State v. Petion, SC 19938

Decision Date23 July 2019
Docket NumberSC 19938
CourtConnecticut Supreme Court
Parties STATE of Connecticut v. Divenson PETION

Jennifer B. Smith, assigned counsel, for the appellant (defendant).

James M. Ralls, assistant state's attorney, with whom were Richard J. Colangelo, Jr., state's attorney, and Maureen Ornousky, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Robinson, C.J., and Palmer, McDonald, D'Auria, Mullins, Kahn and Ecker, Js.

McDONALD, J.

Whether an assault results in physical injury or serious physical injury can have profound ramifications for the victim. Consequently, substantially greater punishment may be imposed for the latter injury than the former.1 Although this court has acknowledged "the difficulty of drawing a precise line as to where physical injury leaves off and serious physical injury begins" (internal quotation marks omitted); State v. Ovechka , 292 Conn. 533, 546–47, 975 A.2d 1 (2009) ; see also State v. Almeda , 211 Conn. 441, 451, 560 A.2d 389 (1989) ; the present case provides an opportunity to illuminate that distinction. In particular, we use this occasion to examine the parameters that should be used by the trier of fact to assess whether a defendant has inflicted serious physical injury in the form of serious disfigurement. See General Statutes § 53a-3 (4).

The defendant, Divenson Petion, appeals from the Appellate Court's judgment affirming his conviction of two counts of assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-59 (a) (1).2 See State v. Petion , 172 Conn. App. 668, 669–70, 687, 161 A.3d 618 (2017). The defendant claims that the forearm scar sustained by one of the two victims was an insufficient basis for the jury to find the serious physical injury necessary to support that charge. The state disagrees but requests, in the event that we conclude otherwise, that a judgment of acquittal not be rendered on that charge and, instead, that the judgment be modified to reflect a conviction of the lesser included offense of assault in the second degree; see General Statutes § 53a-60 (a) (2) ; and the case be remanded for resentencing. We conclude that the evidence was insufficient to support the challenged conviction. We further conclude that, under State v. LaFleur , 307 Conn. 115, 51 A.3d 1048 (2012), the state is not entitled to have the defendant's conviction modified. Therefore, we reverse in part the Appellate Court's judgment.

I

The Appellate Court's opinion sets forth the facts that the jury reasonably could have found; see State v. Petion , supra, 172 Conn. App. at 670–72, 161 A.3d 618 ; which we summarize as follows. In 2008, the defendant began dating Rosa Bran. Bran gave birth to the defendant's daughter in February, 2010. Bran also had a son from a prior relationship. After the birth of his daughter, the defendant's romantic relationship with Bran ended. However, they remained in contact, and the defendant occasionally would visit his daughter, sometimes showing up unannounced. The defendant told Bran that he did not want other men around his daughter.

Shortly before the May, 2012 incident giving rise to the criminal charges at issue, Bran resumed a friendship with a former boyfriend, Robert Raphael. On the day of the incident, Bran invited Raphael to her apartment, and he arrived in the early afternoon. In addition to Bran and her two children, her cousin's two children were present. Later that afternoon, there was a knock on the door. Bran answered the door, expecting that it was her cousin arriving to pick up her children, but it was the defendant. He asked to see his daughter. Bran explained that it was not a good time because the child was asleep.

The defendant then saw Raphael. The defendant became angry, pushed Bran aside, and entered the apartment. He began to shout at Raphael to get out of the apartment. Raphael did not want to leave Bran and the children alone with the defendant in his agitated state, and told the defendant that he was staying. In response, the defendant began pushing and punching Raphael. As Raphael retreated further into the apartment, the defendant pursued him. The defendant pulled out a knife from his pocket and slashed Raphael across the face, cutting from Raphael's ear to along his jaw bone, deeply enough to damage a facial nerve and cut a branch of his jugular vein. Bran inserted herself between the two men during the confrontation, hoping to stop the defendant from injuring Raphael. In the process, the defendant cut Bran on her left arm. Raphael, who was bleeding profusely, ran out of the apartment, got in his car, and drove himself to the hospital.3

The defendant repeatedly apologized to Bran and then left the apartment. Bran was not immediately aware that she had been cut. She realized that she had been injured when her son came downstairs, alerted Bran that she was bleeding, and grabbed a towel to cover her wound

. Shortly after the incident, Bran's cousin arrived to pick up her children, and she drove Bran to the hospital.

When she arrived at the hospital, Bran had an abrasion and two lacerations on her left arm, one measuring three-quarters of one centimeter and another measuring four centimeters.4 The smaller laceration was treated with a single suture. The larger laceration was closed with ten sutures, which left a scar after the laceration healed.

The record reveals the following additional facts. The state charged the defendant with two counts of assault in the first degree in violation of § 53a-59 (a) (1). The first count alleged that, with the intent to cause serious physical injury to Raphael, the defendant caused such injury to Raphael by means of a dangerous instrument. The second count alleged that, with the intent to cause serious physical injury to Raphael, the defendant caused such injury to Bran by means of a dangerous instrument.

At trial, the defendant presented an alibi witness, a family friend. At the close of evidence, the defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal on the charge of first degree assault as to Bran. The court denied the motion. Neither the defendant nor the state elected to have the jury charged on any lesser included offense. The jury returned a guilty verdict on both counts. On each count, the trial court imposed a seventeen year term of imprisonment, followed by three years of special parole, to run concurrently.

The defendant appealed from the judgment of conviction to the Appellate Court. He argued, in relevant part, that there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction of first degree assault as to Bran because the state had failed to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that she suffered a " ‘serious physical injury.’ "5 Id., at 669, 161 A.3d 618. The Appellate Court agreed with the state "that the evidence presented to the jury showed that one of the two lacerations that Bran received resulted in a significant and readily visible scar and that, under our law, a jury reasonably could have found that such scarring constituted a serious disfigurement and, therefore, a serious physical injury." Id., at 673, 161 A.3d 618. The Appellate Court affirmed the judgment of conviction. Id., at 687, 161 A.3d 618.

We thereafter granted the defendant's petition for certification to appeal, limited to the following issue: "In rejecting the defendant's claim that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction of assault in the first degree in violation of ... § 53a-59 (a) (1) with respect to ... Bran, did the Appellate Court properly conclude that a jury reasonably could have found that the one and one-half inch scar on her forearm constituted serious disfigurement and, therefore, a serious physical injury?" State v. Petion , 326 Conn. 906, 163 A.3d 1205 (2017).

In their responses to this question, the parties devote significant portions of their analyses to a comparison between those injuries that the Appellate Court has deemed sufficient to support a jury's finding of serious disfigurement in other cases and Bran's injury in the present case. Although they disagree as to which side of the line the present case falls, they agree that juries would be aided in making this determination by factors to guide them.6

We do not find the comparative approach taken by the parties to be useful here, particularly because the Appellate Court had not examined the meaning of "serious disfigurement" in any of these cases,7 and this court previously had given no guidance on the matter. Thus, before we can consider the evidence, we must ascertain the meaning of the legal standard against which we assess that evidence. See State v. Drupals , 306 Conn. 149, 159, 49 A.3d 962 (2012). The statutory text is our lodestar in this endeavor, and we consider relevant extratextual sources to illuminate any ambiguity therein to ascertain legislative intent. See General Statutes § 1-2z. Insofar as any ambiguity exists, "[i]t is a fundamental tenet of our law to resolve doubts in the enforcement of a [P]enal [C]ode against the imposition of a harsher punishment." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Drupals , supra, at 160, 49 A.3d 962.

The defendant was convicted of violating § 53a-59 (a) (1), which provides in relevant part: "A person is guilty of assault in the first degree when ... [w]ith intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person by means of ... a dangerous instrument ...."8 The Penal Code in turn defines certain essential terms. " ‘Physical injury’ means impairment of physical condition or pain ...." General Statutes § 53a-3 (3). " ‘Serious physical injury’ means physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious disfigurement, serious impairment of health or serious loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ ...." General Statutes § 53a-3 (4).

These definitions plainly reflect a legislative intention to establish...

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