264 Conn. 593 | Conn. | 2003
Lead Opinion
Opinion
The defendant, Jose Louis Moran, appeals
The record reveals the following facts and procedural history relevant to the issues in this appeal. The defendant was implicated, along with two other coconspirators, in the theft of a car and the robbery of an occupied vehicle that had occurred on March 1, 2001. As a result of these incidents, the defendant was charged with larceny in the first degree in violation of § 53a-122 (a) (3),
Subsequently, the defendant moved the trial court to preclude the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence for conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree. The state objected to this motion, and the court, prior to sentencing the defendant, heard arguments from both the state and the defendant on this issue.
The defendant first claims that the trial court improperly concluded that the mandatory nonsuspendable term of imprisonment, set forth in § 53a-134 (b), applies to the offense of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree. Specifically, the defendant contends that when the legislature enacted General Statutes § 53a-35a,
The issue presented in this appeal raises an issue of statutory construction, namely, whether under General Statutes §§ 53a-51,
“In performing this task, we begin with a searching examination of the language of the statute, because that is the most important factor to be considered. In doing so, we attempt to determine its range of plausible meanings and, if possible, narrow that range to those that appear most plausible. We do not, however, end with the language. We recognize, further, that the puipose or purposes of the legislation, and the context of the language, broadly understood, are directly relevant to the meaning of the language of the statute.
“This does not mean, however, that we will not, in a given case, follow what may be regarded as the plain meaning of the language, namely, the meaning that, when the language is considered without reference to any extratextual sources of its meaning, appears to be the meaning and that appears to preclude any other likely meaning. In such a case, the more strongly the bare text supports such a meaning, the more persuasive the extratextual sources of meaning will have to be in order to yield a different meaning.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Courchesne, 262 Conn. 537, 577-78, 816 A.2d 562 (2003).
In State v. Trent, supra, 182 Conn. 596, the defendant pleaded guilty to attempted robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-134 (a) (2) and 53a-49. On appeal, the defendant claimed that § 53a-51, which provides that an attempt shall be classified as a crime “of the same grade and degree as the most serious offense which is attempted,” required that he be sentenced in accordance with the general sentencing provisions outlined in General Statutes § 53a-35,
In Trent, this court rejected the defendant’s claim and concluded that, because our statute defining inchoate crimes, § 53a-51, provides that attempt is of the “same grade and degree” as the most serious offense that was attempted, the defendant was subject to the specific sentence delineated for the substantive crime that was attempted. Id., 601. Section 53a-51, this court explained, was patterned after the Model Penal Code, and “followed the recommendation of the American Law Institute that attempts to commit crimes . . . should be graded as seriously as the corresponding substantive offense.” (Citations omitted.) Id. Moreover, we determined that the language of § 53a-51, making inchoate crimes of the same grade and degree as the most serious offense that is attempted, “discloses that the legislature intended the specific sentencing structure prescribed for that crime which was the object, albeit unsuccessful, of the attempt. This language demonstrates that careful selectivity of language by the legislature that points unerringly to the conclusion that the sentence for an attempt to commit a crime was to be prescribed in
We find the reasoning of Trent persuasive in the present case. Therefore, because the defendant was convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, under the principle we articulated in Trent, the sentence for that crime shall be in accordance with the sentencing parameters delineated in § 53a-134 (b), which mandates a five year nonsuspendable mandatory term of imprisonment.
The defendant claims, however, that because the defendant in Trent was subject to the sentencing provisions of the predecessor to § 53a-35a, Trent does not apply to the present case. Specifically, the defendant claims that the legislature removed the specific language contained in § 53a-35 that required that the minimum term of imprisonment for robbery in the first degree “shall not be suspended or reduced,” from § 53a-35a, which controls the present case. The absence of this language, the defendant claims, illustrates the legislature’s intent to eliminate the requirement that persons guilty of the crime of conspiracy to commit robbery be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence. We are not persuaded.
Although we agree that § 53a-35a does not include the specific language mandating that aperson convicted of robbery in the first degree shall serve a minimum nonsuspendable sentence, the plain language of § 53a-134 (b), the statute delineating the crime of robbery in the first degree, does. Specifically, § 53a-134 (b) requires that “any person found guilty [of robbery in the first degree] shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of which five years of the sentence imposed may not be suspended or reduced by the court.” Moreover, under § 53a-51, the crime of conspiracy is of the
The legislative history of § 53a-35a also is devoid of any indication that the legislature intended to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for inchoate crimes when it removed the specific language providing that the mandatory sentences were nonsuspendable. Rather, it is apparent to us that the legislature’s main focus in enacting § 53a-35a; see Public Acts 1980, No. 80-442, § 10; was to change from indeterminate sentencing to determinate sentencing. See 23 S. Proc., Pt. 10, 1980 Sess., p. 3428, remarks of Senator Salvatore C. DePiano (“[i]n regard to the bill ... as you know, in our State, we have an indeterminate sentencing procedure in which a sentence is given such as ten to twenty or seven to ten and this bill would in effect do away with indeterminate sentencing and go to determinate sentencing so that when a sentence is issued on a particular case, it will be for a specific number of years and not have a higher load to that particular sentence”). Furthermore, the legislative history indicates that the legislature did not intend to make changes to the mandatory sentences that were already in place. Accordingly, in the House debate, Representative Alfred Onorato stated, in response to an inquiry regarding any increased severity in sentences, “I remark that . . . there are only two changes. One has to deal with sexual assault in the first degree with a deadly weapon. That would be a minimum mandatory five years in prison. The other minimum
Thus, contrary to the defendant’s assertion that the legislature intended to eliminate the mandatory minimum for conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, we conclude that the legislature instead merely specified the mandatory sentences in the statute defining the substantive crime. For instance, in the present case, Public Act 80-442, § 22, amended § 53a-134 to insert subsection (b), which provides for the mandatory nonsuspendable sentence that previously was required in § 53a-35. Consequently, the legislature did not eliminate the specific language mandating the minimum nonsuspendable sentences for those convicted of certain crimes; rather, it merely placed the language requiring those mandatory sentences within the statute that delineated the elements of the particular crime. It is evident to us, therefore, that the legislature intended to clarify farther that the crime of robbery in the first degree carried with it a minimum sentence by putting that language in the statute delineating the crime itself. See 23 S. Proc., supra, p. 3430, remarks of Senator DePiano (“[t]his bill would further clarify for the following offenses the already required minimums of imprisonment which would have to be imposed . . . robbery in the first degree while armed with a deadly weapon, a class B felony, a minimum term of five years”). Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court properly determined that the defendant, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, was subject to the minimum nonsuspendable sentence set forth in § 53a-134 (b).
II
The defendant next claims that even if the statutory sentencing scheme imposes a mandatory minimum sen
A
The defendant first claims that requiring a minimum sentence for persons guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery while at the same time not requiring the same for those persons guilty of conspiracy to commit murder violates his equal protection rights. To begin, we note that the defendant has not offered any independent analysis of his equal protection claim under the state constitution. We, therefore, will “limit our review to the relevant federal constitutional claim.” (Internal quo
“In order to analyze [the defendant’s claim], we first must detail the principles applicable to equal protection analysis.” State v. Morales, 240 Conn. 727, 738, 694 A.2d 758 (1997). “First, in general, as in any constitutional challenge to the validity of a statutory scheme, the statut[ory scheme] is presumed constitutional . . . and [t]he burden is on the one attacking the legislative arrangement to negative every conceivable basis which might support it ... . Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 320, 113 S. Ct. 2637, 125 L. Ed. 2d 257 (1993).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Wright, supra, 246 Conn. 138-39.
Moreover, “[t]o implicate the equal protection [clause] under the . . . federal [constitution] ... it is necessary that the state statute [or statutory scheme] in question, either on its face or in practice, treat persons standing in the same relation to it differently. . . . State v. Morales, supra, 240 Conn. 738-39. Thus, the analytical predicate [of consideration of an equal protection claim] is a determination of who are the persons similarly situated. Darak v. Darak, 210 Conn. 462, 473, 556 A.2d 145 (1989).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Wright, supra, 246 Conn. 139.
“The equal protection clause does not require absolute equality or precisely equal advantages [between such similarly situated persons] .... Ross v. Moffitt, 417 U.S. 600, 612, 94 S. Ct. 2437, 41 L. Ed. 2d 341 (1974); Daily v. New Britain Machine Co., [200 Conn. 562, 577-78, 512 A.2d 893 (1986)]. ... To determine whether a particular classification violates the guarantees of equal protection, the court must consider the character of the classification; the individual interests affected by the classification; and the governmental interests asserted in support of the classification. Dunn
It is undisputed that the constitutionality of the sentencing scheme under which the defendant was sentenced must be analyzed under rational basis review because it neither implicates a fundamental right, nor affects a suspect group. Thus, we next determine the “analytical predicate” of an equal protection claim, namely, a “determination of who are the persons similarly situated . . . .” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 141. The defendant’s claim relies on a comparison between those who have been convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree and those who have been convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. As we have concluded in a similar case, there are two distinct problems with predicating the defendant’s equal protection claim on these classifications. See id.
First, conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, and conspiracy to commit murder, “constitute two separate and distinct crimes.” Id., 142. As we explained in Wright, “a defendant who has committed acts satisfying the elements of both crimes could be convicted of and sentenced for both offenses, without violating the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.” Id. Accordingly, those who conspire to commit robbery and those who conspire to commit murder
“Second, the defendant does not even attempt to claim that the two classes are similarly situated. His claim, rather, is that those who, like him, have [participated in a conspiracy to commit robbery] have committed a less serious crime than those who have [participated in a conspiracy to commit murder], and that, therefore, his class deserves a less serious penalty than the latter class. Thus, rather than challenging disparate treatment vis-a-vis some other similarly situated class, the defendant really is claiming that the penal statutes are structured arbitrarily and unfairly as between two distinct, differently situated classes, resulting in arbitrary and unfair treatment to his class.” (Emphasis in original.) Id., 142-43.
Thus, although the defendant’s claim is “ill-suited to the framework of equal protection”; id., 143; we choose to proceed in the framework of equal protection analysis by “[assuming arguendo that the two categories of defendants identified by the defendant are similarly situated with respect to the [statutory scheme] .... Doing so allows us to engage in a rational basis analysis that, for all material purposes, is indistinguishable from the analysis in which we would engage pursuant to a due process claim.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 143-44; compare Donahue v. Southington, 259 Conn. 783, 795, 792 A.2d 76 (2002) (under rational basis review of statute challenged on equal protection grounds, “[w]e must decide whether the classification and disparate treatment inherent in a statute bear a rational relationship to a legitimate state end and are based on reasons related to the accomplishment of that goal” [internal quotation marks omitted]) with State v. Matos, 240 Conn. 743, 750, 694 A.2d 775 (1997) (rational basis review of statute challenged
In State v. Wright, supra, 246 Conn. 135-36, the defendant was convicted of larceny from the person in violation of General Statutes § 53a-123 (a) (3). On appeal, the defendant claimed that the classification in § 53a-123 (a) (3)
We find the reasoning of Wright persuasive in the present case, and we conclude that the legislature’s decision, requiring a mandatory minimum sentence for those who are found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, while not requiring a mandatory minimum sentence for those who are found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, is supported by a rational basis. In our view, it was rational for the legislature to have been more concerned that a court may impose a sentence of less than five years on those who commit conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, rather than on those who are guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Put differently, there is a plausible policy reason for not specifically requiring that a person guilty of conspiracy to commit murder serve a minimum sentence; namely, it is unlikely that a court would impose a sentence of less than five years for that particular crime. Rather, the legislature reasonably could have concluded that, notwithstanding the lack of a specific requirement of a mandatory minimum sentence, a court is likely to impose a sentence for conspiracy to commit murder that would exceed or equal a minimum of five years because of the particularly serious nature of that specific crime. Conversely, the legislature reasonably could have determined that courts were less likely to impose a minimum of five years imprisonment on a defendant who is guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree. The legislature, therefore, in order to address that possibility,
Similarly, the legislature reasonably could have intended that persons guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree serve a minimum sentence because that crime occurs more often. Thus, the legislative interest in protecting the public welfare by establishing penalties for crimes can be rationally served by providing mandatory minimum sentences for those crimes that occur more frequently than others. This is not to say that the crime of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree is less serious than the crime of conspiracy to commit murder; it simply means that the legislature acted rationally when it sought to deter certain crimes by enacting a nonsuspendable minimum sentence for a crime that, unfortunately, occurs with more frequency. See id., 148 (“pursuant to its general objective of protecting the welfare of the public, the legislature also has a legitimate interest in deterring crime by setting more severe penalties for crimes that the legislature reasonably perceives as being more easily committed than other crimes, regardless of the relative seriousness of the prohibited conduct” [emphasis added]). Accordingly, we conclude that the sentencing scheme at issue in the present case is supported by a rational basis.
The defendant, however, relies on this court’s decisions in State v. Jenkins, 198 Conn. 671, 504 A.2d 1053 (1986), and State v. O’Neill, 200 Conn. 268, 511 A.2d 321 (1986), in support of his claim that the sentencing scheme under which he was sentenced, which punishes a less serious crime more severely than another, more
In State v. Jenkins, supra, 198 Conn. 672, the defendant, who had been convicted of kidnapping in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 53a-92 (a) (2) (C),
Our decision in Jenkins is distinguishable from the present case. First, we concluded in Jenkins that it was “not rational and sensible to impose a lesser term of mandatory imprisonment on one convicted of kidnapping with the use of a firearm than on one convicted for a similar crime not involving a firearm.” (Emphasis added.) Id., 679-80. In those particular circumstances, namely, the existence of two similar crimes with dissimilar sentences, we could not discern a rational basis for the discrepancy in treatment. Conversely, the defendant in the present case seeks to compare the crimes of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit murder, which, as we explained previously, constitute two separate and distinct crimes. Therefore, because the two crimes the defendant is attempting to compare in the present case are separate and distinct crimes, it leaves “ample scope for discovery of a rational basis for the different penalties for each offense.” State v. Wright, supra, 246 Conn. 153. Second, in contrast with Jenkins, there is no indication that the statutory scheme at issue in the present case, involved any “legislative error . . . .” State v. Jenkins, supra, 198 Conn. 677.
We also reject the defendant’s reliance on State v. O’Neill, supra, 200 Conn. 268. In O’Neill, the defendant was convicted of arson in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-lll (a).
Like the defendant in Jenkins, the defendant in O’Neill was comparing two similar crimes; namely, arson in the first degree and arson murder, thereby rendering it impossible to conceive of a rational basis to support treating the less serious crime more severely than the more serious crime. In the present case, however, the defendant is attempting to compare two separate and distinct crimes. Thus, because of the separate and distinct nature of the crimes of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree and conspiracy to commit murder, a rational basis exists for the different treatment that each crime is given in the sentencing scheme.
B
The defendant next claims that the sentencing scheme violates his substantive due process rights
Because the defendant’s claim does not implicate a fundamental right, we review the sentencing scheme at issue in the present case under a rational basis test. Hammond v. Commissioner of Correction, 259 Conn. 855, 888, 792 A.2d 774 (2002). In order for a statute to withstand rational basis review, “the state must show only that the law is not arbitrary or capricious, that is, that it bears a reasonable relation to some legitimate state purpose.” Id. “The party claiming a constitutional violation bears the heavy burden of proving that the challenged policy has no reasonable relationship to any legitimate state purpose . . . .” (Citation omitted; emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Matos, supra, 240 Conn. 750.
Our analysis of the defendant’s due process claim mirrors our analysis under the defendant’s equal protection claim because both allege that the application of the sentencing scheme in the present case creates irrational results. For the same reasons that we rejected this claim in part IIA of this opinion, we conclude that the sentencing scheme at issue in the present case does not violate the defendant’s right to due process under the federal constitution.
C
Finally, the defendant claims that the sentencing scheme at issue in the present case is unconstitutionally vague and, therefore, violates his due process rights because it fails to give a person notice that the crime of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree
“The constitutional injunction that is commonly referred to as the void for vagueness doctrine embodies two central precepts: the right to fair warning of the effect of a governing statute or regulation and the guarantee against standardless law enforcement. Smith v. Goguen, 415 U.S. 566, 572-73, 94 S. Ct. 1242, 39 L. Ed. 2d 605 (1974); Mitchell v. King, 169 Conn. 140, 142-43, 363 A.2d 68 (1975). State v. Schriver, [207 Conn. 456, 459-60, 542 A.2d 686 (1988)]. Thus, [i]n order to surmount a vagueness challenge, a statute [must] afford a person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is permitted or prohibited. . . . State v. Payne, 240 Conn. 766, 777, 695 A.2d 525 (1997). Furthermore, [i]f the meaning of a statute can be fairly ascertained a statute will not be void for vagueness since [m]any statutes will have some inherent vagueness, for [i]n most English words and phrases there lurk uncertainties. . . . References to judicial opinions involving the statute, the common law, legal dictionaries, or treatises may be necessary to ascertain a statute’s meaning to determine if it gives fair warning. . . . Id., 778.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Jason B., 248 Conn. 543, 556, 729 A.2d 760, cert. denied, 528 U.S. 967, 120 S. Ct. 406, 145 L. Ed. 2d 316 (1999). We conclude that a person of ordinary intelligence would understand that a person guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree would be subject to a mandatory nonsuspendable term of imprisonment.
Section 53a-134 (b) clearly and unequivocally provides that a person guilty of robbery in the first degree by use of a deadly weapon shall be imprisoned for a minimum of five years, which is not suspendable. Additionally, § 53a-51 clearly provides that the crime of conspiracy is of the same grade and degree as the
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion BORDEN, KATZ and VERTEFEUILLE, Js., concurred.
The defendant appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the Appellate Court. The defendant, thereafter, filed a motion for transfer of the appeal to this court. We granted that motion pursuant to Practice Book § 65-2 and the transfer authority conferred upon us by General Statutes § 51-199 (c).
General Statutes § 53a-48 (a) provides: “A person is guilty of conspiracy when, with intent that conduct constituting a crime be performed, he agrees with one or more persons to engage in or cause the performance of such conduct, and any one of them commits an overt act in pursuance of such conspiracy.”
General Statutes § 53a-122 (a) provides in relevant part: “A person is guilty of larceny in the first degree when he commits larceny, as defined in section 53a-119, and ... (3) the property consists of a motor vehicle, the value of which exceeds ten thousand dollars . . . .”
General Statutes § 53a-136a provides: “Any person who commits robbery by taking a motor vehicle from the person of another knowing that such motor vehicle is occupied by such other person shall be imprisoned for a term of three years which shall not be suspended and shall be in addition and consecutive to any term of imprisonment imposed for such offense.”
General Statutes § 53a-134 (a) provides in relevant part: “A person is guilty of robbery in the first degree when, in the course of the commission of the crime of robbery as defined in section 53a-133 or of immediate flight therefrom, he or another participant in the crime ... (2) is armed with a deadly weapon . . . .”
General Statutes § 53a-134 (b) provides: “Robbery in the first degree is a class B felony provided any person found guilty under subdivision (2) of
The equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution provides in relevant part: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall. . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. . . .”
Article first, § 20, of the constitution of Connecticut provides in relevant part: “No person shall be denied the equal protection of the law . . . .”
The due process clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution provides in relevant part: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law . . . .”
Article first, § 8, of the constitution of Connecticut provides in relevant part: “No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law . . . .”
The defendant made the same arguments to the trial court that he asserts in this appeal. The state claimed, in the trial court, that this court’s decision in State v. Trent, 182 Conn. 595, 438 A.2d 796 (1981), controls the present case, and that the mandatory minimum sentence for a person convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree is nonsuspendable pursuant to § 53a-134 (b).
Specifically, the trial court sentenced the defendant to a term of imprisonment of eleven years, execution suspended after five years, and three years probation, on the count of conspiracy to commit larceny in the first degree, and three years, the mandatory minimum sentence, on the count of robbery of an occupied motor vehicle, eleven years, execution suspended after five years, and three years probation, of which, the trial court held, five years was the mandatory minimum sentence, on the count of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree. Further, the court ordered that the two mandatory minimum sentences should run consecutive to each other for a total effective sentence of eleven years, execution suspended after eight years, with three years probation. The defendant does not challenge
General Statutes § 53a-35a provides in relevant part: “For any felony committed on or after July 1, 1981, the sentence of imprisonment shall be a definite sentence and the term shall be fixed by the court as follows . . . (5) for a class B felony other than manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm under section 53a-55a, a term not less than one year nor more than twenty years, except that for a conviction under section . . . 53a-134 (a) (2), the term shall be not less than five years nor more than twenty years . . . .”
General Statutes § 53a-51 provides: “Attempt and conspiracy are crimes of the same grade and degree as the most serious offense wMch is attempted or is an object of the conspiracy, except that an attempt or conspiracy to commit a class A felony is a class B felony.”
General Statutes § 53a-35 (c) provides in relevant part: “Except as provided in subsection (d) the minimum term of an indeterminate sentence shall be fixed by the court and specified in the sentence as follows . . .
General Statutes § 53a-123 provides in relevant part,: “(a) A person is guilty of larceny in the second degree when he commits larceny, as defined in section 53a-119, and ... (3) the property, regardless of its nature or value, is taken from the person of another ....
“(c) Larceny in the second degree is a class C felony.”
General Statutes § 53a-136 provides: “(a) A person is guilty of robbery in the third degree when he commits robbery as defined in section 53a-133.
“(b) Robbery in the third degree is a class D felony.”
General Statutes (Rev. to 1985) § 53a-92 (a) provides in relevant part: “Aperson is guilty of kidnapping in the first degree when he abducts another person and when ... (2) he restrains the person abducted with intent to . . . (C) terrorize him or a third person . . . .”
General Statutes § 53a-92aprovides: “(a) Aperson is guilty of kidnapping in the first degree with a firearm when he commits kidnapping in the first degree as provided in section 53a-92, and in the commission of said crime he uses or is armed with and threatens the use of or displays or represents by his words or conduct that he possesses a pistol, revolver, machine gun, shotgun, rifle or other firearm. No person shall be convicted of kidnapping in the first degree and kidnapping in the first degree with a firearm upon the same transaction but such person may be charged and prosecuted for both such offenses upon the same information.
“(b) Kidnapping in the first degree with a firearm is a class A felony for which one year of the sentence imposed may not be suspended or reduced by the court.”
General Statutes § 53a-lll (a) provides in relevant pari: “A person is guilty of arson in the first degree when, with intent to destroy or damage a building, as defined in section 53a-100, he starts a fire or causes an explosion, and (1) the building is inhabited or occupied or the person has reason to believe the building may be inhabited or occupied . . .
General Statutes § 53a-54d provides: “A person is guilty of murder when, acting either alone or with one or more persons, he commits arson and, in the course of such arson, causes the death of a person. Notwithstanding any other provision of the general statutes, any person convicted of murder under this section shall be punished by life imprisonment and shall not be eligible for parole.”
Concurrence Opinion
concurring. I agree with the majority’s conclusion in this case but write separately to reaffirm my continuing belief in the plain meaning rule as expressed in my dissenting opinion in State v. Courchesne, 262 Conn. 537, 597, 618-19, 816 A.2d 562 (2003) (Zarella, J., dissenting). I also agree, however, that the majority’s reference to the legislative genealogy in the present case is appropriate because General Statutes §§ 53a-35a and 53a-134 (b) both contain substantive sentencing provisions relating specifically to robbery in the first degree.