Benitez v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 197 Conn. App. 344

Syllabus

The petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that his trial counsel had rendered ineffective assistance for failing to hire or to consult with a defense expert in arson investigation before trial. The petitioner had been convicted of various offenses in connection with his role in planning and recruiting two brothers, J and F, to burn the shed of the victim, G, with whom he quarreled over used car transactions. After G had removed two cars from the petitioner's used car lot, the petitioner took various actions that G interpreted as threats to his safety and his wife's safety. G testified that the petitioner left two sealed envelopes with ''funny money'' inside on G's lawn, indicating to G an intent to retaliate. When he thereafter observed two men near his shed just before it burst into flames, he fired a gun at the men as they fled, striking one man in the arm. J sought treatment that evening in a Massachusetts hospital for a gunshot wound to his arm; DNA from his blood was recovered outside G's home. At the criminal trial, J testified that the petitioner had hired him and F to burn the shed, had given them the gas can containing gasoline to use, and had telephoned him twice the evening of the fire. The state presented evidence that the DNA recovered from the saliva on the envelopes left on G's lawn had come from the petitioner. The state also presented the testimony of an expert, a state chemist, that the accelerant used to start the fire was not gasoline, but a compound often found in various substances used in the car repair business. Defense counsel, who had not hired an arson investigation expert, learned for the first time at trial, through the state's expert, that the accelerant was not gasoline, after he had cross-examined G. Defense counsel, because he had not known that the accelerant was a compound that G may have used to repair autos in his shed, had not questioned G regarding his access to such an accelerant to start the fire. The habeas cou