Opinion ID: 2329200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: jury charge on intent

Text: The defendant next claims that the trial court erroneously charged the jury concerning the intent element of the murder charge. Specifically, the defendant argues that the trial court's instruction violated his constitutional right to due process by establishing a mandatory presumption that improperly shifted the burden of proof to the defendant and also violated this court's mandate in State v. Aponte, 259 Conn. 512, 522, 790 A.2d 457 (2002), pursuant to our supervisory authority over the administration of justice, that the trial courts of this state should refrain from using the challenged jury instruction. Because the defendant failed to preserve this claim at trial, he urges us to review the constitutional argument under State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233, 239-40, 567 A.2d 823 (1989), [17] and the plain error doctrine, [18] and under our supervisory authority. The defendant cannot prevail under Golding, and, although the challenged instruction violated this court's direction in Aponte, we disagree that the violation warrants reversal under either the plain error doctrine or this court's supervisory authority.