State v. Lawrence, 17598.

• Decision Date: 30 January 2007
• Docket Number: No. 17598.,17598.
• Citation: 281 Conn. 147,913 A.2d 428
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Tarrance LAWRENCE.

913 A.2d 428

281 Conn. 147

STATE of Connecticut v. Tarrance LAWRENCE.

No. 17598.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued November 21, 2006.

Decided January 30, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Donald D. Dakers, special public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Michele C. Lukban, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, state's attorney, and John M. Waddock, supervisory assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

BORDEN, NORCOTT, KATZ, PALMER and ZARELLA, Js.

KATZ, J.

The defendant, Tarrance Lawrence, appeals, following our grant of certification,¹ from the judgment of the Appellate Court affirming the judgment of the trial court dismissing his motion to correct an illegal sentence, filed pursuant to Practice Book § 43-22,² based on the Appellate Court's determination that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider the motion. State v. Lawrence, 91 Conn.App. 765, 766-67, 882 A.2d 689 (2005). The issue before us is whether § 43-22 is an appropriate procedural vehicle by which to challenge an allegedly improper conviction or whether, as a result of the finality of the defendant's conviction, the trial court is without jurisdiction to entertain his claim. We conclude that the Appellate Court properly determined that, because the defendant's claim did not fall within the purview of § 43-22, the trial court lacked jurisdiction. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.

The Appellate Court opinion sets forth the following undisputed facts. "The defendant was charged with one count each of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a(a), carrying a pistol without a permit in violation of General Statutes [Rev. to 1995] § 29-35 and tampering with evidence in violation of General Statutes § 53a-155(a)(1). The murder charge alleged that the defendant caused the death of a person by use of a firearm. At trial, the defendant presented a defense of extreme emotional disturbance with respect to the murder charge. The court instructed the jury regarding that defense with the following instruction as the defendant had requested: `If you unanimously find that the state has proven each of said elements of the crime of murder beyond a reasonable doubt, and if you also unanimously find that the defendant has proven by the preponderance of the evidence each of the elements of the affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance, you shall find the defendant guilty of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm by reason of extreme emotional disturbance and not guilty of murder.' The jury subsequently found the defendant guilty of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm in violation of General Statutes § 53a-55a(a) as well as guilty on the other two counts with which he had been charged. The court rendered judgment in accordance with the verdict and sentenced the defendant to thirty-five years on the count of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm, two years on the count of carrying a pistol without a permit and three years on the count of tampering with evidence. All sentences were to run concurrently, resulting in a total effective sentence of thirty-five years incarceration. The defendant appealed from his conviction on grounds unrelated to his present claim,³ and [the Appellate Court] affirmed the judgment. State v. Lawrence, 67 Conn.App. 284, 786 A.2d 1227 (2001), cert. denied, 259 Conn. 919, 791 A.2d 567 (2002).

"The defendant subsequently filed in the trial court a motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Practice Book § 43-22, in which he claimed that his conviction for manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm was improper; he asserted that because the jury had acquitted him of murder on the basis of the affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance, the proper conviction should have been of manslaughter in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-55(a)(2). The maximum sentence for manslaughter in the first degree is twenty years incarceration; see General Statutes § 53a-35a(5); and, therefore, the defendant, in his motion, requested that the court refer the matter to the sentencing judge. The court, after considering the defendant's claims and the relief requested, dismissed the defendant's motion for lack of jurisdiction." State v. Lawrence, supra, 91 Conn. App. at 767-68, 882 A.2d 689.

In his appeal to the Appellate Court from the judgment of dismissal, the defendant claimed that he improperly had been convicted of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm, and that, had he properly been convicted of manslaughter in the first degree, his sentence of imprisonment could not have exceeded twenty years. According to the defendant, because he was sentenced to thirty-five years imprisonment, his sentence exceeded the statutory maximum permitted under the sentencing statute and he properly invoked the jurisdiction of the court, pursuant to § 43-22; see footnote 2 of this opinion; to correct that illegal sentence. Thus, the defendant's claim in essence challenged the propriety of the underlying conviction.

The question the Appellate Court resolved, therefore, was whether "§ 43-22 is an appropriate procedural vehicle by which to challenge an allegedly improper conviction or whether the finality of the defendant's conviction, subject to any collateral challenges the defendant may raise via a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, has left the court without jurisdiction to entertain his claim." State v. Lawrence, supra, 91 Conn.App. at 769, 882 A.2d 689.

The Appellate Court determined that the trial court properly had concluded that it did not have jurisdiction pursuant to § 43-22 and, accordingly, affirmed the trial court's judgment dismissing the defendant's motion to correct an illegal sentence.⁴ Id., at 776, 882 A.2d 689. This certified appeal followed.

The defendant claims before this court that, because his conviction is illegal, his sentence is necessarily illegal and, therefore, his claim falls within the purview of § 43-22. The state responds that, because the defendant is challenging what transpired at trial, his claim does not fall within § 43-22. We agree with the state.

We again rely on the Appellate Court's opinion for its discussion of the well established principles of jurisdiction guiding our resolution of this issue. "Jurisdiction involves the power in a court to hear and determine the cause of action presented to it and its source is the constitutional and statutory provisions by which it is created. Connecticut State Employees Assn., Inc. v. Connecticut Personnel Policy Board, 165 Conn. 448, 456, 334 A.2d 909 (1973); see Andrew Ansaldi Co. v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 207 Conn. 67, 73, 540 A.2d 59 (1988) (Shea, J., concurring). Article fifth, § 1 of the Connecticut constitution proclaims that [t]he powers and jurisdiction of the courts shall be defined by law, and General Statutes § 51-164s provides that [t]he superior court shall be the sole court of original jurisdiction for all causes of action, except such actions over which the courts of probate have original jurisdiction, as provided by statute.... State v. Carey, 222 Conn. 299, 305, 610 A.2d 1147 (1992), on appeal after remand, 228 Conn. 487, 636 A.2d 840 (1994). The Superior Court is a constitutional court of general jurisdiction.... In the absence of statutory or constitutional provisions, the limits of its jurisdiction are delineated by the common law.... State v. Luzietti, 230 Conn. 427, 431, 646 A.2d 85 (1994).

"It is well established that under the common law a trial court has the discretionary power to modify or vacate a criminal judgment before the sentence has been executed.... This is so because the court loses jurisdiction over the case when the defendant is committed to the custody of the commissioner of correction and begins serving the sentence.... Id., at 431-32, 646 A.2d 85. There are a limited number of circumstances in which the legislature has conferred on the trial courts continuing jurisdiction to act on their judgments after the commencement of sentence.... See, e.g., General Statutes §§ 53a-29 through 53a-34 (permitting trial court to modify terms of probation after sentence is imposed); General Statutes § 52-270 (granting jurisdiction to trial court to hear petition for a new trial after execution of original sentence has commenced); General Statutes § 53a-39 (allowing trial court to modify sentences of less than three years provided hearing is held and good cause shown).... State v. Boulier, 49 Conn.App. 702, 705, 716 A.2d 134 (1998). Without a legislative or constitutional grant of continuing jurisdiction, however, the trial court lacks jurisdiction to modify its judgment. State v. Luzietti, supra, 230 Conn. at 431, 646 A.2d 85." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Lawrence, supra, 91 Conn.App. at 769-71, 882 A.2d 689.

The defendant does not dispute that the jurisdiction of the sentencing court terminates once a defendant's sentence has begun and that a court may not take action affecting a defendant's sentence unless it expressly has been authorized to act. See State v. Reid, 277 Conn. 764, 775, 894 A.2d 963 (2006) ("In a criminal case the imposition of sentence is the judgment of the court.... When the sentence is put into effect and the prisoner is taken in execution, custody is transferred from the court to the custodian of the penal institution. At this point jurisdiction of the court over the prisoner terminates." [Internal quotation marks omitted.]); Cobham v. Commissioner of Correction, 258 Conn. 30, 37, 779 A.2d 80 (2001) ("[t]his court has held that the jurisdiction of the sentencing court terminates once a defendant's sentence has begun, and, therefore, that court may no longer take any action affecting a defendant's sentence unless it expressly has been authorized to act"). The defendant further acknowledges that there is no...