Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction

CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedFebruary 9, 2021
DocketAC43122
StatusPublished

This text of Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction (Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction, (Colo. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

*********************************************** The “officially released” date that appears near the be- ginning of each opinion is the date the opinion will be pub- lished in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it was released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the be- ginning of all time periods for filing postopinion motions and petitions for certification is the “officially released” date appearing in the opinion.

All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the Connecticut Reports and Connecticut Appellate Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the advance release version of an opinion and the latest version appearing in the Connecticut Law Journal and subsequently in the Connecticut Reports or Connecticut Appellate Reports, the latest version is to be considered authoritative.

The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publica- tions, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut. *********************************************** CHARLES WILLIAM COLEMAN v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION (AC 43122) Elgo, Alexander and DiPentima, Js.

Syllabus

The petitioner, who had been convicted of various crimes, appealed to this court from the judgment of the habeas court, which dismissed his peti- tion for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to statute (§ 52-470). Following the filing of the petition, the habeas court, at the request of the respon- dent, the Commissioner of Correction, issued an order to the petitioner to show cause, pursuant to § 52-470, why the petition should be permitted to proceed in light of the fact that the judgment on his prior habeas petition became final in 2014, but the petitioner had failed to file this petition until almost four years later, beyond the presumptive deadlines for doing so set forth in § 52-470 (d). After an evidentiary hearing, the court found that the petitioner’s claim that he had difficulty obtaining the transcripts from his prior proceedings in order to find new issues to raise lacked credibility and that the petitioner’s argument that he had not been informed by his prior attorneys of the retroactive application of State v. Salamon (287 Conn. 509) in collateral proceedings was unavailing. The court thus concluded that the petitioner failed to show good cause for the delay in filing the petition and dismissed it pursuant to § 52-470 (d) and (e). The court thereafter denied the petition for certification to appeal, and the petitioner appealed to this court, claiming that § 52-470 was unconstitutional, his inability to obtain the transcripts from his prior proceedings and the ineffective assistance of his prior counsel constituted good cause, and the court abused its discretion in denying the petition for certification to appeal. Held that the habeas court did not abuse its discretion in denying the petition for certification to appeal, as the petitioner did not distinctly raise his constitutional challenge to § 52-470 in the petition for certification and, thus, this court declined to review this claim; moreover, the petitioner could not prevail on his claim that good cause existed for his delay in commencing his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, as the petitioner’s inability to obtain transcripts from prior proceedings did not prevent him from filing a petition within the statutorily prescribed time period and this court was bound by the habeas court’s determination that the petitioner’s claimed difficulty in obtaining the transcripts was not credible; furthermore, the petitioner’s ignorance of the possible retroactive application of Salamon did not constitute good cause to proceed with his otherwise untimely habeas petition, and the petitioner’s failure to raise his claim of the ineffective assistance of prior counsel before the habeas court was fatal to his claim that this allegedly ineffective assistance constituted good cause, and, accordingly, the appeal was dismissed. Argued October 14, 2020—officially released February 9, 2021

Procedural History

Petition for a writ of habeas corpus, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Tolland, where the court, Newson, J., rendered judgment dismissing the petition; thereafter, the court denied the petition for certification to appeal, and the petitioner appealed to this court. Appeal dismissed. Deborah G. Stevenson, assigned counsel, for the appellant (petitioner). Jonathan M. Sousa, deputy assistant state’s attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Patrick J. Griffin, state’s attorney, and Adrienne Russo, assistant state’s attor- ney, for the appellee (respondent). Opinion

ALEXANDER, J. The petitioner, Charles William Coleman, appeals from the denial of his petition for certification to appeal from the judgment of the habeas court dismissing his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On appeal, the petitioner claims that the habeas court (1) improperly determined that he had failed to estab- lish good cause for the filing of his untimely habeas petition and (2) abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal. We disagree, and, accordingly, dismiss the petitioner’s appeal. As this court previously observed, ‘‘[t]he factual and procedural history of the petitioner’s criminal case and prior habeas cases is lengthy and well documented. See Coleman v. Commissioner of Department of Correc- tions, United States District Court, Docket No. 2:91- CV0005 (PCD) (D. Conn. December 30, 1991), aff’d, 969 F.2d 1041 (2d Cir. 1992); Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction, 274 Conn. 422, 876 A.2d 533 (2005); State v. Coleman, 251 Conn. 249, 741 A.2d 1 (1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1061, 120 S. Ct. 1570, 146 L. Ed. 2d 473 (2000); State v. Coleman, 242 Conn. 523, 700 A.2d 14 (1997); State v. Coleman, 241 Conn. 784, 699 A.2d 91 (1997); Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction, 108 Conn. App. 836, 949 A.2d 536, cert. denied, 289 Conn. 913, 957 A.2d 876 (2008); Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction, 99 Conn. App. 310, 913 A.2d 477, cert. denied, 281 Conn. 924, 918 A.2d 275 (2007); State v. Coleman, 38 Conn. App. 531, 662 A.2d 150, cert. denied, 235 Conn. 906, 665 A.2d 903 (1995); State v. Coleman, 17 Conn. App. 307, 552 A.2d 442 (1989).’’ Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction, 149 Conn. App. 719, 721– 22, 87 A.3d 1208, cert. denied, 312 Conn. 905, 93 A.3d 156 (2014). The petitioner was convicted of burglary in the first degree, burglary in the second degree, sexual assault in the first degree and unlawful restraint in the first degree. Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction, supra, 274 Conn. 423–24. ‘‘The convictions arose out of an incident that occurred on July 7, 1986, in which an assailant broke into a New Haven residence and sexu- ally assaulted a woman.’’ Id., 424. This court vacated the petitioner’s conviction of burglary in the second degree and affirmed his other convictions. Id. The self-represented petitioner commenced the pres- ent habeas action on May 7, 2018, alleging ineffective assistance by his criminal trial counsel, Thomas E. Farver. On October 31, 2018, the respondent, the Com- missioner of Correction, requested that the habeas court order the petitioner to show cause as to why this petition should not be dismissed as untimely pursuant to General Statutes § 52-470 (d) and (e).

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Related

Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction
913 A.2d 477 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2007)
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949 A.2d 1092 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2008)
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Johnson v. Commissioner of Correction
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197 A.3d 1034 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2018)
Watts v. Commissioner of Correction
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Coleman v. Commissioner of Correction, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coleman-v-commissioner-of-correction-connappct-2021.