State of Connecticut v. Stanley Benjamin

Summary

The court affirmed the judgment revoking the defendant’s probation and imposing a four-year prison term because, even assuming the identification evidence was improperly admitted, independent evidence sufficiently established by a preponderance that he committed the assault. The court held that the Appellate Court should have reached the merits because the defendant’s claims concerned both the adjudicative and dispositional phases of probation revocation. The court nevertheless affirmed on different reasoning because the independent evidence supported the assault finding and the defendant did not challenge his narcotics-possession conviction.