Court Opinion

ID: 9755514
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:41:03.109825+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:08.230218
License: Public Domain

*247O’Sttllivast, J.
(concurring). Although in accord with the result reached in the opinion, I am apprehensive of one ruling made by the trial court. This ruling, it seems to me, was erroneous and ought to be characterized as such, even though subsequent events disclosed that no harm was ultimately occasioned the defendant. The matter, however, is of more than academic interest, since my associates, instead of criticizing the ruling, have given approval to it.
The information is in five counts. The ruling affected the last four. It will be ample, however, to mention only the second and third, as a discussion of these two will serve to explain the court’s error. The second count reads as follows: “And the said Attorney further accuses Fordy W. Silver of Hartford, Connecticut of Indecent Assault and charges that at the City of Hartford on divers dates, the said Fordy W. Silver did commit an indecent assault upon a minor, in violation of Section 8359 of the General Statutes, Revision of 1949.” The charge set forth in the third count was couched in identical language.
The defendant was thus faced with two counts, neither of which gave him the slightest clue as to the identity of his victims. Whatever may have been the reason for his failure to do so, the defendant did not move, before trial, that the state be ordered to reveal through a bill of particulars the name of the complainant referred to in each count as “a minor.” Such a motion would have conformed to orderly procedure. Practice Book § 345. The failure of an accused person to take that step, however, ought not necessarily to exhaust his right to urge subsequently, during trial, that the state specify, either orally or in writing, the name of the minor *248referred to in each of several counts; and the court should honor that right whenever it becomes apparent, as was the situation here, that an accused is being inadvertently trapped by the withholding of the desired information. A criminal case is not a contest of wits between opposing counsel, nor is it a game of skill or chance. It is a proceeding, which should be marked by the highest standards of fairness, to determine whether an individual is or is not guilty of the crime of which he stands charged.
The situation which the defendant found himself in may be stated in this fashion: The complainants, as the evidence bore out, were two young girls, one named Patricia and the other, Amelia. The importance of whether the minor in count two, for example, was the former or the latter became of great moment as the trial progressed. If, looking ahead, the jury should report a verdict of guilty on that count, the defendant would be completely in the dark as to whether guilt had been based on evidence offered to prove an indecent assault on Patricia or one on Amelia; and his difficulty would be heightened if a verdict of not guilty should be returned on the third count. In such an event, he would be helpless to present the claim, however meritorious in fact it might be, that the verdict of guilty lacked support in the evidence. The position of the defendant may be understood by contemplating the possibility that the jury, on inadequate evidence as to Patricia, might nevertheless find him guilty as to her, and, at the same time, might find him not guilty as to Amelia, although a verdict of guilty to the charge involving the latter girl might reasonably be supported by the evidence. In other words, it was of vital importance to him to know to which girl each count was applicable.
*249Accordingly, before the matter was submitted to the jury, the defendant requested the court to order the state to identify the girl against whom the offense charged in each count was committed. The request was not only denied but the court advised the jury that, if the evidence warranted, they might use either count to report a verdict of guilty as to either girl. This, I believe, was contrary to all known precedents. It was clearly erroneous and might have led to an insolvable dilemma. Since, however, a verdict of guilty was returned on each count, the error proved harmless in the case at bar.