News that the Connecticut Supreme Court reversed the conviction of a former client of mine was a delightful surprise. He was convicted of sexually abusing a young child. At trial, we won acquittals on the most serious charges, but the jury convicted on two counts, enough to yield a six-year sentence on judgment day.
At trial, I objected to everything save the sight of my own shadow. My adversary, Danbury Assistant State’s Attorney Sharmese Hodge, and I went toe-to-toe on the tender years exception to the hearsay rule, the scope of the constancy of accusation doctrine, the extent to which there is such a thing as expertise in incremental and delayed disclosure — all familiar bugbears in cases of this sort. I was hoping that the Supreme Court would reverse on one of these grounds.
