State of Connecticut v. Kyle Damato-Kushel

Summary

The court held that it had jurisdiction over the victim's writ of error because the arrest warrant sufficiently established his victim status and the order excluding him from future in-chambers plea discussions was an appealable final judgment under the irreparable-rights exception to the final judgment rule. It nevertheless dismissed the writ because the victim's constitutional right to attend proceedings was contingent on the accused's right to attend, and the accused had no right to attend off-the-record, in-chambers plea negotiations. Justice Espinosa, concurring, agreed with the result but would have held that the constitutional provision guarantees only the victim's personal attendance and does not apply to informal judicial pretrials.