Harris v. Commissioner of Correction

904 A.2d 280, 97 Conn. App. 382, 2006 Conn. App. LEXIS 394
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedSeptember 5, 2006
DocketAC 26295
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 904 A.2d 280 (Harris 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
Harris v. Commissioner of Correction, 904 A.2d 280, 97 Conn. App. 382, 2006 Conn. App. LEXIS 394 (Colo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

The petitioner, Leroy Harris, appeals following 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. The petitioner claims that the court (1) abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal and (2) improperly dismissed the habeas petition. We dismiss the appeal.

The petitioner was convicted, following a jury trial, of three counts of robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-134 (a) and 53a-8, and one count of sexual assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-70 (a). The petitioner was sentenced to a total effective term of eighty years incarceration. He appealed to this court, and we affirmed the judgment of conviction on July 17, 1990. State v. Harris, 22 Conn. App. 329, 577 A.2d 1077 (1990).

The petitioner filed his first habeas petition on November 20, 1992. Thereafter, on February 17, 1993, the petitioner filed an amended habeas petition that alleged the ineffective assistance of his trial and appellate counsel.1 Following a hearing, the court, Hodgson, [384]*384J., concluded that the petitioner had not met his preliminary burden of demonstrating prejudice and accordingly dismissed his petition. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984) (holding that in order for criminal defendant to prevail on constitutional claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, he must establish both deficient performance and actual prejudice); Aillon v. Meachum, 211 Conn. 352, 362, 559 A.2d 206 (1989) (explaining that court need not determine whether counsel’s performance was deficient if consideration of prejudice prong of Strickland will be dispositive of ineffectiveness claim). The petitioner subsequently appealed to this court, and we affirmed the judgment of the habeas court. Harris v. Commissioner of Correction, 40 Conn. App. 250, 671 A.2d 359 (1996).

In 2003, the petitioner filed a second habeas petition, in which he alleged police and prosecutorial misconduct as well as actual innocence. The court, Hon. William L. Hadden, Jr., judge trial referee, denied that petition on August 25, 2003. The petitioner appealed to this court, and we dismissed the appeal on November 16, 2004. Harris v. Commissioner of Correction, 86 Conn. App. 903, 859 A.2d 979 (2004), cert. denied, 272 Conn. 919, 866 A.2d 1286 (2005).

The petitioner then filed a third habeas petition on October 2, 2003, and a second amended petition on August 11, 2004. In his 2004 second amended petition, the petitioner again alleged ineffective assistance of' counsel. In contrast to his 1993 petition alleging ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel, the petitioner’s 2004 second amended petition was limited to trial counsel and focused primarily on her failure to highlight discrepancies with respect to the identification of the petitioner.2

[385]*385On September 27, 2004, the respondent, the commissioner of correction, filed a motion to dismiss the petition on the ground that the petitioner had raised the same legal grounds, ineffective assistance of counsel, as he had raised in his first habeas petition, and “failjed] to state new facts or proffer new evidence not reasonably available at the time of the prior petition . . . .” Practice Book § 23-29 (3); see also Practice Book § 23-29 (5). In response, the petitioner filed an objection to the respondent’s motion to dismiss on November 17, 2004.

On November 30, 2004, following a hearing on the matter, the court, Fuger, J., granted the respondent’s motion to dismiss. In so doing, the court concluded that “[t]he matter is res judicata. . . . Here, [the petitioner] has had not only one, but two, previous habeas petitions, both of which were denied, both of which were appealed, and both of which were affirmed by the state of Connecticut Appellate Court. [The petitioner] has alleged the identical ground that he is alleging here, that is, ineffective assistance of trial counsel and appellate counsel, in the habeas petition that was tried before Judge Hodgson. I have heard nothing to indicate that there is any newly discovered evidence that was not available at the time of the first habeas trial that is now available, which might have allowed this court to see an exception to the rule of res judicata.” (Emphasis in original.) The petitioner then filed a petition for certification to appeal, which the court denied. This appeal followed.

On appeal, the petitioner first claims that the court abused its discretion when it denied his petition for certification to appeal. We disagree.

At the outset we set forth our standard of review. “Faced with the habeas court’s denial of certification [386]*386to appeal, a petitioner’s first burden is to demonstrate that the habeas court’s ruling constituted an abuse of discretion. Abuse of discretion is the proper standard because that is the standard to which we have held other litigants whose rights to appeal the legislature has conditioned upon the obtaining of the trial court’s permission. ... If the petitioner succeeds in surmounting that hurdle, the petitioner must then demonstrate that the judgment of the habeas court should be reversed on its merits. ... To determine whether the court abused its discretion, the petitioner must demonstrate that the issues are debatable among jurists of reason; that a court could resolve the issues [in a different manner]; or that the questions are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Bellino v. Commissioner of Correction, 75 Conn. App. 743, 747, 817 A.2d 704, cert. denied, 264 Conn. 915, 826 A.2d 1159 (2003); see also Simms v. Warden, 230 Conn. 608, 616, 646 A.2d 126 (1994).

Practice Book § 23-29 provides in relevant part: “The judicial authority may, at any time, upon its own motion or upon motion of the respondent, dismiss the petition, or any count thereof, if it determines that ... (3) the petition presents the same ground as a prior petition previously denied and fails to state new facts or proffer new evidence not reasonably available at the time of the prior petition ... (5) any other legally sufficient ground for dismissal of the petition exists.” “In this context, a ground has been defined as sufficient legal basis for granting the relief sought. . . . [T]he fact that both petitions were based on the legal ground that the petitioner was denied the effective assistance of counsel in his criminal trial alone is not fatal to the petitioner’s petition. For example, a petitioner may bring successive petitions on the same legal grounds if the [387]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Myers v. Commissioner of Correction
959 A.2d 646 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2008)
Harris v. Commissioner of Correction
947 A.2d 435 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2008)
Harris v. Commissioner of Correction
909 A.2d 523 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
904 A.2d 280, 97 Conn. App. 382, 2006 Conn. App. LEXIS 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-commissioner-of-correction-connappct-2006.