Gomez v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 336 Conn. 168

Syllabus

The petitioner, who had been convicted of the crimes of murder and conspir- acy to commit murder, filed a second petition for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming, inter alia, that his first habeas counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to raise the claim that the petitioner's due process rights were violated during his underlying criminal trial. Specifically, the petitioner claimed that the prosecutor failed to correct the allegedly false testimony of the state's key witnesses, S and V, that the state had not promised them anything in return for their cooperation and that they had not received any benefit in exchange for their cooperation. The habeas court rendered judgment denying the second petition, concluding that there was no due process violation, as the petitioner had failed to demonstrate that the trial testimony of S and V regarding their coopera- tion agreements with the state was false, the agreements were thor- oughly explored on both direct and cross-examination, and at least one of the defense attorneys involved in the consolidated criminal trial of the petitioner and his codefendants was aware of the cooperation agree- ments. On the granting of certification, the petitioner appealed to the Appellate Court, which affirmed the habeas court's judgment. The Appel- late Court concluded, inter alia, that the petitioner's due process rights under Napue v. Illinois (360 U.S. 264), and Giglio v. United States (405 U.S. 150), had not been violated because the agreements had been disclosed to defense counsel, and, therefore, the state was not required to correct the false testimony of S and V. Thereafter, the petitioner, on the granting of certification, appealed to this court. Held that the petitioner's due process rights were violated at his criminal trial when the prosecutor failed to correct the materially false testimony of S and V about benefits that the state had promised or provided to them in return for their cooperation, even though defense c