State of Connecticut v. Frank M. Jenkins, 288 Conn. 610

Summary

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that the eighteen-month limitation on competency-restoration placement under General Statutes § 54-56d(i) applies cumulatively to multiple periods of inpatient treatment, rather than separately to each placement. The court concluded that the defendant was entitled to release from treatment or civil commitment proceedings under § 54-56d(m), and it reversed and remanded for determination of the appropriate relief.

Holdings

1. An order denying a defendant's claim that the statutory treatment-placement limit has been exceeded, and thereby denying immediate release or civil-commitment proceedings, is immediately appealable under the second prong of the Curcio test because it implicates a protected liberty and due-process right that could be irretrievably lost through delayed review.
2. Under General Statutes § 54-56d(i), the period of treatment placement following a determination that a defendant is incompetent but restorable to competency is calculated cumulatively; the defendant's placements may not collectively exceed the lesser of the maximum sentence for the charged offenses or eighteen months.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court's denial of release or civil-commitment proceedings under General Statutes § 54-56d(m) was immediately appealable despite being interlocutory.
2. Whether the eighteen-month limitation in General Statutes § 54-56d(i) applies separately to each treatment placement or cumulatively to all placements following the initial determination of incompetency.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded