Alicea v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 235 Conn. App. 507

Syllabus

The respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, appealed, on the granting of certification, from the habeas court's judgment granting in part the peti- tioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The respondent claimed that the court improperly determined that the petitioner's criminal trial counsel had rendered ineffective assistance in advising the petitioner not to testify in support of his claim of self-defense in light of the potential admissibility into evidence of certain of the petitioner's prior convictions. Held: The habeas court improperly granted in part the habeas petition, as the petitioner failed to demonstrate that his counsel rendered deficient perfor- mance in advising him not to testify, that advice having been within the range of reasonable professional assistance based on counsel's concern that the petitioner's testimony might potentially open the door to the admission of his prior convictions or that the trial court could permit their use as impeachment evidence. The habeas court improperly determined that the petitioner was prejudiced as a result of his counsel's advice, as the petitioner failed to show, in light of the strength of the state's case, that a reasonable probability existed that the trial's outcome would have been different had his counsel advised him that the admissibility of the prior convictions would have been limited had the petitioner testified, and the petitioner's testimony would have been, to some extent, cumulative of the record already established at the trial. Argued April 22—officially released September 30, 2025