Supreme Court of Connecticut
State v. Ashby
August 6, 2020336 Conn. 452
Summary
The court held that the state violated the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel by using a jailhouse informant who, under the totality of the circumstances, was fairly attributable to the state and deliberately elicited incriminating statements. It also rejected the defendant's challenge to the sufficiency of the burglary evidence but held that the trial court abused its discretion by refusing a third-party culpability instruction based on unidentified male DNA. The conviction was reversed and the case remanded for a new trial.