State of Connecticut v. Robert Courchesne

Summary

The court upheld the denial of the defendant's suppression motion, concluding that the police encounter was, at most, a lawful Terry stop and that the defendant voluntarily accompanied the officers to the station. It recognized the born alive rule for Connecticut homicide statutes but held that the trial panel used the wrong evidentiary standard by failing to determine whether the infant was brain dead at birth. The court therefore ordered a new trial on the charges involving the infant and related capital felony charges, while affirming the defendant's murder conviction for killing the mother. Justice Zarella, joined by Justice Norcott, concurred in the suppression ruling but would have rejected the born alive rule and the resulting retrial on due process, statutory, and separation-of-powers grounds.