Hines v. Commissioner of Correction

138 A.3d 430, 164 Conn. App. 712, 2016 Conn. App. LEXIS 154
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedApril 19, 2016
DocketAC37459
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 138 A.3d 430 (Hines 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
Hines v. Commissioner of Correction, 138 A.3d 430, 164 Conn. App. 712, 2016 Conn. App. LEXIS 154 (Colo. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

SHELDON, J.

The petitioner, Vinroy Hines, appeals following the denial of his petition for certification to appeal from the judgment of the habeas court denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, in which he challenged his conviction for criminal attempt to commit assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-49 and 53a-59 (a)(1), 1 two counts of assault in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-60 (a)(2), 2 kidnapping in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-92 (a)(2)(A), 3 and criminal violation of a protective order in violation of General Statutes § 53a-223 (a). 4 In his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, he claimed that the state had violated his state and federal constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial by failing to disclose favorable evidence to him in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 , 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194 , 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), then failing to correct allegedly perjured and misleading testimony relating to that undisclosed evidence in violation of Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 , 269, 79 S.Ct. 1173 , 3 L.Ed.2d 1217 (1959). In particular, the petitioner asserted that the state failed to disclose an agreement between the state and his codefendant, Conray Jones, as to favorable consideration that Jones would receive from the state in exchange for his testimony against the petitioner, then failed to correct Jones' testimony that no such agreement existed. The petitioner argued that the agreement not disclosed due to these violations was material to his guilt, and thus that if the jury had been informed of the agreement, it was reasonably probable that it would have reached a different verdict. The habeas court rejected the petitioner's claims by denying his habeas corpus petition, and later denied his petition for certification to appeal. The petitioner appeals from that denial, claiming that the habeas court abused its discretion by so ordering because the issues upon which he challenged his conviction as to which he seeks appellate review are debatable among jurists of reason, the court could have resolved those issues in a different manner than the habeas court, and they raise questions that are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. We disagree with the petitioner, and thus dismiss his appeal.

We set forth the following facts in the petitioner's direct appeal. "The [petitioner] and ... the victim 5 were in a romantic relationship and had two children together. The victim and their two children resided in a family shelter in East Hartford, but often stayed with the [petitioner] in his apartment in Bridgeport. On January 1, 2009, the [petitioner] and his cousin, Conray Jones, arrived at the family shelter to take the victim and their children to Bridgeport. On the way to Bridgeport, the group stopped to eat at a restaurant. While sitting next to the victim in the backseat of Jones' car, which was parked outside the restaurant, the [petitioner] began talking to the victim and then suddenly struck her on the nose with a beer bottle. Jones then proceeded to drive the group toward Bridgeport. For the first thirty minutes of the drive, the [petitioner] remained in the backseat with the victim and their two children, punching the victim in the head, back and shoulder. Once in the New Haven area, the [petitioner] produced a box cutter and repeatedly stabbed the victim on various parts of her body. He put the box cutter near the victim's face and told her that, when they arrived in Bridgeport, he would 'pop off [her] head and pop off his [own] head.'

"Throughout the ride, the [petitioner] asked Jones to pass him a knife. When Jones told the [petitioner] that he did not have one, the [petitioner] reached into the front of the car and opened the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat. In fear that the [petitioner] was reaching for a knife with which to stab her, the victim slid behind the [petitioner] and jumped out of the car, which was traveling at a speed of sixty-five miles per hour. Jones continued to drive the [petitioner] and the children to Bridgeport. Meanwhile, the victim was rescued from the side of the road by a passing driver who drove the victim to a gas station where she called the police. The victim was taken to the hospital where she was treated for a broken nose and toe, two one-half inch lacerations on her scalp and multiple contusions and abrasions from contact with the road.

"Thereafter, the [petitioner] was arrested and charged by long form information, dated September 15, 2009, with the five aforementioned offenses, and, in addition, two counts of kidnapping in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-94 (a).... [On September 23, 2009], after the state presented its case-in-chief, the [petitioner] moved for a judgment of acquittal as to all charged crimes. The court granted the motion with respect to the two counts of kidnapping in the second degree, but denied the motion with respect to the five remaining charges. As a result, the state filed a substitute information, dated September 24, 2009, charging the [petitioner] with the foregoing five counts.

"The [petitioner] then presented his case, which he completed on September 24, 2009.... The case was committed to the jury, which returned a verdict of guilty on all counts contained in the substitute information. The court rendered judgment in accordance with the jury verdict and sentenced the [petitioner] to a total effective sentence of eighteen years in prison and seven years of special parole." (Footnote added.) State v. Hines, 136 Conn.App. 412 , 414-17, 44 A.3d 886 , cert. denied, 307 Conn. 903 , 53 A.3d 219 (2012).

Jones also was arrested for his participation in the events of January 1, 2009. Before he resolved those charges, 6

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
138 A.3d 430, 164 Conn. App. 712, 2016 Conn. App. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hines-v-commissioner-of-correction-connappct-2016.