The Connecticut Supreme Court will hear a case today from the Danbury Judicial Branch.  The justices will consider whether the defendant's convictions of assault as both a principal and accessory for a joint assault of the same victim violates the double jeopardy clause. 

Joesenier Ruiz-Pacheco and his brother fought with two men in a parking lot, stabbing them multiple times, and following them and stabbing them again.  Pacheco was convicted of assault as a principal and an accessory for injuries suffered by a victim, and for injuries sustained by the same victim.  On appeal, he claimed that his convictions violated the federal constitution's double jeopardy clause, and that his two assault convictions as an accessory should be vacated.  

The Appellate Court rejected the defendant's claim because of the the initial brawl and the stabbing after the pursuit. The court noted that the state never suggested to the jury that the assault charges were alternative theories of liability.