State v. Muhammad

• Citation: 117 Conn.App. 181,979 A.2d 501
• Decision Date: 22 September 2009
• Docket Number: No. 29287.,29287.
• Court: Appellate Court of Connecticut
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Najee MUHAMMAD.

979 A.2d 501

117 Conn.App. 181

STATE of Connecticut v. Najee MUHAMMAD.

No. 29287.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 19, 2009.

Decided September 22, 2009.

Deborah G. Stevenson, special public defender, for the appellant (defendant).

Adam E. Mattei, special deputy assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Jonathan C. Benedict, state's attorney, and Cornelius P. Kelly, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

HARPER, BEACH and WEST, Js.

HARPER, J.

The defendant, Najee Muhammad, also known as Lester A. Edwards, appeals from the judgment of the trial court revoking his probation pursuant to General Statutes § 53a-32. The defendant claims that (1) the court based its revocation on a clearly erroneous finding of fact, (2) the court improperly failed to make any findings of fact or conclusions of law as to whether he had acted in self-defense during the incident underlying the violation of probation charge and (3) the court improperly failed to permit him to review and to present medical records supporting his claim of self-defense. With regard to the first claim raised by the defendant, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. With regard to the remaining claims raised by the defendant, we dismiss the appeal.

The following facts and procedural history underlie the defendant's appeal. In November, 2002, the defendant was convicted, following his plea of nolo contendere, of risk of injury to a child in violation of General Statutes § 53-21(a)(2). That charge arose from allegations that the defendant engaged in sexual contact with his daughter when she was eight years old. The court sentenced the defendant to a ten year term of incarceration, suspended after five years, followed by ten years of probation. In January, 2007, the defendant began serving his term of probation. Among the standard conditions of his probation was that he not violate any criminal law of this state.

Subsequently, the defendant was arrested following an incident that occurred on April 24, 2007. Following the defendant's arrest, a probation officer filed a violation of probation motion, form JD-CR-59V, alleging that the defendant had violated a criminal law of this state. In August, 2007, the court held a hearing related to the motion. The defendant did not testify at the hearing. At the hearing, the state presented evidence that, on April 24, 2007, the defendant was outside the home of a seventeen year old female to whom he had directed comments of a sexual nature. The teenager reported the defendant's presence to her mother, who was traveling home with a male companion, the victim. When the victim arrived on the scene, he exited his automobile, observed the defendant and spoke with the defendant. After the two men argued with each other, the victim turned to walk away. At that time, the defendant struck the victim in the back of the head, causing significant injury. The police were called to the scene. A police officer stopped the defendant's automobile, which was nearby, and the defendant admitted striking the victim in the head.

At the end of the adjudicative phase of the proceeding, the court found that the defendant, by committing an assault on the victim, committed breach of the peace in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-181. During the dispositional phase of the proceeding, the prosecutor argued that, in light of the defendant's criminal history and assaultive conduct during this incident, a sentence of incarceration for the remaining five years of the defendant's unexecuted sentence was appropriate. The defendant's attorney argued that the defendant remained a good risk for probation. The defendant also addressed the court personally, stating that he had acted in self-defense during the incident and that his criminal record was in the past. Following the dispositional phase of the proceeding, the court revoked the defendant's probation and sentenced the defendant to a term of incarceration of five years, suspended after three years, followed by twenty years of probation. The court also ordered the defendant to undergo sex offender evaluation and treatment.¹ From the judgment revoking probation, the defendant appeals.

Several days after the court rendered its decision in the violation of probation case, the defendant appeared in court to respond to the criminal charge underlying the violation of probation charge. Specifically, on August 28, 2007, the defendant pleaded guilty to the crime of breach of the peace in the second degree. That charge arose from the defendant's conduct in striking the victim on April 24, 2007. The court accepted the defendant's plea and subsequently imposed sentence related thereto. The defendant has not appealed from that judgment.

I

First, the defendant claims that the court revoked his probation on the basis of a clearly erroneous finding of fact, which is that he had committed the crime of assault in the third degree. We reject the defendant's claim.

At the conclusion of the adjudicative phase of the proceeding, the court stated in relevant part: "The court finds that the defendant had notice of the special conditions of his probation as well as the regular or normal conditions of his probation, specifically, that he not violate any laws of the state of Connecticut.... And the court finds, based upon all of the credible evidence presented here today that the defendant did, on April 24, 2007, assault [the victim], and violated [General Statutes § ] 53a-181, breach of peace in the second degree, which reads that a person is guilty of breach of the peace in the second degree when, with the intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, such person assaults or strikes another. So ... there is sufficient evidence for this court to find by a preponderance of the evidence that the state has met its burden of proof that the defendant did violate that condition of his probation." The next day, when the court set forth its decision in the dispositional phase of the proceeding, the court referred to the fact that the defendant had been arrested on an "assault charge." The court stated, inter alia, that the defendant had violated the conditions of his probation "by committing an assault in the third degree."

The defendant argues that the court based its disposition solely on a finding that he had committed the crime of assault in the third degree. The defendant argues that this was improper because, during the adjudicative phase of the proceeding, the court had made a finding of criminal liability that was "wholly unrelated to any assault statute." The defendant also asserts that a finding that he had committed the crime of assault in the third degree was clearly erroneous.²

The defendant's claim is based on a flawed interpretation of the court's decision. Following the adjudicative phase of the proceeding, the court unambiguously determined that the defendant had violated the breach of the peace statute as a result of his assaultive conduct on April 24, 2007. In the adjudicative phase of a probation revocation proceeding, "[a] trial court ... makes a factual determination of whether a condition of probation has been violated." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Payne, 88 Conn.App. 656, 659-60, 870 A.2d 1159, cert. denied, 274 Conn. 903, 876 A.2d 13 (2005). The defendant does not claim that the court's determination that he violated the breach of the peace statute was clearly erroneous or that, as a matter of law, it did not constitute a sufficient ground on which to revoke his probation. Insofar as the defendant asserts that the court, in the dispositional phase, did not base its revocation on this finding of criminal conduct, there is no merit to his claim.

During the dispositional phase of the proceeding, the court clearly referred to the fact that the defendant had committed an assault. The court did not explain that the defendant's assaultive conduct was the basis of its finding that the defendant had committed breach of the peace in the second degree, as it had done during the adjudicative phase of the proceedings. We, however, interpret the court's statements in light of its unambiguous findings in the adjudicative phase of the proceeding that the defendant's assaultive conduct was, in fact, the basis of its determination that the defendant had violated the breach of the peace statute. Contrary to the defendant's argument, this determination was intricately and logically related to the court's finding that the defendant had assaulted the victim on April 24, 2007. As the court correctly explained in its decision, a person may commit breach of the peace in the second degree in violation of § 53a-181(a)(2) by "assault[ing] or strik[ing] another."

Accordingly, the defendant's claim that the court abused its discretion in the dispositional phase of the probation revocation proceeding because its revocation was not based on its finding of criminal liability in the adjudicative phase of the proceeding is without merit.

II

The second and third claims raised by the defendant relate to his claim of self-defense that he asserted during the probation revocation hearing. The defendant claims that the court improperly failed to make any findings of fact or conclusions of law as to whether he had acted in self-defense during the incident underlying the violation of probation charge. The defendant also claims that the court improperly failed to permit him to review and to present medical records of the victim that, he argues, supported his claim of self-defense. We agree with the state's assertion that those claims have been rendered moot by the criminal proceeding that followed the revocation of probation proceeding.

As stated previously, following the violation of probation...