Doan v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 193 Conn. App. 263

Syllabus

The petitioner, who previously had been convicted on a guilty plea of home invasion and kidnapping in the first degree, sought a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to investigate his mental health and to retain a forensic psychol- ogist to aid in mitigating his sentence. The petitioner had gone to the home of a family for whom he had previously worked, took cash from the homeowner, tied the hands of the homeowner and her minor son with rope and forced the homeowner to write several checks and to sign a contract to make it look as if she owed him money, after which he bound their mouths with duct tape and confined them in the home. The homeowner was able to convince the petitioner that she should accompany him to the bank, where she withdrew cash and wrote another check to the petitioner, who then asked the homeowner to drive him to Vernon, where she dropped him off before returning home and calling the police. The habeas court rendered judgment denying the habeas petition and, thereafter, denied the petition for certification to appeal, and the petitioner appealed to this court. Held: 1. The habeas court abused its discretion in denying the petition for certifica- tion to appeal; the petitioner's claims that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance in not investigating his mental health and retaining a forensic psychologist were, as the habeas court recognized, a close issue, and, thus, the petitioner's appeal was not frivolous, and the ques- tion he raised was adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. 2. The petitioner could not prevail on his claim that his trial counsel rendered deficient performance by failing to investigate his mental health and to retain a forensic psychologist to aid in mitigating his sentence: the petitioner could not overcome the strong presumption that his counsel's performance fell within the wide range of reasonable professional assis- tance, as the habea