2 Conn. Cir. Ct. 329 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1963
The defendant was convicted in a trial to the court of the crime of evading responsibility, in violation of § 14-224 of the General Statutes, and has appealed. The defendant assigns as error (1) the court’s conclusions, (2) the court’s failure to correct the finding, (3) that the conclusions are not supported by the subordinate facts, (4) that upon all the evidence the defendant was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, (5) the rejection of evidence as to alibi, and (6) the court’s ignoring or refusing to accept the evidence or probative effect of defendant’s exhibit A.
Since there were no stenographic notes taken at the trial, the parties may not assign error in the court’s action on the motion to correct the finding. Therefore, the defendant’s assignment of error addressed to the correction of the finding cannot be considered. Practice Book, 1963, §§ 963, 981;
The principal facts set forth in the finding are as follows: On June 30, 1963, between 9:45 and 10:00 p.m., a vehicle owned by the defendant, while being operated on Pleasant Valley Road in Mansfield, struck a tree, a Chevrolet truck and a barn. At 10:05 p.m., the Willimantic police discovered the abandoned vehicle of the defendant approximately one-half mile from the place where the property damage occurred, and about three miles from the Willimantic police station. There was only one set of keys to this vehicle and this set was always in the possession of the defendant; there was no evidence of tampering with the vehicle to start the motor without a key. A police officer had seen the defendant and his vehicle at approximately 9:10 p.m. in a parking lot in Willimantic. The defendant arrived at the Willimantic police station at 11:20 p.m. to report that Ms vehicle was stolen. The court concluded that the presumption in law is that the defendant owner was the driver, that the circumstances of time, distance and damage to the defendant’s vehicle pointed to the defendant as the operator, and that the defendant’s testimony that the ear had been stolen was unworthy of belief.
The defendant’s final assignment of error, (6), that the court ignored or refused to accept the evidence or probative effect of defendant’s exhibit A, is not properly before us. We cannot find in the record on appeal any indication that the paper referred to by the defendant as his exhibit A was ever introduced into evidence in the trial court or that, under the rule of cases such as State ex rel. Capurso v. Flis, 144 Conn. 473, 477, the proper
The defendant admitted in argument that without a stenographic report his task was most difficult. This is an understatement. His difficulties are insuperable.
There is no error.
In this opinion Dearington and Jacobs, Js., concurred.