186 A.2d 827 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1962
The defendant was charged with the crime of carrying a dangerous weapon in violation of §
The record discloses that the defendant made his motion for a discharge after the state rested its case. This motion was denied, and the defendant proceeded with his defense. Actually, this was a motion to dismiss the information, and we treat it as such. The denial of a motion to dismiss is not assignable as error. State v. Boucher,
The assignment of error directed to the denial of the motion to set aside the finding of guilty will not be considered. No provision is made in Circuit Court Rule 7.29.1 for such an assignment, and it raises exactly the same issue as is presented in the assignment attacking the conclusion of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Other assignments of error, based on the court's refusal to strike certain facts from or add certain facts to the finding, and on claims that facts were erroneously found, would not directly affect the ultimate facts upon which the judgment depends. Since no useful purpose would be served by making *87
these corrections, they are not made. WhippoorwillCrest Co. v. Stratford,
In the next assignment of error, the defendant claims that the court erred in concluding that at the time of his apprehension he carried upon his person a dangerous weapon and that he did not have a written permit for the weapon issued by the proper authorities. The principal facts set forth in the finding are as follows: On August 18, 1961, at 4:17 p.m., the defendant, a resident of New Haven, was apprehended about forty feet off a public highway, near a wooded area in Hamden, Connecticut, with a .22 caliber air-operated single-shot pellet gun held in his left hand. He was testing the gun by firing it. He also had in his possession pellets for the weapon. Both the weapon and the pellets were purchased by him, just prior to his apprehension, at the Plaza Sporting Center in Hamden, and he intended to take them home with him after test-firing the gun. He tried to ascertain by telephoning state and local authorities what licensing requirements there were for such a weapon.
Section
The defendant claims that the words "carries upon his person" refers to the concealment of a weapon on the person and not to a weapon which is exposed, as in this case. The intention of the legislature is controlling, and where that intention is clearly ascertained it is the duty of the court to execute the legislative will. Kelly v. Dewey,
"In general terms, and without reference to the character of the crime involved, a dangerous weapon or deadly weapon may be defined as any instrument which, when used in the ordinary manner contemplated by its design and construction, will, or is likely to, cause death or great bodily harm." 56 Am. Jur. 991, § 2; Acers v. United States,
The next issue presented is whether the subordinate facts support the court's conclusion that the defendant did not have a written permit for the dangerous weapon issued by the proper authorities. It is within the province of the trier, whether court or jury, to draw reasonable inferences from the facts proven, but the conclusions based on them must not be the result of speculation or conjecture.State v. DeCoster,
We next consider the final assignment of error, wherein the defendant claims error in the conclusion of the court that upon all the evidence he was guilty of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Our law is settled that the proof of guilt must exclude, not every possible, but every reasonable supposition of innocence. State v. Smith,
There is no error.
In this opinion SULLIVAN and EIELSON, JS., concurred.