Lisboa v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 236 Conn. App. 23

Syllabus

The petitioner, who previously had been convicted of murder and assault in the first degree, appealed following the denial of his petition for certifica- tion to appeal from the habeas court's judgment denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He claimed, inter alia, that the court abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal. Held: The habeas court did not abuse its discretion in denying the petitioner's petition for certification to appeal, as the petitioner failed to demonstrate that his underlying claims of error were debatable among jurists of reason, that a court could have resolved the issues in a different manner, or that the questions were adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. The habeas court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the peti- tioner failed to demonstrate good cause to excuse the late filing of his habeas petition pursuant to statute (§ 52-470), as the petitioner's argument essentially attacked the credibility determinations of the habeas court, and this court does not second-guess such credibility determinations on appeal. It would not have been an abuse of the habeas court's discretion to deny the petition for certification to appeal if the petitioner had included his claim that the habeas court improperly denied his request to appoint counsel for the good cause hearing, as this court could not conclude that the habeas court's failure to provide such counsel only for the limited purpose of the good cause hearing was the type of egregious defect or ''truly extraordinary situation'' warranting reversal under the plain error doctrine or that it threat- ened the integrity of the judicial system or public confidence in the judicial system such that this court was required to invoke its supervisory authority over the administration of justice to guarantee a right to counsel at any stage of a habeas proceeding. Argued March 18—officially released October 28, 2025