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Attorney Sprecher’s practice consists 100% of Trial and Appellate litigation.  For years, he has been selected by Pier Review and Professional Achievement as one of the lawyers in the top 5% of the Attorney’s who engage in the practice of criminal law in Connecticut.  

Attorney Sprecher has been an active trial and appellate lawyer in both civil and criminal litigation for over thirty (30) years. He has been the chief trial and appellate counsel in precedent setting cases, in trials in which juries have returned verdicts of Not Guilty to charges of Capital Felony (Death Penalty), intentional murder, and numerous other felonies, and has tried won or settled individual personal injury claims in excess of one million dollars. Attorney Sprecher graduated with honors from South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas (nationally recognized for excellence in its trial and appellate advocacy programs), where he served as Editor-in Chief of the Law Journal. Following graduation Attorney Sprecher served as a Law Clerk to a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and the next year as a Law Clerk to the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals For the Fifth Circuit, after which he opened an office for the private practice of law, which has been in continuous operation since, with the hallmarks of close client contact, and exhaustive case and trial preparation.

Trial Court

Attorney Sprecher was the trial counsel in a murder case in which the prosecution called several jail house informants as witnesses. The Trial Judge, although allowing the Defendant to conduct an extensive voire dire on the subject, refused to give a requested jury instruction on the credibility of jail house informants; Attorney Sprecher raised and preserved the issue for post trial proceedings. The Connecticut Supreme Court found the refusal to be error, and held that whenever jail house informant testimony is given, regardless of whether the informant has received an express promise of a benefit, the Court should give a special credibility instruction to the jury. This precedent setting holding is now contained in the Connecticut Criminal Jury Instructions Section 2.S.3.

Appellate Court

Attorney Sprecher, engaged solely as Appellate Counsel, appealed the accused’s conviction of three (3) counts of Risk of Injury To A Minor. The Defendant, a 66 year old male was sentenced to 6 years on each of the risk of injury charges with each count to be served consecutively. The Appellate Court reversed the convictions, based upon insufficiency of the evidence. The State sought, and the Supreme Court granted certification. During the appeal the State attempted to argue that evidence in the record, which the prosecution in the trial court did not claim in argument as part of its theory of guilt, is properly cognizable by an Appellate Court when evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence. The Supreme Court affirmed the Appellate Court and established as precedent that, in order for an Appeals Court to sustain a conviction when evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence, it must be shown that the evidence was not merely before the finder of fact due to an incidental reference, but rather as part of a coherent theory of guilt that, upon (review of) the principal stages of trial, can be characterized as having been presented in a focused or otherwise recognizable sense.

Attorney Sprecher has appeared on a number of nationally syndicated publications, shows, programs, and podcasts, including:

  • Today Show
  • People Magazine
  • Crime Watch Daily
  • Fatal Attraction
  • Unsolved Mysteries
  • Not Guilty Jury Verdicts in double homicide capital felony (death penalty) prosecution.
  • Not Guilty Jury Verdicts on charges of intentional murder.
  • Not Guilty Jury Verdict on charge of 1st degree robbery with firearm.
  • Not Guilty Jury Verdicts in rape/sexual assault prosecutions.
  • Not Guilty Jury Verdicts in risk of injury to minor prosecutions.
  • Not Guilty Jury Verdicts in cruelty to persons prosecution.
  • Dismissal of Intentional murder charge (finding of no probable cause) after evidentiary hearing.
  • Not Guilty Verdicts by reason of mental disease or defect in Court trials charging kidnaping, unlawful restraint, and attempted sexual assault.
  • Dismissal after State rested in prosecution of multiple Wesleyan University students on criminal charges stemming from picketing national defense plant that produced delayed action artillery shells.
  • Obtained, in contested proceedings, the unconditional release of an Acquittee (not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect) who was the youngest person ever committed to the Whiting Forensic Division and to the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board; this Acquittee was only the second person in the first (13) year history of the Board to obtain a full unconditional release.
  • Filed John Doe lawsuit for the Estate of the deceased victim in the notorious Showalter hit and run case in New London, Connecticut. The suit was a factor in obtaining a grand jury investigation and identifying the person responsible for the fatal accident. This incident was publicized in an appearance on the Today Show in New York City; an article in People Magazine; and a request to participate in a segment of 60 minutes.
  • Dismissal of criminal prosecution for alleged violation of zoning and in land-wetland-water course regulations, followed by a civil suit filed on behalf of Defendant for malicious prosecution and vexatious litigation against the Town and the two Commissions; settled during Jury Selection with payment of monetary damages by town.
  • Suppression, following evidentiary hearing, of largest single amount of marijuana known to be seized in Middlesex County up to that time; this was followed by the dismissal of a case charging the Defendants with possession of one kilo of marijuana.
  • Represented Priest accused of embezzling significant sum of money from the Church; during lengthy, highly publicized State Police investigation, the defense discredited witnesses and disproved allegations, resulting in no arrest/prosecution, and Priest’s complete exoneration.
  • Certification granted by Connecticut Supreme Court on issue whether Workers’ Compensation Statute excluding benefits for scar resulting from spinal surgery violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article First, Section 20 of the Connecticut Constitution.
  • Action on behalf of student suffering serious eye injury while at school; after Supreme Court order to reconsider, the Appellate Court of Appeals ruled that the Plaintiff had pled the case within the “identifiable person imminent harm” exception to the rule of governmental immunity that barred recovery of damages in lawsuits for school based injuries; case subsequently settled for high five figure sum.
  • Products liability action against nationally known manufacturer of an adjustable basketball system, in which a child suffered a fractured jaw when he was entangled in the net while “dunking” the lowered basket; the case settled in a federal court pre-trial for the highest sum paid for an entanglement injury by the manufacturer up to that date.
  • Represented Defendant in suit on a promissory note and raised “usury” as a special defense; the verdict, in Defendant’s favor, precluded Plaintiff from collecting either interest or principal on the note.
  • Represented Plaintiff in suit against State of Connecticut in defective highway (sole proximate cause) action; (jury awarded Plaintiff damages in five figure sum.
  • Products liability action (exploding bottle (cap)) against nationally known soda manufactures and local distributor; settlement mid-way through jury trial for high five figure sum.
  • Arbitrated award of 1.2 million dollars for Plaintiff injured when knocked off ladder at construction site.
  • Represented Plaintiff in libel-slander action; verdict for Plaintiff with award of damages in high five figure sum.
  • Law Clerk To Honorable John R. Brown, Chief Judge, United State Court of Appeals For the Fifth Circuit.
  • Law Clerk to Honorable Sears McGee, Justice, Supreme Court of the State of Texas.
• Connecticut
• Texas
• United States District Court, District of Connecticut
• United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• United States District Court, Southern District of Texas
• United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
• United States Supreme Court
B.A.: Boston University, Boston Massachusetts
Juris Doctor: South Texas College of Law, Houston Texas
• Editor-in-Chief, South Texas Law Journal
• Inducted Member, Order of the Lytae, Honorary Academic Society recognizing excellence and attainment in the study of law
• National Moot Court Team: author of winning brief in the Southwestern (multi-State) Regional Round Competition
• Graduated Cum Laude

Comment, South Texas Law Journal, Continuing Echoes of Gideon’s Trumpet – The Indigent Defendant and the Misdemeanor; A New Crisis Involving the Assistance of Counsel in “A Criminal Trial” – Volume 18 No.3 pages 222-268.

Adjunct Professor, South Texas College of Law: Appellate Practice And Procedure In the Texas Supreme Court.

President, Middlesex City Bar Association, 1999-2000

Honorable Discharge, United States Marine Corps

  • Pilot, single engine land
  • Pilot, single engine sea plane
  • Certified acrobatic pilot