November 5, 1998 98-R-1358

FROM: Christopher Reinhart, Research Attorney

RE: Attempted Assault and Mandatory Minimum Sentences

You asked about the origin of the mandatory minimum sentences for first degree assault and whether mandatory minimum sentences also apply to attempted first degree assault.

PA 71-871 added mandatory minimum sentences to the indeterminate sentencing statute for first degree assault with a dangerous weapon. PA 80-442 included this same provision in the first degree assault statute and added a mandatory sentence for all first degree assaults with a victim under the age of 10.

The mandatory minimum sentences in the first degree assault statute appear to apply to attempts to commit those crimes. The Connecticut Supreme Court, in State v. Trent (182 Conn. 595 (1981), stated that the mandatory minimum sentences in the indeterminate sentencing statute apply to attempts to commit those crimes. The reasoning in that case appears to apply to the new mandatory minimum sentences. In a more recent Supreme Court case, Guida v. Commissioner of Correction, 221 Conn. 402 (1992), the court did not address this issue but assumed that a mandatory minimum sentence applied to attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon.

We have attached the legislative history for PA 71-871 and a copy of State v. Trent.

PA 71-871 amended the sentencing statute in the penal code (CGS § 53a-35) to require a minimum sentence of five years that cannot be suspended or reduced for the crime of assault in the first degree when a person intends and causes serious physical injury to a person using a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument (CGS § 53a-59(a)(1)). This provision is still in the statutes and applies to indefinite sentences imposed for felonies committed prior to July 1, 1981. The legislative history for this bill is minimal. The bill passed on the consent calendar in both houses and there are no committee hearing documents.

PA 80-442 amended the first degree assault statute (CGS § 53a-59) to require the same mandatory minimum sentence of five years and added a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years for any first degree assault with a victim under 10 years old.

In 1981, the Connecticut Supreme Court analyzed the question of whether a mandatory minimum sentence in the indeterminate sentencing statute for robbery in the first degree (CGS § 53a-35) applied to attempted robbery (State v. Trent, 182 Conn. 595 (1981)). The court stated that criminal statutes are construed strictly but not so as to defeat the obvious intention of the legislature (182 Conn. at 602). Because the legislature carefully stated that attempt crimes are the same grade and degree as the most serious offense that is attempted, the court found that sentencing for an attempt to commit a crime must follow the sentencing parameters for the substantive crime that was the object of the attempt (182 Conn. at 601). In addition, the legislature added the mandatory minimum sentences two years after creating the attempt statutes and the court stated that the legislature is presumed to have acted with existing statutes in mind.

Although this case applied to the indeterminate sentencing statute, the same reasoning appears to apply to the new determinate sentencing provisions. Criminal attempt is defined in CGS § 53a-49. Assault in the first degree is a class B felony with a mandatory minimum sentence when there is a victim under age 10 or a person intends and causes serious physical injury to a person using a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. Because attempt crimes are “the same grade and degree as the most serious offense which is attempted,” the mandatory minimum sentences that apply to first degree assault appear to apply to attempts that fit those categories (CGS § 53a-51).

A more recent Supreme Court case did not address this issue but assumed that a mandatory minimum sentence applied to attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon (Guida v. Commissioner of Correction, 221 Conn. 402 (1992)). The court ruled that a person convicted of attempted assault with a deadly weapon was not eligible for supervised home release until the completion of his mandatory minimum sentence of five years.

CR:pa