The defendant, Benjamin Goldson, was convicted by a jury of possession of heroin in violation of § 19-481 (a) of the General Statutes and of transportation of heroin in violation of § 19-480 (a). He was sentenced to consecutive terms totaling not less than eight nor more than fourteen years. The defendant appeals from the judgment rendered against him, arguing (1) the failure of the
The defendant’s claim concerning the sufficiency of the evidence to convict him is neither procedurally nor substantively sustainable. Absent motions before the trial court either for a directed verdict or to set aside the verdict, this court ordinarily will not review claims of evidentiary insufficiency. Practice Book, 1978, § 3063;
State
v.
Zeko,
The defendant’s second ground of appeal argues that it was constitutionally impermissible to convict him of both transportation and possession of heroin, because possession is a lesser included offense and the dual convictions therefore constitute a violation of the prohibition against double jeopardy. This claim also was only belatedly raised in this court, but since it involves a question of a fundamental constitutional right we will consider it. State v. Evans, supra, 70.
It is undisputed that double jeopardy attaches not only to separate trials but also to multiple punish
As the state points out, however, there are two separate although related issues to be resolved in applying the prohibition against double jeopardy. The first issue is whether the crimes arise out of “the same act or transaction.” Only if that issue is resolved in the affirmative does the second issue, the distinction between the offenses, come into play.
On the first issue, we must refer to the language of the information against the defendant, as amplified by the bill of particulars. The state charged the defendant, in count one, with the crime of possession of narcotics, at Waterbury, on or about December 12,1968, and in count two, with the crime of transportation of narcotic drugs to another, at Waterbury, on or about December 12, 1968. In response to a motion for a bill of particulars, the state revealed that the narcotic drug was heroin, and that both the possession and the transportation
The double jeopardy clause bars cumulative punishment for nominally distinct offenses arising out of the same transaction only if the two offenses are substantially the same. The second issue to be determined is therefore whether each count of the information against the defendant required proof of an additional fact which the other did not. It is clear, as Brown v. Ohio, supra, 168, holds, that if the two counts stand in the relationship of greater and lesser included offense, then “[t]he greater offense is . . . by definition the ‘same’ for purposes of double jeopardy as any lesser offense included in it.”
The information and the bill of particulars in this case charged the defendant with possession and with transportation of narcotics at one and the same time and place, in Waterbury, on December 12, 1968, at approximately 8 p.m. Under these circumstances, the possession and the transportation, like the joyriding and the automobile theft in
Brown
v.
Ohio,
supra, 168, constitute “‘the same statutory offense’ within the meaning of the Double Jeopardy Clause.” The terms of this information and bill of particulars clearly distinguish the case from
State
v.
Brown,
Since possession was therefore a lesser included offense, the defendant could not constitutionally have been convicted of both transportation and possession. The state intimates that the bar against double jeopardy does not apply to independent counts of a multiple-count information but that argument cannot survive the holding of Brown v. Ohio, supra, that even successive prosecutions of greater and lesser included offenses constitute double jeopardy.
There is error in part, the judgment as to count one is set aside and the case is remanded with direction to render judgment for the defendant on the first count of the information charging him with possession of heroin.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
