State v. Lane

Supreme Court of Connecticut

Decided December 11, 1979

Supreme Court of Connecticut · decided 1979-12-11

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently November 1980

4 state decisions

Relies on Lakeside v. Oregon · State v. Branham

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1979-12-11

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Per Curiam.

¶1In State v. Branham, 171 Conn. 12, 368 A.2d 63 (1976), we held that in the absence of controlling statutory provisions1 an accused is not entitled to an instruction to the jury that no adverse inferences are to be drawn from his failure to testify in his own defense. The defendant in this case asks us to reexamine and overrule Branham. The most recent expression by the United States Supreme Court on this subject appears in Lakeside v. Oregon, 435 U.S. 333, 98 S. Ct. 1091, 55 L. Ed. 2d 319 (1978). Nothing in that case or in other cases cited by the defendant in his brief persuades us to come to a different conclusion.

¶2There is no error.

¶3Since the trial of this case General Statutes § 54-84 has been amended to read, in pertinent part, as follows: “(b) Unless the accused requests otherwise, the court shall instruct the jury that they may draw no unfavorable inferences from the accused's failure to testify. . . ."