Commentary Updates
All case law published prior to the meeting date was incorporated into footnotes and commentary where appropriate.
New Instruction
Revised Instructions
The statutory amendments made during the 2010 session of the General Assembly were incorporated into the instructions. The more significant changes are:
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2.12-1 Persistent Offenders -- § 53a-40, § 53a- 40a, § 53a-40d and § 53a-40f
- P.A. No. 10-144, § 12, removed the five-year look-back period from § 53a-40d and added a provision for out-of-state convictions to that statute. Such a provision is also in § 53as-40 and § 53a-40f. A footnote was added explaining that this finding is a question of law for the court.
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4.5-9 Perjury -- § 53a-156 -
P.A. No. 10-180, § 7, incorporated the Unsworn Foreign Declaration Act and added an affirmative defense of coercion.
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7.3-1 Prostitution -- § 53a-82
- P.A. No. 10-115, § 1, add an element requiring that the defendant be at least sixteen years old and an affirmative defense of coercion.
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7.3-5 Promoting Prostitution in the First Degree (By a Minor) -- § 53a-86 (a) (2)
- P.A. No. 10-115, §§ 2 and 3, amended § 53a-86 (a) (2) and deleted § 53a-87 (a) (2), making Promoting Prostitution by a Minor a first degree offense when against anyone under 18 years of age. If the offense was against a person 16 or 17 years of age prior to October 1, 2010, it was second degree.
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7.7-4 Possessing Child Pornography -- §§ 53a-196d, 53a-196e, and 53a-196f
P.A. No. 10-191, §§ 2-4, added to first degree the alternative of one or more visual depictions of child pornography that depict the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical injury, and added to all degrees an affirmative defense that the possession was a violation of § 53a-196h, Possessing or Transmitting Child Pornography by Minor (aka, “sexting”).
In addition, changes were made to the following instructions as the result of suggestions received by the committee.
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3.1 Vicarious Liability
- Rewrote the Introduction, Instruction 3.1, to better incorporate § 53a-8 (b), Vicarious Liability for Providing a Firearm, and adding the necessity for a specific unanimity instruction if any combination of liability under § 53a-8 (a), § 53a-8 (b), and Pinkerton is alleged in Instructions 3.1-1, 3.-1-3, and 3.1-4.
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6.5-5 Unlawful Restraint in the First Degree -- § 53a-95 and 6.5-6 Unlawful Restraint in the Second Degree -- § 53a-96
- Separated the prior first element, intentional restraint, into two elements, intent to restrain and restraint.
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7.2-1 Constancy of Accusation
- Added language to explain the limitations put upon constancy of accusation testimony by Troupe to avoid the possibility that jurors might find that the victim’s testimony regarding the details of the crime that went beyond the limitations of the constancy testimony was not corroborated or supported by, and thus inconsistent with, the constancy testimony.
Definitions
The statutory definition of numerous phrases used in the forgery statutes were revised by P.A. No. 10-180, § 4.
April 23, 2010
The following changes were approved by the Criminal Jury Instructions Committee on April 23, 2010:
Commentary Updates
All case law
through the meeting date of April 23, 2010 was incorporated into
footnotes and commentary where appropriate.
New Instruction
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4.3-5
Interference with a Search -- § 54-33d
- The new instruction
was modeled on other similar instructions, especially Instruction
4.3-1, Interference with an Officer. In reviewing the explanation
of the term “in the performance of duties” that appears in that
instruction and which was derived from appellate case law, it was
decided that the phrase “engaging in a personal frolic of his/her
own,” a term of art derived from agency law, was not appropriate for
a lay jury. In the interest of using plain language whenever
possible, the explanation of “in the performance of duties” was
modified in Instructions 4.3-1, Interference with an Officer; 4.3-3,
Assault of Public Safety or Emergency Medical Personnel; 5.5-1,
Capital Felony, Murder of a Police Officer; and 6.1-17, Assault of
an Employee of the Department of Correction.
Revised Instructions
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2.5-3 Informant Testimony
- This instruction has been substantially
revised in light of State v. Arroyo, 292 Conn. 558 (2009).
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8.3-1 Driving
Under the Influence -- § 14-227a - P.A. No. 09-187, §
62, lowered the blood alcohol content for the “per se” violation if
the defendant was driving a commercial vehicle, effective October 1,
2009.
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8.3-2 Driving
Under the Influence, Under 21 Years Old -- § 14-227g
P.A. No. 09-187, §
64, removed the requirement of a public highway, effective October
1, 2009.
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Larceny
P.A. No. 09-138,
effective October 1, 2009, amended General Statutes §§ 53a-122
through 53a-125b, to adjust the dollar amounts that separate the
degrees of larceny. This change affected all larceny instructions
in which the value of the property is an element. See Introduction
to Larceny for a table with the new values.
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10.3-1 Identity
TheftP.A. No. 09-239
redefined identity theft, effective October 1, 2009. The old
instruction was archived for use in future trials under the old
statute.
Definitions
The definition of
“dangerous instrument” was revised in light of the discussion in
State v. Ovechka, 118 Conn. App. 733, 739 (2010).
The statutory
definition of “school employee” was modified by P.A. No. 09-242, §
1, and that of “prescription” by P.A. No. 09-22, § 3.
P.A. No. 09-191, §
2, added a new term, “public transit employee,” to § 53a-167c ,
Assault of Public Safety or Emergency Medical Personnel.
The term “health
care professional,” which appears in § 53a-71 (a) (7), Sexual
Assault in the Second Degree, and § 53a-73a (a) (5), Sexual Assault
in the Fourth Degree, has no statutory definition in the Penal
Code. Section 19a-12a (a) (3) defines it as a person licensed under
any of numerous statutes. The new glossary entry for “health care
professional” provides a chart of all the statutes that set forth
the definitions and licensing requirements for the different health
care professionals.
June 12, 2009
The following changes were
approved by the Criminal Jury Instruction Committee on June 12, 2009:
New Instruction
Revised Instructions
November
1, 2008
Commentary has been updated with case law through November 1, 2008.
In addition, the following substantive changes have been made:
New Instructions
Kidnapping and Unlawful
Restraint
Introduction to Kidnapping
and Unlawful Restraint. This introductory section was revised in
light of State v. Salamon, 287 Conn. 509 (2008), State v.
Sanseverino, 287 Conn. 608 (2008), and State v. DeJesus,
288 Conn. 418 (2008).
Sexual Assault in the 3rd
and 4th Degrees
These three
instructions were revised to make them consistent with one another
in their definition of “sexual conduct” and intent. Some of the
revisions were the result of rethinking the changes made in June
2008, which had distinguished the intent of subsection (a) (1) of §
53a-73a from that of subsections (a) (2) through (a) (8) because of
the placement of “intentionally” in the statute. The committee is
now convinced that all subsections of sexual assault that are
premised on “sexual contact” are specific intent crimes. See
State v. Faria, 254 Conn. 613, 636 n.24 (2000).
Burglary
A statement was added to all
the burglary instructions directing the court to not only identify
the crime that the defendant allegedly intended to commit but to
also outline the elements of the crime.
Miscellaneous changes
August 2008
The following changes were
made to align the instructions with changes made to the statutes during
the 2008 session of the General Assembly:
The phrase “or quasi-public agency” was added to the definition of
“public servant” by Public Acts 2008, No. 08--3,
§ 7, effective October 1, 2008.
It occurs in the following instructions:
“Department of Motor Vehicles
inspector” was added to General Statutes 53a-167a, 53a-167b, and
53a-167c,
by Public Acts 2008, No. 08-150, §§ 52, 53, 54, effective October 1,
2008. Changes were made to the following instructions to
accommodate this addition:
General Statutes § 38a-287,
Defrauding Life or Accident Insurance Companies, was amended by
public Acts 2008, No. 08-178,
§ 12, to raise from $100 to $2,000 the amount
that triggers an enhanced penalty
effective
October 1, 2008. The commentary to Instruction #
10.6-1 was modified accordingly.
June 13, 2008
New Instructions
The following new instructions were approved by the
committee:
Revised Instructions
The following instructions were revised:
- 2.7-3 Duress -- § 53a-14. This
instruction was completely revised in light of State v.
Heinemann, 282 Conn. 281 (2007).
- 7.1-7 Sexual Assault 2nd -- §
53a-71. Public Acts 2007, No. 07-143, § 1, amended § 53a-71 (a)
(1) to require that the actor be 3 years older, rather than 2
years older, than the victim.
- 7.1-11 Sexual Assault 4th -- §
53a-73a. This instruction was divided into two instructions
(7.1-11 and 7.1-12) to distinguish the specific intent required
by subsection (a) (1) and the general intent of subsections (a)
(2) through (a) (8). Public Acts 2007, No. 07-143, § 2, amended
subsection (a) (1) (A) to require that the actor be 2 years
older than the victim and the victim be under thirteen rather
than fifteen, and added subsection (a) (1) (B), providing that
the victim be thirteen or older but under fifteen years old and
the actor more than 3 years older. Existing subsections (a) (1)
(B) through (E) were changed to (a) (1) (C) through (F).
- 7.2-1 Constancy of Accusation. A
sentence was added limiting the jury’s application of constancy
of accusation evidence to charges of sexual assault as
recommended by State v. Farmer, 108 Conn. App. 82 (2008).
- 8.2-16 Carrying Dangerous
Weapons -- § 53-206. Added optional language regarding the “true
threat” doctrine as discussed in State v. Cook, 287 Conn. 237,
252 (2008).
- 8.9-6 Noncompliance with DNA
Sampling -- § 54-102g (g) and 8.9-7 Noncompliance with Venereal
Disease or HIV Exam -- § 54-102a (c). In light of the Supreme
Court’s analysis in State v. T.R.D., 286 Conn. 191, 223-24
(2008), finding that Failure to Register as a Sex Offender (new
instruction 7.8-1) is a strict liability crime, these
instructions were revised to delete any requirement of knowledge
or wilfullness.
- 9.2-2 Burglary in the First
Degree -- § 53a-101 (a) (3). Public Acts, Jan. Spec. Sess.,
2008, No. 08-1, §§ 2 and 3, moved § 53a-102 (a) (1) to § 53a-101
(a) (3), making a burglary to a dwelling at night first degree
rather than second degree burglary.
Other Modifications
In addition, the commentaries for all instructions for statutes that
provide for an enhanced sentence either for additional factual
issues (e.g., the age of the victim) or for prior convictions have
been modified to include the statutory reference and a link to
either Sentence Enhancers, Instruction 2.11-4, or Subsequent
Offenders, Instruction 2.12-2.
All commentaries have been updated
with recent case law.
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