Narcisse v. Commissioner of Mental Health & Addiction Services

Citations

• 233 Conn. App. 406

Syllabus

Pursuant to Duperry v. Solnit (261 Conn. 309), in all cases ''in which a defendant pleads not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and the state substantially agrees with the defendant's claim of mental disease or defect, with the result that the trial essentially is not an adversarial proceed- ing, the trial court must canvass the defendant to ensure that his plea is made voluntarily and with a full understating of its consequences.'' The petitioner, who had previously been found not guilty of certain crimes by reason of mental disease or defect and committed to the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board, appealed, on the granting of certification, from the habeas court's judgment denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He claimed, inter alia, that the habeas court improperly determined that the underlying criminal proceeding was contested and adversarial in nature and, thus, he was not required to be canvassed pursuant to Duperry. Held: The habeas court did not improperly deny the habeas petition with respect to the petitioner's claim that his plea of not guilty with the affirmative defense of mental disease or defect, made pursuant to statute (§ 53a-13 (a)), was not made knowingly and voluntarily because he was not canvassed pursuant to Duperry, as the evidence in the record supported the court's finding that, because the prosecutor did not substantially agree with the petitioner's affirmative defense, the underlying criminal proceedings were adversarial and contested, and, thus, a canvass pursuant to Duperry was not required. The habeas court did not improperly deny the habeas petition with respect to the petitioner's claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, as the court correctly determined, on the basis of its assessment of the credibility of the testimony of trial counsel and the petitioner, that the petitioner failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that his trial counsel performed deficiently by failing to advi