Supreme Court of Connecticut
State v. Henderson
March 19, 2024348 Conn. 648
Summary
The court affirmed the defendant’s home-invasion conviction despite the jury’s legally inconsistent guilty and not-guilty verdicts, holding that such inconsistencies are not reviewable on appeal and that the defendant’s unpreserved plain-error claim failed. The court also held that the trial court acted within its discretion in denying a mistrial after COVID-19 caused a twenty-five-day interruption in deliberations because the defendant showed no substantial, irreparable, or identifiable prejudice. The court considered the pandemic circumstances, the trial court’s precautions, the replacement of unavailable jurors, and the instruction to begin deliberations anew.