Jordan v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 197 Conn. App. 822

Syllabus

The petitioner, who previously had been convicted of the crimes of man- slaughter in the first degree with a firearm and carrying a pistol or revolver without a permit, sought a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that his trial counsel, D, provided ineffective assistance. He claimed, inter alia, that D was deficient in failing to adequately investigate and present available witnesses in support of his claim of self-defense and by failing to raise the defense of third-party culpability. D died prior to the petition- er's habeas trial and, thus, the habeas trial did not hear testimony regard- ing D's investigative efforts, trial strategy, or other tactical decisions. The habeas court rendered judgment granting the habeas petition, from which the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, on the granting of certification, appealed to this court. Held: 1. The habeas court improperly concluded that D provided constitutionally deficient representation with regard to the petitioner's self-defense claim: the petitioner failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that D's investigation or decision not to call certain witnesses constituted deficient performance as he failed to present testimony regarding D's investigative efforts and, thus, failed to overcome the strong presumption that D engaged in an objectively reasonable investigation, and he failed to present any evidence regarding D's trial strategy and, thus, failed to overcome the presumption that any decision not to call certain witnesses was sound trial strategy; furthermore, the habeas court's conclusion that the witnesses who testified at the habeas trial were credible and could have lent additional support to the petitioner's claim of self- defense was premature in the absence of a determination that D's perfor- mance was deficient. 2. The habeas court improperly determined that D provided ineffective assistance because she failed to pursue a third-party culpability defense: the court failed to consider whether D's