State v. Samuel M.

Defendant was charged by criminal information with sexual assault in the first degree and risk of injury to a child. Based on the seriousness of the offenses and the allegation that Defendant’s conduct occurred when he was fourteen years old, the case was automatically transferred from the juvenile docket to the regular criminal docket. After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of two counts of sexual assault int he first degree and one count of risk of injury to a child. The Appellate Court vacated the convictions, concluding that the trial court erred by denying Defendant’s post trial motion to dismiss the information because the State had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the conduct underlying the convictions had occurred after Defendant’s fourteenth birthday. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the State did not establish, under any burden of proof, that Defendant was at least fourteen years old at the time he committed the offenses for which he was convicted. View "State v. Samuel M." on Justia Law