Lenti v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 195 Conn. App. 505

Syllabus

The petitioner, who previously had pleaded guilty to burglary in the first degree and had admitted to five violations of probation as part of a plea agreement, filed an amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming, inter alia, that his guilty plea was not knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily given because the petitioner was under the influence of several heavy narcotics administered by Department of Correction personnel, rendering him unable to understand the plea agreement, and that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to determine that the petitioner was so heavily medicated that he was unable to understand and voluntarily enter a guilty plea. The habeas court rendered judgment denying the habeas petition and, thereafter, denied the petition for certifi- cation to appeal, and the petitioner appealed to this court. Held: 1. This court declined to review the petitioner's claim that the habeas court erred in determining that his guilty plea was made knowingly, intelli- gently and voluntarily because the petitioner failed to address the thresh- old issue of whether the habeas court abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal on this issue and addressed only the habeas court's purported error in concluding that his due process rights had not been violated; generally, a petitioner is not afforded appellate review of the habeas court's decision if he has failed to estab- lish that the habeas court abused its discretion in denying the petition for certification. 2. The habeas court did not abuse its discretion in denying the petition for certification to appeal regarding the petitioner's ineffective assistance of counsel claim: although the habeas court did not make an explicit finding regarding the petitioner's claim of ineffective assistance of coun- sel, in light of the findings supported by the record, including findings that the petitioner was not impaired by the prescribed medications to the extent that he could n