Vega v. Commissioner of Correction

Citations

• 224 Conn. App. 652

Syllabus

The petitioner, who had been convicted, after a jury trial, of various crimes in connection with a home invasion and the shooting of two victims, sought a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that the state had suppressed exculpatory information in violation of Brady v. Maryland (373 U.S. 83) and that his trial counsel, K, had rendered ineffective assistance by failing to consult with or retain an expert on eyewitness identification and by failing to impeach P, one of the eyewitnesses who testified for the state. After an altercation with the two victims at a bar hours earlier, the petitioner and another man entered an apartment where a group of individuals had gathered, including the two victims, several of whom had known the petitioner for years. Both men were armed and had their heads and faces covered. When the petitioner reached the living room, he pulled down his mask and fired toward the window. He then fired two shots at the first victim, striking him. The two men chased the second victim out of the apartment, firing and striking him. At the apartment, P called 911 and stated that the first victim had been shot. After being transported to a hospital, the first victim died, and the second victim survived. After the police arrived on the scene, several people who were present during the shooting identified the petitioner as one of the shooters. At the petitioner's criminal trial in 2016, several witnesses testified that the petitioner was the shooter, and at least two witnesses testified that they had heard an eyewitness scream the petitioner's name during the shooting. A recording of P's 911 call, in which she identified the petitioner as the individual who had shot the first victim, was admit- ted at the petitioner's criminal trial. The spontaneous excited utterances identifying the petitioner as the shooter made by both an eyewitness when she phoned her mother shortly after the shooting and by the second victim, when he spoke to a police officer as he was being