State v. Thorne, 204 Conn.App. 249

Background

Defendant Maxine Thorne was tried and convicted on six counts of wilful failure to pay sales tax under § 12-428(1) for various 2015 periods; sentenced to suspended jail and probation.
Husband Robert C. Thorne operated a tree/landscaping business; he had a 1999 tax registration as a sole proprietorship; later an LLC (Bob Thorne Tree & Landscaping, LLC) was formed and registered with the Secretary of State but not registered for sales tax remittance.
Thorne and her husband opened a Wells Fargo business account listing Robert Thorne d/b/a Bob Thorne Tree & Landscaping; Thorne signed checks and entered account info into the department’s taxpayer portal.
Thorne filed (untimely) sales tax returns she signed as owner for several periods in 2015 but the department received no payment; investigators concluded Thorne was the person responsible for paying the tax (based on signatures, portal administrator listing, and husband’s statement pointing to her).
At trial the state’s evidence focused on the sole proprietorship/Robert Thorne d/b/a Bob Thorne Tree & Landscaping, while the information alleged responsibility as the registered owner of Bob Thorne Tree & Landscaping, LLC; the jury convicted on all counts.
On appeal the court reversed count four (no evidence as to the August 31, 2015 due date), affirmed the other convictions, and rejected Thorne’s jury-instruction/plain-error claim based on waiver.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for each count	State: Evidence (signed returns/checks, portal admin, husband’s statement) shows Thorne was the person required to pay and wilfully failed to do so	Thorne: Evidence at trial concerned the sole proprietorship, not the LLC named in the information; count four had no evidence for the specific due date	Conviction reversed as to count four (no evidence for Aug. 31, 2015). Evidence was sufficient for counts 1–3,5–6 that Thorne was responsible and wilfully failed to pay
Variance between information (LLC) and evidence (sole proprietorship)	State: Name of business is not an essential element; defendant had notice and was prosecuted for failure to pay taxes for the tree business	Thorne: Trial evidence proved liability for the sole proprietorship, not the LLC charged in the information; variance prejudiced her defense	Court: Name of entity is non‑essential; defendant made no timely variance objection or showing of substantial prejudice, so claim fails
Jury instruction / burden of proof (Kitchens waiver & plain error)	State: Thorne waived challenge by reviewing and accepting the proposed charge and explicitly stating no objections; plain error not shown	Thorne: Charge failed to explain legal distinctions among individual, d/b/a, and LLC, diluting burden and presumption of innocence; seeks plain error review	Court: Waiver under Kitchens; plain error exception inapplicable because error was not plain and did not produce manifest injustice

Key Cases Cited

State v. Kitchens, 299 Conn. 447 (2011) (defendant who reviews and accepts instructions may waive appellate challenge)
State v. McClain, 324 Conn. 802 (2017) (plain error doctrine is narrow; requires error that is clear and causes manifest injustice)
State v. Rafanello, 151 Conn. 453 (1964) (variance between information and proof must be raised at trial or show substantial injustice)
State v. Morrill, 197 Conn. 507 (1985) (additional details in pleading that are not essential elements do not require proof)
State v. Sam, 98 Conn. App. 13 (2006) (allegation of a nonessential detail does not convert it into an element the state must prove)
Leonard v. Commissioner of Revenue Services, 264 Conn. 286 (2003) (tax imposition statutes strictly construed favoring taxpayer; collection/procedure statutes given liberal construction)
State v. Juarez, 179 Conn. App. 588 (2018) (two‑part sufficiency review: view evidence in light most favorable to verdict and determine whether cumulative evidence permits a guilty finding beyond reasonable doubt)