Supreme Court of Connecticut
State v. Bischoff
January 15, 2021337 Conn. 739
Summary
The court held that the 2015 amendment reducing the penalties for possession of narcotics applies prospectively only and therefore did not authorize a reduced sentence for the defendant, whose offenses occurred before the amendment’s effective date. The court concluded that the savings statutes create a presumption against retroactive application of changes to criminal punishment, and that neither the amendment’s text nor the budget bill overcame that presumption. The court also declined to adopt the amelioration doctrine or reconsider its prior rejection of that doctrine.