State v. MICHAEL A.State v. MICHAEL A.
Opinion
The defendant, Michael A., appeals
1
from the judgment of the trial court resentencing him to a total effective sentence of seventeen years imprisonment, after remand from the judgment of the Appellate Court, which had reversed his conviction of sexual assault in the second degree in violation of
The record reveals the following relevant facts and procedural history. In November, 2000, the state charged the defendant in a two part information with one count of sexual assault in the first degree in violation of
The defendant appealed from the judgment of conviction to the Appellate Court, which reversed the conviction of sexual assault in the second degree.
State
v.
Michael A.,
supra,
On remand, the trial court held a resentencing hearing on April 4, 2008. The trial court vacated the defendant’s original sentence and, over his objections,
8
resentenced him to a total effective sentence of seventeen years imprisonment on the risk of injury to a child conviction, with no special parole, but with lifetime sexual offender registration. The new sentence, like the original sentence, reflected sentence enhancement under the per
sistent serious felony offender statute,
On appeal, the defendant claims that: (1) the trial court lacked the authority to resentence him on the risk of injury to a child conviction because the Appellate Court’s order reversed only the sexual assault conviction; and (2) the trial court’s resentencing order, crafted under
I
We first address the defendant’s claim that the trial court did not have the authority to resentence him on the risk of injury to a child conviction. Specifically, the defendant argues that the Appellate Court’s remand order explicitly was limited to a reversal of the conviction of sexual assault in the second degree and did not authorize the trial court to fashion an entirely new sentence. The defendant also claims that the procedural posture of this case — a partially successful appeal and remand order — distinguishes this case from past precedent in which this court applied the “aggregate package” theory of sentencing (aggregate package theory), under which, inter alia, trial courts may reconstruct sentences following a partial reversal of a multicount conviction. In response, the state contends that the trial court properly resentenced the defendant under the aggregate package theory and
In
State
v.
Wade,
supra,
Moreover, we disagree with the defendant’s claim that the Appellate Court’s remand order specifically precluded the trial court from restructuring the original sentence in toto. The Appellate Court’s rescript reads in its entirety: “The judgment is reversed only as to the conviction of sexual assault in the second degree and the case is remanded with direction to render judgment of not guilty as to that offense only. The judgment is affirmed in all other respects.”
State
v.
Michael A.,
supra,
II
We next address the defendant’s claim that the trial court’s resentencing order was improper because he did not
As an initial matter, we note that the defendant seeks to prevail on this unpreserved constitutional claim pursuant to
State
v.
Golding,
The state concedes, and we agree, that the first two prongs of
Golding
are satisfied. The record before us is adequate for review because it contains transcripts of the relevant plea and sentencing hearings,
9
and the defendant’s claim of an inadequate waiver of the right to a jury trial implicates fundamental rights of constitutional magnitude. See
State
v.
Gore,
Turning to the third prong of
Golding,
although the narrow focus of the defendant’s claim relates to the adequacy of the waiver of a jury trial at the resentencing hearing, the broader substance of the claim involves the plea and sentencing proceedings, both preappeal and postappeal.
10
To determine whether the defendant knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently
A
To answer the first question, we begin with a brief review of the persistent felony offender statute.
Significantly, under the line of cases beginning with
Apprendi
v.
New Jersey,
In the present case, it is undisputed that the trial court, and not a jury, made the public interest determination at both the 2004 and 2008 sentencing hearings. 14 Accordingly, without a valid waiver of the defendant’s right to a jury trial on the public interest factor, the court’s public interest determination would be invalid and, thus, the defendant would be entitled to a new sentencing proceeding. See id., 812. We must, therefore, determine whether the defendant waived his right to a jury trial on the public interest factor, on the basis of his original nolo contendere plea with respect to part B of the information and the subsequent canvass conducted by the court.
We conclude that the defendant’s nolo contendere plea on part B of the information, and the waiver of rights that accompanied it, necessarily encompassed the public interest factor. This court has recognized that the persistent felony offender statute is “a sentence enhancement provision, and not an independent criminal offense . . . .” (Citation omitted.)
State
v.
Velasco,
The canvass conducted by the trial court on the defendant’s plea in 2004, through its particular attention to the rights the defendant was waiving and concomitant increased exposure to incarceration, further establishes the scope of the defendant’s waiver. Our recent decision in
State
v.
Gore,
supra,
The trial court’s canvass of the defendant proceeded in relevant part as follows:
“Q. Have you discussed this plea on this part B matter with your attorney?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Okay. Are you satisfied with his advice and his representation on this matter?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Okay. Has he explained to you the elements of the charge that you are pleading to?
“A. Yes. . . .
“Q. Has he further explained to you, sir, that the maximum penalties for discharge is an increase on the other underlying charges from ‘C’ felonies to ‘B’ felonies, the next highest, most serious felony? That’s the effect of this plea. Do you understand that, sir?
“A. Yes.
“Q. So, the maximum exposure, sir — I just want to make sure you understand this. The maximum exposure for the charges when the jmy brought in the verdict this morning, they are ‘C’ felonies, which is a maximum of ten years. By entering the plea here, this exposure goes from ten years to twenty years on each of the charges, the next most serious level of felony. Do you understand that?
“A. Yes. . . .
“Q. Okay. Do you realize by entering the plea, sir, you are giving up certain rights: the right to continue to remain silent, the right to continue to plead not guilty, the right to have [a] court or a jury trial, the right to confront the state’s witnesses and to present your own witnesses, and the right to have the state prove you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. By entering this plea, sir, you give up all of these rights. Do you understand that?
“A. (No audible response)
“Q. These are the rights you are giving up, sir, by entering this plea.
“A. Yes. . . .
“Q. Okay. Again, you understand, sir, you’re giving up all these rights for entering the plea?
“A. Yes.” (Emphasis added.)
Beyond just meeting the threshold requirement for a constitutional canvass of the defendant, we conclude that the trial court also provided the defendant with ample disclosure of the risks to which he had subjected
himself. During the canvass, the trial court explicitly identified the defendant’s right to a jury trial as a right that he was surrendering. The court also specifically noted the impact that his plea had on the felony classification for sentencing
Indeed, this conclusion is consistent with our recent decision in
Bell.
In
State
v.
Bell,
supra,
To the extent that the defendant herein challenges other deficiencies in the canvass, we conclude that the trial court’s canvass of the defendant satisfies the other
requirements for a canvass of a defendant pleading nolo contendere or guilty.
15
“We acknowledge that, [i]t is well established that a plea of guilty cannot be voluntary in the sense that it constitutes an intelligent admission that the accused committed the offense unless the accused has received real notice of the true nature of the charge against him, the first and most universally recognized requirement of due process. ... In determining whether the defendant had real notice of the charge against him, however, [a] court must consider the totality of the circumstances surrounding the entry of a plea.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.)
State
v.
Reid,
Moreover, we disagree with the defendant’s reliance on
State
v.
Fairbanks,
B
Having established that the scope of the defendant’s 2004 canvass and nolo contendere plea encompassed the waiver of a jury finding on the public interest requirement, we turn next to the question of whether that waiver remained in effect, or was reasserted, during the resentencing proceedings in 2008. We have not previously addressed the issue of whether a jury trial waiver made during a plea pursuant to part B of an information remains valid at resentencing following the reversal of one of multiple convictions. We have, however, considered the issue in the analogous context of the validity of a jury trial waiver on a substitute information charging a defendant with a lesser offense. In
State
v.
Williams,
Under the facts of the case before us now, “[o]ur task ... is to determine whether the totality of the record furnishes sufficient assurance of a constitutionally valid waiver of the right to a jury trial.”
State
v.
Gore,
supra,
The defendant contends, however, that courts do not apply preremand waivers to postremand proceedings. We disagree because the cases that the defendant cites hold only that a waiver does not apply to a
retrial
on the original criminal charge as a result of a remand or the grant of a posttrial motion. See, e.g.,
People
v.
Solis,
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
Notes
The defendant appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the Appellate Court, and we transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to
We note that the information and judgment file indicate that the charge and conviction were made under
We note that the information and judgment file indicate that the charge and conviction with respect to part B of the information were made under
For a detailed recitation of the factual basis for the defendant’s convictions, see
State
v.
Michael A.,
supra,
The original sentence was structured as follows: twelve years imprisonment plus five years special parole for each charge, to be served consecutively, for a total effective sentence of twenty-four years imprisonment.
The defendant argued that the Appellate Court’s remand order did not give the trial court jurisdiction on remand to resentence him.
We note that the only transcripts filed are from the April 20, 2007 and April 4, 2008 resentencing hearings held on remand. In the appendix to his brief, the defendant provides, however, limited transcript excerpts from the plea and sentencing hearings held on June 16, 2004, and August 23, 2004. Because the state has not contested the adequacy of the record for review, we will utilize the transcript exceipts and conclude that the first requirement for Golding review is satisfied.
The defendant has rendered review of this claim difficult by not clearly articulating or developing it in the two pages of his brief that address the waiver issue.
For persistent dangerous felony offenders and persistent dangerous sexual offenders, the public interest predicate includes the consideration of an order of lifetime supervision in addition to extended incarceration. See
Although in
State v. Bell,
supra,
See Public Acts, Spec. Sess., January, 2008, No. 08-1, § 7; see also 51 H.R. Proc., Pt. 1,2008 Sess., pp. 21, 35-36, remarte of Representative Michael P. Lawlor (noting Governor’s Task Force recommendation that public interest determination should be removed from persistent offender statute pursuant to Bell); 51 S. Proc., Pt. 1, 2008 Sess., p. 83, remarks of Senator John A. Kissel (noting that proposed bill “makes great strides in addressing the Connecticut Supreme Court decision in [Bell]"')-, 51 S. Proc., supra, pp. 144-45, remarks of Senator Sam S. F. Caligiuri (noting that proposed bill amends persistent offender statutes “to address a constitutional problem that was identified by the Connecticut Supreme Court”).
At the defendant’s original sentencing hearing in August, 2004, the trial court stated that it was “of the opinion that such person’s history, and character, and the nature and circumstances of such person’s criminal conduct, indicate that extended incarceration will best serve the public interest.” At the resentencing hearing in April, 2008, the trial court, after the state asked it to make the public interest finding on the record, stated that it again was “of the opinion that such person’s history and character and the nature and circumstances of such person’s criminal conduct indicate that extended incarceration will best serve the public interest.”
“A plea of nolo contendere has the same legal effect as a plea of guilty on all further proceedings within the indictment.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
State
v.
Madera,
Other states to address the issue of whether a waiver of the right to a jury trial for the underlying offense waives the right to a jury trial for sentencing, have reached the same conclusion. See, e.g.,
State
v.
Ward,
In
Blakely
v.
Washington,
supra,