2 Conn. App. 219 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1984
The defendant was denied accelerated pretrial rehabilitation which he sought under the provisions of General Statutes
The state argues that the denial of an application for accelerated rehabilitation is not reviewable after a plea of nolo contendere and that, even if the denial were reviewable, the trial court, in this case, did not abuse its discretion.
A plea of nolo contendere, while not an express admission of guilt, is tantamount to a finding of guilt. North Carolina v. Alford,
Courts are generally in agreement that a plea of nolo contendere or a guilty plea acts as a cutoff point for the assertion on appeal of claims which preceeded [preceded] the plea and which relate to defenses, nonjurisdictional defects or a deprivation of constitutional rights. Buckley v. Warden, supra; note, 89 A.L.R. 2d 540, 592. In accordance with this general decisional rule, the state argues, in essence, that as soon as the defendant entered his plea of nolo contendere, he waived any complaint which he may have had that the court had previously abused its discretion in the denial of his application for accelerated pretrial rehabilitation.
The state also cites General Statutes
The defendant cannot appeal from a denial of an application for accelerated rehabilitation prior to trial. State v. Spendolini,
The question posed by the present case is whether the denial of an application for accelerated rehabilitation is appealable in the absence of a trial and conviction after a plea of nolo contendere. Insofar as this record discloses, the defendant's plea was unconditionally made in open court, without reservation.8 The cases previously cited make it clear that he waived almost all rights he may have had prior to the entry of his plea. Although the denial of an application for accelerated rehabilitation is not functionally related to guilt or innocence, as is a ruling on the admissibility of evidence, but is, rather, available to one accused of a non-serious crime who will "probably not offend in the future," the denial is not equal to a deprivation of a constitutional right. Accelerated rehabilitation is not a right at all. It is a statutory alternative to the traditional course of prosecution available for some defendants and totally dependent upon the trial court's discretion. Without a specific statutory grant of access to appellate review after a plea of nolo contendere, the defendant has no right to such review.
Since the defendant chose to plead nolo contendere and makes no claim here that his plea was not voluntarily, intelligently and knowingly made, he has lost the right to appeal the denial of his application for accelerated rehabilitation. The question of whether that denial was an abuse of discretion need not be reached.9
The appeal is dismissed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.