State v. King

In State v. King, 216 Conn. 585, 583 A.2d 896 (1990), the defendant was charged with the crimes of attempt to commit murder and assault in the first degree. Both counts were predicated on the same act carried out against the same victim. Id., 216 Conn. at 593. While the charge of attempt to commit murder required proof that the defendant intended to cause the victim's death, the assault charge, as set forth in the information, required proof that the defendant recklessly created a risk of death to the victim. Id. The Court, noting that the statutory definitions of 'intentionally' and 'recklessly' are mutually exclusive, vacated the conviction of assault in the first degree and attempt to commit murder, and ordered a new trial on both counts. Id., 216 Conn. at 603-604. The court reasoned that "where a determination is made that one mental state exists, to be legally consistent the other must be found not to exist. . . . By no rational theory could the jury have found the defendant guilty of both crimes. . . . Logically then, the jury verdicts convicting the defendant of two offenses each of which requires a mutually exclusive and inconsistent state of mind as an essential element for conviction cannot stand." Id., 216 Conn. at 594. The Court enunciated that "the statutory definitions of intentionally and recklessly are mutually exclusive and inconsistent. Reckless conduct is not intentional conduct because one who acts recklessly does not have a conscious objective to cause a particular result. . . . Therefore, the transgression that caused the victim's injuries was either intentional or reckless; it could not, at one and the same time, be both. . . . Where a determination is made that one mental state exists, to be legally consistent the other must be found not to exist. . . . By no rational theory could the jury have found the defendant guilty of both crimes. . . . Logically then, the jury verdicts convicting the defendant of two offenses each of which requires a mutually exclusive and inconsistent state of mind as an essential element for conviction cannot stand. . . ." Id., 593-94. Referring to the murder and assault counts, the King court held that "the trial court must instruct the jury that, depending on its findings of fact, it may convict the defendant of one count or the other, but not of both." Id., 595.