Court Opinion

ID: 9695344
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:15:48.263165+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:10.931609
License: Public Domain

Speziale, C. J.
(dissenting). Because I would find error in the failure of the trial court to instruct on intent, I disagree with the majority opinion. In its treatment of this issue, the majority misunderstands the defendant’s claim of error and, therefore, does not fully address the claim.
*571The defendant’s first claim of error1 is concerned with the failure of the court to instruct on intent as an element of larceny, which is an element of the crime charged, robbery in the first degree. See General Statutes §§ 53a-119, 53a-133, 53a-134. In his brief the defendant expressly questions the sufficiency of the court’s instructions on the intent required for larceny, not only the adequacy of the court’s explanation of the nature of the deprivation required for larceny.2 The defendant alleges that the trial court erred in failing “to sufficiently apprise and explain to the jury the element of intent . ...”3 As a matter of fact, the jury were not even told that intent is an element of the crime charged. An examination of the instructions actually given by the trial court makes the defendant’s claim quite clear. The court’s instructions never spelled out intent as an element of the offense charged nor gave the jury any explanation of intent or guidance as to how they were to determine intent. In fact, the word “intent” appears in the court’s instructions only twice, both times when the court read to the *572jury verbatim the statutory definition of larceny from General Statutes § 53a-119 while explaining that larceny was an element of robbery.4
Jury instructions, of course, need “not be exhaustive, perfect or technically accurate,” so long as they are “correct in law, adapted to the issues and sufficient for the guidance of the jury.” Castaldo v. D’Eramo, 140 Conn. 88, 94, 98 A.2d 664 (1953); see Messina v. Iannucci, 174 Conn. 275, 278, 386 A.2d 241 (1978); State v. Sawicki, 173 Conn. 389, 396, 377 A.2d 1103 (1977). An error of constitutional dimension in the instructions in a criminal case is reversible error when it is reasonably possible that the jury were misled by the instructions. State v. Ruiz, 171 Conn. 264, 273-74, 368 A.2d 222 (1976); State v. Rose, 169 Conn. 683, 687-88, 363 A.2d 1077 (1975).
By pleading not guilty, the defendant has “put in issue every essential element of the crime *573charged. Roe v. United States, 287 F.2d 435 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 824, 82 S. Ct. 43, 7 L. Ed. 2d 29 [1961]; 21 Am. Jur. 2d, Criminal Law, § 467; 22 C.J.S., Criminal Law, § 454. With that, the burden rested upon the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused, i.e., to prove each material element of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 95 S. Ct. 1881, 44 L. Ed. 2d 508 [1975]; State v. Johnson, 162 Conn. 215, 231, 292 A.2d 903 [1972]; State v. Jenkins, 158 Conn. 149, 154, 256 A.2d 223 [1969]; 1 Wharton, Criminal Evidence (13th Ed.) § 10. The United States Supreme Court has explicitly held that the due process clause requires that every fact necessary to constitute the crime of which an accused stands charged must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt before a conviction. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 364, 90 S. Ct. 1068, 25 L. Ed. 2d 368 [1970]. Therefore, it cannot be considered harmless error for a jury to find an accused guilty without even knowing what are the essential elements of the crime charged. United States v. Howard, 506 F.2d 1131, 1134 (2d Cir. [1974]).” State v. Griffin, 175 Conn. 155, 162-63, 397 A.2d 89 (1978). “The court was required to instruct the jury as to the essential elements of the crime and the criminal intent necessary to commit the offenses charged.” State v. Sumner, 178 Conn. 163, 170, 422 A.2d 299 (1979). The charge must give “the jury a clear understanding of the elements of the crime charged and the proper guidance to determine if those elements were present.” State v. Avila, 166 Conn. 569, 574, 353 A.2d 776 (1974). A bare reading of the statutory charges is not sufficient. Cf. State v. Sumner, supra, 170-71; Crane v. Hartford-Connecticut Trust Co., 111 Conn. 313, 315, 149 A. 782 (1930).
*574The law and reasoning set forth at great length in the majority opinion support my position that the court’s instructions were not sufficient to identify and explain the element of intent to the jury or to guide the jury in its determination of intent. This failure amounts to much more than merely not labeling or numbering the elements of the crime charged because the defendant has a fundamental right to a fair trial and to be convicted only upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of all of the elements of the crime charged.5 It is, therefore, reasonably possible that the jury were misled by this instruction and, thus, could have reached the verdict in an unconstitutional manner. Cf. Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 99 S. Ct. 2450, 61 L. Ed. 2d 39 (1979). The instructions given in this case were insufficient as a matter of law on the element of intent and the defendant in the interests of justice is entitled to a new trial.
In this opinion Healey, J., concurred.

 I agree with the majority’s disposition of the defendant’s second claim regarding the court’s instructions on the defendant’s interest in the outcome of the trial as a factor in evaluating his credibility as a witness; however, in my view it would be unnecessary to reach this claim.

 During oral argument before us, the counsel for the defendant stated: “On page 10 [of the state’s brief], the state misconstrues the defendant’s claim by implying that his allegation of error relies solely on the omission of the word 'permanently.’ Although that omission certainly supports his claim that the court failed to adequately provide the jury with the proper guidelines, the defendant’s claim is based on the total failure of the eourt to define the element of intent as requiring conscious objective.”

 The majority’s discussion of the court’s use of the word “purpose” in the instructions on robbery as defined in General Statutes § 53a-133 is irrelevant to the claim of error regarding the sufficiency of the instructions on intent as an element of larceny, which is an element of robbery. See General Statutes §§ 53a-119, 53a-133.

 The court’s entire instructions on the issue of intent were as follows: “Now, remember when I told, you that the subject of a robbery is a larceny? I’m going to give you the concept of larceny. ‘A Person commits larceny when with intent to deprive another person of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes or withholds such property from an owner.’ So, when you consider in your deliberations robbery in the first degree, you must in order for the defendant to be found guilty of the crime of robbery in the first degree or robbery in the third degree, you must find that this threatened use of force or actual physical force that was used was for the purpose of committing a larceny. Larceny is one of the elements that you must consider before you can find the defendant guilty of the charge of robbery either in the first degree or robbery in the third degree.
“Let me give it to you again. ‘A person commits a larceny when with intent to deprive another person of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes or withholds such property from an owner.’ ‘Wrongfully takes property from an owner or withholds the property from an owner’ in this particular ease means money or it could be personal property which would include drugs.”

 The issue before this court concerns the adequacy of the trial court’s instructions, not the sufficiency of the evidence. The majority’s detailed discussion of the facts, apparently to support the conclusion that the jury could have reasonably inferred the required intent from the evidence presented, is irrelevant to the claim of error in this case. The error claimed here is not that the instructions were improperly adapted to the facts, but rather that the intent instructions, or absence thereof, did not meet .the minimum constitutional requirements, regardless of the facts of the case.