State v. John

In State v. John, 210 Conn. 652, 557 A.2d 93, cert. denied, 493 U.S. 824, 110 S. Ct. 84, 107 L. Ed. 2d 50 (1989), the defendant was convicted of felony murder and manslaughter in the first degree for a single homicide. The Court stated that "on the basis of the holding in State v. Couture, supra, 194 Conn. 530, 482 A.2d 300 . . . and a review of the felony murder statute, however, we conclude that the legislature contemplated that the two statutory provisions should be treated as a single crime for double jeopardy purposes." State v. John, supra, 695. Accordingly, our Supreme Court held that "the history of the murder and felony murder statutes, read in conjunction with our holding in Couture, indicates that the legislature contemplated that only one punishment would be imposed for a single homicide, even if that homicide involved the violation of two separate statutory provisions." Id., 696.