Zajac v. Jordan

The defendant appealed to this court from the trial court's judgments finding him in violation of probation in two criminal dockets and revoking his probation. The defendant, a passenger in a motor vehicle owned and driven by a friend, was arrested and charged with interfering with a police officer pursuant to statute (§ 53a-167a) for his conduct during a motor vehicle stop and for possession of narcotics with intent to sell and criminal possession of a firearm for items found in a backpack in the backseat of the vehicle. The court determined that the defendant constructively possessed the con- traband in the backpack and had interfered with the lawful duties of a police officer, all of which constituted conduct that violated the conditions of the defendant's probation. The defendant claimed that there was insufficient evidence for the court to find that he had violated the conditions of his probation. Held: The trial court's determination that the state had produced sufficient evi- dence that the defendant had violated § 53a-167a and, thus a condition of his probation, was not clearly erroneous, as the court's finding that the defendant's conduct in failing to comply with the police officers' commands and in resisting their efforts to place him in handcuffs had hampered the activities of the police in the performance of their duties was supported by the record evidence. The trial court erred in determining that the defendant was in constructive possession of the illegal drugs or the firearm that were found in the vehicle, as there was nothing in the record to support the finding that the defendant exercised dominion and control over the contraband. This court concluded that a remand for resentencing was appropriate in light of the trial court's statements at the outset of the dispositional phase of the probation revocation hearing that the defendant had previously been convicted for offenses involving the possession and sale of illegal drugs and that it had rejecte