good cause offers an alternative path to affirming the denial of the motion to dismiss.
General Statutes § 14-215 (a) provides: "No person to whom an operator's license has been refused, or, except as provided in section 14-215a, whose operator's license or right to operate a motor vehicle in this state has been suspended or revoked, shall operate any motor vehicle during the period of such refusal, suspension or revocation. No person shall operate or cause to be operated any motor vehicle, the registration of which has been refused, suspended or revoked, or any motor vehicle, the right to operate which has been suspended or revoked."
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Connecticut v. Jacqui SMITH
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published