In re Police Case Numbers: Meriden PD 20-003903, 20-005055 & Berlin PD 2020-11662

214 Conn.App. 847

280 A.3d 1286

IN RE POLICE CASE NUMBERS: MERIDEN PD 20-003903, 20-005055 AND BERLIN PD 2020-11662

AC 44472

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued May 18, 2022

Officially released September 6, 2022

Anthony Lazzari, self-represented, the appellant (movant).

Kathryn W. Bare, senior assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Patrick J. Griffin, chief state's attorney, Jennifer F. Miller, assistant state's attorney, and James Dinnan, former supervisory assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (state).

Bright, C. J., and Alvord and Clark, Js.

BRIGHT, C. J.

Anthony Lazzari appeals from the judgment of the trial court dismissing his emergency motions seeking, inter alia, to quash a search and seizure warrant. The court determined that, because there was no pending criminal action against Lazzari, it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the motions. On appeal, Lazzari claims that the court had jurisdiction over the motions despite the absence of a pending criminal action. Since Lazzari filed this appeal, however, events have rendered the appeal moot. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The record reveals the following facts and procedural history. On October 21, 2020, the Meriden Police Department obtained a search and seizure warrant directed to Google Legal Investigations (Google), seeking records for Lazzari's Google account between September 17 and September 23, 2020. In an October 27, 2020 email, Google notified Lazzari that it had received a search warrant for his account records and explained that, "[u]nless we promptly receive a copy of a filed motion to quash that is file-stamped by a court of competent jurisdiction, Google may provide responsive documents pursuant to applicable law ...." The message informed Lazzari that Google received the warrant from the Meriden Police Department and that the "case number" is 20-005055. Subsequently, Lazzari filed " ‘emergency’ " motions, dated November 2, 2020, (1) "to quash unreasonable and unlawful search and seizure warrant fraudulently issued on October 21, 2020," (2) "for full protective order" as to Lazzari, "his property, and any/ all information related to and associated with him," and (3) "for a full evidentiary hearing on the merits." When he filed his motions, there was no pending criminal action against him.

The trial court, Rosen, J. , held a hearing on the motions on November 19, 2020. At the hearing, the state argued that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider the motions because there was no criminal action pending before it. The court agreed with the state and issued an oral ruling dismissing the motions. On November 27, 2020, Lazzari filed " ‘emergency’ " motions "for reconsideration and [to] quash [Google] warrant" and "for clarification (re: improper dismissal of emergency pleading(s) and nonruling of oral request for stay)."

On December 9, 2020, the court dismissed both motions for lack of jurisdiction. On December 15, 2020, Lazzari filed in this court a motion for review of the court's order dismissing his motions for reconsideration and clarification. He subsequently filed the present appeal on December 29, 2020, and this court dismissed his pre-appeal motion for review on December 31, 2020.

On January 19, 2021, Lazzari filed a motion for articulation, asking the trial court to articulate the factual and legal bases for its decision, and a motion for rectification, seeking to correct minor typographical errors in the transcript.¹ On January 26, 2021, the state filed a motion to dismiss the appeal for lack of a final judgment, which this court granted on March 3, 2021. On March 12, 2021, Lazzari filed a motion for reconsideration en banc. The panel granted the motion for reconsideration, denied the state's motion to dismiss, and restored the case to the docket on April 21, 2021.²

On May 10, 2021, the trial court granted the motions for articulation and rectification. In its articulation, the court stated: "The Superior Court's authority in a criminal case is established by the proper presentment of the information ... which is essential to initiate a criminal proceeding. ... Thus, there must be a presentment of the information, and a pending cause of action, in order to invoke the Superior Court's subject matter jurisdiction in criminal proceedings. ...

"[Lazzari] failed to establish, either at argument or in his motions, that the court in fact had subject matter jurisdiction to hear the motions, and he conceded that there was no pending criminal court action. In the absence of a presentment of the information and a pending criminal court action, the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the motions, and they were properly dismissed." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.)

On November 16, 2021, after the appeal was ready for argument, Lazzari was arrested in Meriden pursuant to an arrest warrant issued in "Police Case Number" 20-005055, and the state charged him with, inter alia, three counts of trafficking in persons in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 2019) § 53a-192a. See State v. Lazzari , Superior Court, judicial district of New Haven, Docket No. CR-21-0348534-T.³ Because a violation of § 53a-192a is a class A felony, the matter was ordered transferred from the part B docket in the geographical area number seven in Meriden to the part A docket in the judicial district of New Haven. See Practice Book § 1-6. In light of the pending criminal matter involving the same investigation that prompted the search warrant at issue in this appeal, this court notified the parties to be prepared to address at oral argument whether this appeal is moot because the state has filed a criminal information and initiated a criminal proceeding against Lazzari.

"Mootness is a threshold issue that implicates subject matter jurisdiction, which imposes a duty on the court to dismiss a case if the court can no longer grant practical relief to the parties. ... Mootness presents a circumstance wherein the issue before the court has been resolved or ha[s] lost its significance because of a change in the condition of affairs between the parties. ... [T]he existence of an actual controversy is an essential requisite to appellate jurisdiction; it is not the province of appellate courts to decide moot questions, disconnected from the granting of actual relief or from the determination of which no practical relief can follow." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Begley , 122 Conn. App. 546, 550–51, 2 A.3d 1 (2010).

During oral argument, Lazzari argued that the appeal is not moot. He claimed, "what I'm challenging is what came out of Meriden, not out of New Haven...