Opinion
Argued October 15, 1976
Decision released November 23, 1976
Information charging the defendant with the crime of having a deadly or dangerous weapon in a motor vehicle, brought to the Superior Court in New Haven County and tried to the jury before Mignone, J.; verdict and judgment of guilty and appeal by the defendant. Error; judgment directed.
Leon S. Soroker, for the appellant (defendant).
Ernest J. Diette, Jr., assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, was Arnold Markle, state's attorney, for the appellee (state).
The defendant appealed from his conviction on a charge of having a deadly or dangerous weapon in a motor vehicle in violation of 29-38 of the General Statutes. He was a codefendant with Christopher Beauton and their cases were tried together but the appeals were processed separately. On Beauton's appeal (State v. Beauton, 170 Conn. 234, 365 A.2d 1105), we found that the trial court had erred in failing to grant the defendant's motion to set aside the verdict because the state had failed to sustain its burden of proof on the question of the lack of a proper permit for the gun which was found in Beauton's automobile. The same situation exists in this case where Eligio was a passenger in Beauton's automobile. In this case, also, the state presented no evidence that the defendant did not have a state police permit for the weapon. The same result must follow.