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CONNECTICUT OPINIONS FEBRUARY 1, 2021 ¦ 35

APPELLATE COURT defendant’s contention that the court misled
the jury when instructing as to the definition
of “tumultuous behavior.” The record of the
court’s conversation with the prosecutor and
Defendant’s Unruly Behavior at Polling defense counsel during the charging conference
Place Supported Conviction For Breach demonstrated that the defendant implicitly ac-
of Peace quiesced to charging only as to “tumultuous
behavior.” Finally, the court considered and
CASE: State of Connecticut v. Mansfield rejected a contention that the prosecution did
COURT: Connecticut Appellate Court not offer sufficient evidence to show Sergeant
DOC. NO.: AC 41587 Christoff was acting lawfully in the perfor-
COURT OPINION BY: Sullivan mance of his official duties.
DATE: December 22, 2020 • PAGES: 19
The court affirmed a judgment, holding that
evidence of a defendant’s unruly behavior at SUPERIOR COURT

a polling place, including physical acts, sup-
ported a conviction for breach of the peace.
Defendant Brian Mansfield went to a town
hall on an election day. He removed documents ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

from a dry erase board and threw them on the Court Affirms Department of Children
ground. He erased the board. He entered the
voting area. He was given a ballot and refused and Families’ Decision to Place
to return it. An off-duty police officer, Officer Daycare Operator’s Name on Central
Penna, approached defendant. Defendant put Registry
the ballot in his pants and challenged Penna to
retrieve it. Defendant exited the area, knocking
over a table of election materials. As he left, CASE: Carmen v. Dep’t of Children & Families
he grabbed several boxes of Girl Scout cook- COURT: New Britain J.D.
ies. One of the girls yelled at him, and he threw DOC. NO.: CV-19-6055856
the boxes on the Girl Scouts’ table in an ag- COURT OPINION BY: Klau
DATE: December 31, 2020 • PAGES: 9
gressive manner. Penna escorted defendant Plaintiff appealed the Department of Chil-
away. Defendant spat at a picture hanging on dren and Families’ final decision upholding
a wall. Penna contacted the police department. a substantiation of physical neglect involving
A summons was prepared. The next day, Of- 12 children in plaintiff ’s daycare. The hearing
ficer Broad and Sergeant Christos went to de- officer found that plaintiff drove a 12-passen-
fendant’s house to issue the summons. Broad ger van overcapacity, and with children unre-
wore street clothes; Christos was in uniform. strained, while picking up and dropping off
Defendant refused to sign the summons, threw children at an elementary school. The hearing
it to the ground and spat in Christos’s face. De- officer further found that plaintiff posed an
fendant was taken into custody and was later ongoing risk to children and placed her name
charged with assaulting a public safety officer. on the department’s central registry. Plaintiff
He was tried before a jury and convicted of appealed, arguing, among other things, that
breach of peace and assaulting a police officer. the hearing officer based her findings of fact
Defendant appealed, contending insufficiency largely on hearsay. The hearing officer admit-
of evidence. The court affirmed. The breach of ted the testimony in evidence of the depart-
peace conviction was founded solely on a find- ment’s investigator, who spoke directly with
ing of “tumultuous” behavior. Defendant ar- two witnesses who had first-hand knowledge
gued that the statute’s conduct element was not of the incident. The court affirmed the hear-
met, but there was ample evidence in the record ing officer’s final decision, determining that
from which the jury could conclude that defen- while the final decision was based largely on
dant’s conduct contained the requisite level of hearsay, the hearing officer properly found
physicality to constitute a breach of the peace. that the hearsay was sufficiently trustworthy.
The cumulative force of the evidence led to the The court also held that the police report upon
conclusion that his conduct was physically tu- which the department’s investigator relied was
multuous. The court also found unpersuasive sufficiently trustworthy.

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