Barlow v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 343 Conn. 347

Syllabus

The petitioner, who had been convicted of attempt to commit murder, among other crimes, sought a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that his trial counsel, M, had provided ineffective assistance during pretrial plea nego- tiations. During those negotiations, the trial court offered the petitioner a plea deal of fifteen years of incarceration, execution suspended after nine years, but the petitioner, who had indicated his preference for a six year sentence, rejected that offer. After a jury trial, at which substantial evidence was presented in support of the petitioner's conviction, the petitioner was convicted and sentenced to thirty-five years of incarcera- tion. At the petitioner's first habeas trial, the court rejected the petition- er's ineffective assistance claim, but the Appellate Court reversed the habeas court's judgment, concluding that M's performance was deficient insofar as she did not adequately advise the petitioner regarding the trial court's nine year plea offer. The Appellate Court remanded the case for a new habeas trial on the issue of whether the petitioner had been prejudiced by M's deficient performance. After that new trial, the habeas court, crediting the petitioner's testimony at the new habeas trial, as well as the testimony of a legal expert regarding the advice reasonably competent counsel would have provided, found that the petitioner likely would have accepted the nine year offer if M had ade- quately advised him and thus concluded that the petitioner met his burden of establishing prejudice. Accordingly, the habeas court rendered judgment granting the petition. On the granting of certification, the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, appealed. Held that the habeas court correctly determined that the petitioner had met his burden of establishing prejudice as a result of M's ineffective assistance: the habeas court's finding that the petitioner likely would have accepted the trial court's nine year plea offer if M had adequately ad