Robert S. v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 194 Conn. App. 382

Syllabus

The petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus, claiming, inter alia, that his trial counsel had provided ineffective assistance by failing to investigate the viability of an intoxication defense. The petitioner had pleaded guilty, under the Alford doctrine, to various charges in connection with the stabbing deaths of two children. The plea agreement allowed the peti- tioner to avoid the death penalty, and he received a total effective sentence of life in prison with no possibility of release. The habeas court rendered judgment denying the habeas petition and, thereafter, denied the petition for certification to appeal, and the petitioner appealed to this court. Held that the habeas court did not abuse its discretion in denying the petition for certification to appeal, the record having supported that court's conclusion that trial counsel's strategy in not presenting an intoxication defense did not constitute ineffective assis- tance: the habeas court properly determined that the petitioner failed to satisfy his burden of overcoming the presumption that trial counsel's decision not to raise an intoxication defense was a reasonable trial strategy, the petitioner's claim that had trial counsel properly investi- gated and informed him of a possible intoxication defense, there was a reasonable probability that he would not have pleaded guilty was unavailing, as trial counsel adequately investigated and informed the petitioner of the availability and effectiveness of an intoxication defense, and properly advised him that an intoxication defense would likely have failed and that if he had gone to trial he would have faced a possible death sentence, and although the petitioner claimed that he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the murders in support of his intoxication claim, no evidence of the drug he purportedly ingested was recovered, the petitioner denied being under the influence of drugs to the police immediately following the murders, and the results of