Chase v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 210 Conn. App. 492

Syllabus

The petitioner, who had previously been convicted of sexual assault in the first degree and risk of injury to a child, sought a writ of habeas corpus claiming, inter alia, that his trial counsel had provided ineffective assis- tance. Following a trial, the habeas court rendered judgment denying the petition, concluding that trial counsel's performance was not deficient. Thereafter, the habeas court granted the petition for certification to appeal, and the petitioner appealed to this court. Held that the habeas court correctly concluded that the petitioner failed to prove that his trial counsel's performance was deficient: the habeas court reasonably concluded that the petitioner did not overcome the presumption that his trial counsel had familiarized himself with topics germane to child sexual assault cases, as the petitioner failed to present credible evidence that his counsel had failed to achieve a reasonable degree of familiarity with various materials relevant to child forensic interview protocol, disclosure literature and validation criteria; moreover, this court could not second-guess on appeal the court's credibility determinations regard- ing trial counsel's testimony that he had retained an expert, S, to assist with the defense, and the petitioner did not overcome the presumption that trial counsel's decision regarding what topics to develop during the examination of S and which topics to reserve for cross-examination of the state's expert witnesses was based on sound trial strategy. Argued November 29, 2021—officially released February 8, 2022