Supreme Court of Connecticut

State v. Ruiz-Pacheco

July 9, 2020336 Conn. 219

Summary

The court held that principal and accessory convictions for the same substantive assault are convictions under the same statute for double-jeopardy purposes. Because the assault statute did not clearly identify its unit of prosecution, the court applied lenity and treated a continuous course of conduct as one punishable assault, while allowing separate punishment for distinct courses of conduct. It vacated the accessory assault conviction involving Tucker but upheld both assault convictions involving Rodriguez.