Holloway v. Commissioner of Correction

804 A.2d 995, 72 Conn. App. 244, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 467
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedSeptember 10, 2002
DocketAC 22029
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 804 A.2d 995 (Holloway 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
Holloway v. Commissioner of Correction, 804 A.2d 995, 72 Conn. App. 244, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 467 (Colo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Opinion

BISHOP, J.

The petitioner, Anthony Holloway, appeals from the judgment of the habeas court dismissing his second amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus in which he claimed that he had been denied the effective assistance of appellate counsel. The petitioner [246]*246claims that the court improperly dismissed his claim that appellate counsel was ineffective because counsel failed to apprise our Supreme Court of the precedent of Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 107 S. Ct. 708, 93 L. Ed. 2d 649 (1987).2 We affirm the judgment of the habeas court.

The following facts and procedural history are relevant to our disposition of the petitioner’s appeal. The petitioner, who is African-American, was charged with one count of felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54c and was tried to the jury. During voir dire, the state used a peremptory challenge to remove an African-American venireperson. The petitioner challenged the removal as purposeful discrimination in violation of his equal protection rights as established in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S. Ct. 1712, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69 (1986). In Batson, the United States Supreme Court held that the use of peremptory challenges by the state to strike venirepersons solely because they are members of the defendant’s race violates the equal protection clause of the federal constitution. Id., 89. Batson established a three step procedure for the defendant in a criminal case to challenge the state’s use of peremptory challenges to exclude jurors because of their race. Id., 96-98. First, the defendant must establish a prima facie case of discrimination by the state. Id., 96. The state then must proffer a neutral explanation for the peremptory challenge. Id., 97. Finally, the defendant must establish purposeful discrimination by the state. Id., 93. The court here concluded that because the peti[247]*247tioner had failed to meet the first requirement of Batson, the state was not required to give a neutral explanation for its peremptory challenge. The petitioner was convicted and thereafter sentenced to a forty-five year term of imprisonment.

The petitioner’s trial counsel also represented him in his direct appeal to our Supreme Court. See State v. Holloway, 209 Conn. 636, 553 A.2d 166, cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1071, 109 S. Ct. 2078, 104 L. Ed. 2d 643 (1989). On appeal, he claimed that the trial court improperly concluded that he had failed to establish a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination relative to the state’s use of the peremptory challenge to remove the African-American venireperson.3 Id., 638. The court upheld the petitioner’s conviction. Id., 652. The Supreme Court concluded that even though the trial court ’s analysis was incomplete, it was correct in determining that the petitioner had failed to establish a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination. Id., 642. Using its supervisory powers, however, the court held that in all future cases when a defendant asserts a. Batson claim, it would be appropriate for the state to provide the court with a prima facie case response for excusing the venireperson, consistent with Batson. Id., 646.

On June 23, 1998, the petitioner filed petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which he amended on January 20, 2000. On October 17, 2000, he filed a second amended petition. The petitioner claimed that his appellate counsel was ineffective by failing to apprise our Supreme Court of the holding of Griffith v. Kentucky, supra, 479 U.S. 314. Griffith held that “a new rale for the conduct of criminal prosecutions is to be applied retroactively to all cases, state or federal, pending on direct review or not yet final, with no exception for cases in which [248]*248the new rule constitutes a ‘clear break’ with the past.” Id., 328. The petitioner specifically argued that if our Supreme Court had applied its supervisory authority retroactively, rather than prospectively, and ordered that the state comply with the second prong of Batson, the outcome of his direct appeal would have been different.

On May 30, 2001, the habeas court dismissed the petitioner’s petition and rendered judgment in favor of the respondent commissioner of correction. The court stated that it presumed that our Supreme Court had been aware of the law, including precedents set by decisions of the United States Supreme Court. The habeas court concluded that it was not reasonably probable that the holding in Griffith would have produced a contrary result in the petitioner’s direct appeal. On June 8, 2001, the habeas court granted the petitioner’s petition for certification to appeal from its decision to this court.

“Our standard of review of a habeas court’s judgment on ineffective assistance of counsel claims is well settled. Although a habeas court’s findings of fact are reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard of review . . . [w]hether the representation a defendant received at trial was constitutionally inadequate is a mixed question of law and fact. ... As such, that question requires plenary review by this court unfettered by the clearly erroneous standard. . . .

“In Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 671, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984), the United States Supreme Court considered the proper standards for judging a criminal defendant’s contention that the Constitution requires a conviction ... be set aside because counsel’s assistance at the trial . . . was ineffective. A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel has two components. First, the defendant must show that [249]*249counsel’s performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the ‘counsel’ guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsel’s errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. . . .

“To satisfy the first component, the petitioner must prove, under all of the circumstances existing at the time of the trial, that the representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and he must also overcome the presumption that alleged ineffective assistance was not the result of sound trial strategy. . . . A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel’s challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel’s perspective at the time. Because of the difficulties inherent in making the evaluation, a court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance .... If the first prong is met, then the petitioner must prove that trial counsel’s errors were such that they deprived the petitioner of a fair trial and that, but for the errors, the result of the trial would have been different. . . .

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Related

State v. Smith
184 A.3d 831 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2018)
Lemoine v. Commissioner of Correction
808 A.2d 1194 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2002)
Holloway v. Commissioner of Correction
808 A.2d 1136 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
804 A.2d 995, 72 Conn. App. 244, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holloway-v-commissioner-of-correction-connappct-2002.