Title 54 — Title 54: Criminal Procedure

Sec. 54-86g. Testimony of victim of child abuse. Court may order testimony taken outside courtroom. Procedure. (a) In any criminal prosecution of an offense involving assault, sexual assault or abuse of a child twelve years of age or younger, the court may, upon motion of the att…

Sec. 54-86h. Competency of child as witness. No witness shall be automatically adjudged incompetent to testify because of age and any child who is a victim of assault, sexual assault or abuse shall be competent to testify without prior qualification. The weight to be given the ev…

Sec. 54-86i. Testimony of expert witness re mental state or condition of defendant. No expert witness testifying with respect to the mental state or condition of a defendant in a criminal case may state an opinion or inference as to whether the defendant did or did not have the m…

Sec. 54-86j. Polygraph examination of victims of sexual assault restricted. (a) No member of any municipal police department, the state police or the Division of Criminal Justice may request or require any victim of a sexual assault under section 53a-70b of the general statutes, …

Sec. 54-86k. Admissibility of results of DNA analysis. (a) In any criminal proceeding, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) testing shall be deemed to be a reliable scientific technique and the evidence of a DNA profile comparison may be admitted to prove or disprove the identity of any p…

Sec. 54-86l. Admissibility in criminal or juvenile proceeding of statement by child twelve years of age or younger at time of statement relating to sexual offense or offense involving physical abuse against the child. (a) Notwithstanding any other rule of evidence or provision of…

Sec. 54-86m. Reproduction of property or material that constitutes child sexual abuse material prohibited. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 54-86a, in any criminal proceeding, any property or material that constitutes child sexual abuse material shall remain in the care,…

Sec. 54-86n. Appointment of advocate in proceeding re the welfare or custody of a cat or dog. Advocate's duties. Department of Agriculture to maintain list of eligible advocates. (a) In any prosecution under section 53-247, or in any court proceeding pursuant to section 22-329a o…

Sec. 54-86o. Jailhouse witnesses in a criminal prosecution. (a) In any criminal prosecution, upon written request by a defendant filed with the court, but not requiring an order of the court, the defendant may request of the prosecutorial official whether such official intends to…

Sec. 54-86p. Hearing re reliability and admissibility of jailhouse witness testimony in criminal prosecutions. (a) In any criminal prosecution of a defendant for a violation of section 53a-54a, 53a-54b, 53a-54c, 53a-54d, 53a-70, 53a-70a or 53a-70c, upon a motion of the defendant …

Sec. 54-86q. Use of deception or coercive tactics during an interrogation. (a) As used in this section, “deception or coercive tactics” includes, but is not limited to, any tactic that: (1) Unreasonably deprives the person being interrogated of physical or mental health needs tha…

Sec. 54-87. Demurrer. Section 54-87 is repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 8803; P.A. 80-313, S. 61.)

Sec. 54-88. State to open and close arguments. In any criminal trial, the counsel for the state shall be entitled to open and close the argument. (1949 Rev., S. 8804.) There is no rigid requirement that prosecutor's final summation must be limited solely to rebuttal of matters ra…

Sec. 54-89. Direction of court to jury. The court shall decide all issues of law and all questions of law arising in the trial of criminal cases. In committing the cause to the jury, if in the opinion of the court the evidence is not sufficient to justify the finding of guilt bey…

Sec. 54-89a. Court to inform jury on consequences of a finding of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. If the court instructs the jury on a defense of mental disease or defect raised pursuant to section 53a-13, it shall, unless the defendant affirmatively objects, in…

Secs. 54-90 and 54-90a. Transferred to Chapter 961a, Secs. 54-142a and 54-142b, respectively. PART II SENTENCING AND APPEAL

Sec. 54-91. When sentence to be passed. Section 54-91 is repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 8807; P.A. 76-336, S. 10.)

Sec. 54-91a. (Formerly Sec. 54-109). Presentence investigation of defendant. (a) No defendant convicted of a crime, other than a capital felony under the provisions of section 53a-54b in effect prior to April 25, 2012, or murder with special circumstances under the provisions of …

Sec. 54-91b. (Formerly Sec. 54-109a). Defendant may request copy of prior record and presentence investigation report. In any case, without a showing of good cause, upon the request of the defendant or his attorney, prior to sentencing, the court shall provide the defendant or hi…

Sec. 54-91c. Testimony of victim or representative of deceased victim prior to acceptance of plea agreement and at sentencing hearing. Terms of proposed plea agreement. Notification by state's attorney. (a) For the purposes of this section, “victim” means a person who is a victim…

Sec. 54-91d. Referral of persons to youth service bureaus. Section 54-91d is repealed. (P.A. 93-432, S. 4, 6; P.A. 95-225, S. 51.)

Sec. 54-91e. Notification of victim through automated system prior to acceptance of plea agreement. On and after the date on which the state-wide automated victim information and notification (SAVIN) system mandated by section 54-235 becomes operational, a victim of a crime who h…

Sec. 54-91f. Apology to victim by person convicted of motor vehicle offense that resulted in death or serious physical injury to another. Inadmissibility in civil or criminal proceeding. Any person convicted of a motor vehicle offense that resulted in the death or serious physica…

Sec. 54-91g. Sentencing of a child for class A or B felony. (a) If the case of a child, as defined in section 46b-120, is transferred to the regular criminal docket of the Superior Court pursuant to section 46b-127 and the child is convicted of a class A or B felony pursuant to s…

Sec. 54-91h. Indication by court at sentencing of defendant's maximum period of imprisonment and eligibility re risk reduction credits and release on parole. Whenever a defendant convicted of one or more crimes receives a definite sentence of more than a two-year term of imprison…

Sec. 54-92. Pronouncement of sentence. Any sentence to imprisonment shall be pronounced by the judge in the presence and hearing of the convicted person. (1949 Rev., S. 8809; P.A. 76-336, S. 13.) History: P.A. 76-336 reworded section to omit reference to imprisonment specifically…

Sec. 54-92a. (Formerly Sec. 54-120). Commitment to custody of Commissioner of Correction. Commitment on findings of probable cause or on adjournments and punishment by imprisonment, including imprisonment for nonpayment of a fine, when not otherwise provided, shall be by commitme…

Sec. 54-92b. (Formerly Sec. 54-122). Discharge from community correctional center when held for nonpayment of fine. Any person held in a community correctional center for the nonpayment of fine only may, upon application, be discharged from such imprisonment by the court by which…

Sec. 54-92c. (Formerly Sec. 17-381). Women attendants. Whenever any female person is committed to the Commissioner of Correction or any reformatory institution for girls or women in this state, the court making such commitment shall, unless such person is to be accompanied by a m…

Sec. 54-93. Clerks to notify warden of Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers, of sentences. Section 54-93 is repealed, effective October 1, 2002. (1949 Rev., S. 8808; S.A. 02-12, S. 1.)

Sec. 54-93a. Court order to correct public record containing false information as a result of identity theft. Whenever a person is convicted of a violation of section 53a-129a of the general statutes, revision of 1958, revised to January 1, 2003, section 53a-129b, 53a-129c, 53a-1…

Sec. 54-94. Sentence of persons between sixteen and seventeen. Section 54-94 is repealed. (1949 Rev., S. 8810; 1961, P.A. 580, S. 17.)

Sec. 54-94a. Conditional nolo contendere plea. Appeal of denial of motion to suppress or dismiss. When a defendant, prior to the commencement of trial, enters a plea of nolo contendere conditional on the right to take an appeal from the court's denial of the defendant's motion to…

Sec. 54-95. Appeal by defendant in criminal prosecution; stay of execution. (a) Any defendant in a criminal prosecution, aggrieved by any decision of the Superior Court, upon the trial thereof, or by any error apparent upon the record of such prosecution, may be relieved by appea…

Sec. 54-95a. (Formerly Sec. 54-17). Jurisdiction of Superior Court. In any prosecution for the violation of any provision of any charter, ordinance or bylaw of a city or borough, the defendant shall have the right of appeal as in other cases. (1949 Rev., S. 8743; 1959, P.A. 28, S…

Sec. 54-95b. Reopening judgment in certain motor vehicle and criminal cases. Any judgment rendered in the Superior Court in any case involving prosecution for a motor vehicle violation or criminal offense adjudging the defendant to pay a fine only, may be reopened, provided a mot…

Sec. 54-95c. Application to vacate certain convictions on basis of being a victim of trafficking in persons. Notification to victims of crimes for which vacatur is sought. Prosecutor's response. Court order. Not grounds for an award of compensation. (a) At any time after a court …

Sec. 54-96. Appeals by the state from Superior Court in criminal cases. Appeals from the rulings and decisions of the Superior Court, upon all questions of law arising on the trial of criminal cases, may be taken by the state, with the permission of the presiding judge, to the Su…

Sec. 54-96a. (Formerly Sec. 54-13). Appeal vacated by payment of fine. Any person appealing from the judgment of the Superior Court, adjudging him to pay a fine only, may pay the same at any time before the hearing in the Supreme Court or Appellate Court, without further cost, wh…

Sec. 54-96b. (Formerly Sec. 54-14). Withdrawal of appeal of person committed to community correctional center. Any person appealing from any judgment of the superior court under which judgment such person may be committed to a community correctional center may, at any time before…

Sec. 54-97. Mittimus required for commitment to correctional facility. No person may be committed to a correctional institution or a community correctional center without a mittimus signed by the judge or clerk of the court which committed such person or, with respect to a person…

Sec. 54-98. Execution of mittimus for commitment to Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers. The Chief Court Administrator or the administrator's designee shall execute each mittimus for the commitment of convicts to the Connecticut Correctional Institution, Somers, by deliv…

Sec. 54-99. Period within which death penalty inflicted. Unless a reprieve or stay of execution is granted by competent authority, the penalty of death shall be inflicted within a period of not less than one month nor more than six months after conviction and sentence. All execut…