Moon v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 354 Conn. 181

Syllabus

The petitioner, who had been convicted of felony murder, robbery in the first degree, and conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree in connec- tion with the shooting death of the victim, sought a writ of habeas corpus, claiming, inter alia, that newly discovered evidence established that he was actually innocent of those crimes. At his habeas trial, the petitioner intro- duced evidence that, after he was convicted, M, his alleged coconspirator, was separately tried and found not guilty of conspiracy to commit first degree robbery, among other offenses, under the statute (§ 53a-13 (a)) governing the affirmative defense of lack of capacity due to mental disease or defect. The petitioner claimed that M's acquittal under § 53a-13 (a) established that M necessarily lacked the requisite intent to enter into a conspiracy with the petitioner and that M's inability to form an intent to commit any crime at the time of the shooting established the petitioner's actual innocence of each crime of which he was convicted. Relying on State v. Colon (257 Conn. 587), in which this court held that separately tried coconspirators are not entitled to consistent verdicts, the habeas court rejected the petitioner's actual innocence claim, reasoning that M's acquittal was, as a matter of law, irrelevant to whether the petitioner was actually innocent. Accordingly, the habeas court rendered judgment denying the petitioner's habeas petition. The petitioner then appealed to the Appellate Court, which affirmed the habeas court's judgment. The Appellate Court concluded that the habeas court had misapplied Colon and failed to evaluate the aggregate evidence from the petitioner's and M's separate criminal trials. After conducting its own independent review of that evidence, the Appellate Court also concluded that M's acquittal demonstrated that M was incapable of forming the neces- sary criminal intent to enter into the conspiracy, and M's inability to form a criminal intent necessarily mea