Lance W. v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 204 Conn. App. 346

Syllabus

The petitioner, who previously had been convicted of several crimes, includ- ing murder and arson in the first degree, filed a second petition for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that D, his first habeas appellate counsel, rendered ineffective assistance in the petitioner's appeal to this court from the denial of his first habeas petition. A police investigator, M, had determined that a fire at the petitioner's home, in which the victim died, had been intentionally set with an accelerant, and S, the state medical examiner who performed an autopsy on the victim, testified that, because of the lack of soot in the victim's bodily organs and low level of carbon monoxide in the victim's blood, she concluded that the victim had died prior to the fire. The first habeas court, in denying the first habeas petition, concluded, inter alia, that the petitioner had presented no newly discovered evidence that proved his claim of actual innocence and failed to establish that the scientific evidence admitted at his criminal trial was false or invalid. The court also rejected the petitioner's assertions that his trial counsel, N, was ineffective in chal- lenging the expert testimony of M and S and had a conflict of interest in representing the petitioner in a civil matter against his homeowners insurer. On the petitioner's appeal to this court, D challenged only the first habeas court's rejection of the petitioner's claims that N had a conflict of interest and had inadequately cross-examined M and S as to the cause of the victim's death and the cause of the fire. This court affirmed the judgment of the first habeas court. In his second petition for a writ of habeas corpus, the petitioner alleged that D was ineffective for having failed to challenge the first habeas court's rejection of his claims that he is actually innocent, that his conviction was based on scientifically invalid evidence, and that N was ineffective in challenging certain expert testimony adduced by the state per