2022 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 53a - Penal Code
Chapter 952 - Penal Code: Offenses
Section 53a-64bb. - Strangulation or suffocation in the second degree: Class D felony.
(a) A person is guilty of strangulation or suffocation in the second degree when such person restrains another person by the neck or throat or obstructs such other person's nose or mouth with the intent to impede the ability of such other person to breathe or restrict blood circulation of such other person and such person impedes the ability of such other person to breathe or restricts blood circulation of such other person.
(b) No person shall be found guilty of strangulation or suffocation in the second degree and unlawful restraint or assault upon the same incident, but such person may be charged and prosecuted for all three offenses upon the same information. For the purposes of this section, “unlawful restraint” means a violation of section 53a-95 or 53a-96, and “assault” means a violation of section 53a-59, 53a-59a, 53a-59b, 53a-59c, 53a-60, 53a-60a, 53a-60b, 53a-60c, 53a-61 or 53a-61a.
(c) Strangulation or suffocation in the second degree is a class D felony.
(P.A. 07-123, S. 9; P.A. 17-31, S. 4.)
History: P.A. 17-31 amended Subsec. (a) to add provision re obstruction of nose or mouth and added reference to suffocation.
The “same incident” prohibition was included by the legislature in Subsec. (b) rather than Subsec. (a) because the provision is not intended to set forth an element of the crime, but, rather, to express legislative intentions relating specifically to double jeopardy. 339 C. 452.
Prohibition on multiple convictions arising out of the same incident in Subsec. (b) does not apply when convictions stem from wholly separate criminal conduct by defendant even if committed against the same victim on the same day. 142 CA 657. Facts presented did not allow for combined convictions of strangulation in the second degree under Subsec. (b), unlawful restraint in the first degree under Sec. 53a-95 and assault in the third degree under Sec. 53a-61(a)(1). 149 CA 334.
