Walcott v. Commissioner of Correction

Syllabus

The petitioner, who previously had been convicted, on a plea of guilty, of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm, appealed following the granting of her petition for certification to appeal from the habeas court's judgment denying her petition for a writ of habeas corpus. She claimed, inter alia, that she was denied due process under Brady v. Maryland (373 U.S. 83) when the state failed to disclose to her a cooperation agreement it allegedly had with her cousin in exchange for his written statement and likely testimony implicating her in the victim's death. Held: The habeas court properly denied the petitioner's claim that her trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to conduct an adequate investiga- tion of her case, as the petitioner's assertion that key witnesses would have provided exculpatory evidence was based on speculation, and the petitioner did not present any of those witnesses at the habeas trial, let alone show what information they may have had that would have been helpful to her case. The petitioner could not prevail on her claim that her trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to meaningfully explain to her the state's plea offer or advise her regarding her guilty plea, as the habeas court credited counsel's testimony that he had multiple conversations with the petitioner about the strengths and weaknesses of the state's case, the evidence against her and her cousin's statement implicating her in the victim's death, which, if believed by a jury, could have resulted in the petitioner's conviction and exposed her to more than 100 years of incarceration. This court concluded, in light of United States v. Ruiz (536 U.S. 622), in which the United States Supreme Court held that the federal constitution does not require the government to disclose material impeachment evidence prior to entering into a guilty plea agreement with a criminal defendant, that the habeas court properly denied the petitioner's claim that s