State v. LaMotte

Citations

• 210 Conn. App. 44

Syllabus

Convicted, on pleas of guilty, of two counts of the crime of robbery in the first degree, the defendant appealed to this court, claiming that the trial court improperly denied his request for an evidentiary hearing on his motion to withdraw the pleas. The defendant had been facing a maximum sentence of forty years of imprisonment on the robbery charges. After trial commenced on those charges, the defendant pleaded guilty in exchange for a sentence of six and one-half years of imprisonment followed by seven years of special parole. The trial court accepted the pleas after canvassing him and determining that the pleas were know- ingly and voluntarily made with the assistance of competent counsel. The court denied the motion to withdraw the guilty pleas after conducting a hearing during which the defendant claimed that he was under duress during the plea proceeding because he had learned during the trial that an inspector from the state's attorney's office had coerced and given false information to a witness who had not yet testified. The defendant further asserted that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance because, inter alia, they failed to pursue an alibi defense on his behalf. Held that this court could not conclude that the trial court abused its discretion by not affording the defendant an evidentiary hearing on his motion to withdraw the guilty pleas, as the trial court afforded him ample opportunity to present his claims, clearly addressed each of his arguments appropriately as they were presented and, relying on the transcript of the plea proceeding, concluded that there was no basis for them: as to the ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the court noted that the defendant had indicated on various occasions during the plea canvass that he was satisfied with his counsel, the defendant failed to demonstrate an adequate factual basis to support an evidentiary hearing as to his counsel's alleged failure to pursue the alibi defense, as the defendan