Morrow v. Commissioner of Correction

81 A.3d 1205, 147 Conn. App. 166, 2013 WL 6449025, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 570
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedDecember 17, 2013
DocketAC 34244
StatusPublished

This text of 81 A.3d 1205 (Morrow 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
Morrow v. Commissioner of Correction, 81 A.3d 1205, 147 Conn. App. 166, 2013 WL 6449025, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 570 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Opinion

GRUENDEL, J.

The petitioner, Brent J. Morrow, appeals following the denial of his petition for certification to appeal from the judgment of the habeas court denying his amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner claims that the court abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal and improperly rejected his claim that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. We conclude that the court properly denied the petition for certification to appeal and, accordingly, dismiss the petitioner’s appeal.

[168]*168The following factual and procedural history, as set forth by the court in its memorandum of decision, is relevant to the resolution of this appeal. “On November 10,2005, the petitioner, represented by Public Defender Christopher Cosgrove, entered a plea of guilty under the Alford doctrine1 ... to a charge of robbery in the first degree .... The state indicated that the agreed upon disposition was a sentence of seven years [imprisonment] suspended after time served, and five years of probation.

“The trial court, Gill, J., then canvassed the petitioner.” The court informed the petitioner that the maximum penalty for the crime for which he pleaded guilty was twenty years imprisonment. The petitioner agreed that he understood the nature of the crime and the possible penalties that he faced. After completing the canvass, the trial court accepted the plea.

“Thereafter, the court inquired whether counsel ‘wanted to be heard on bond,’ and a discussion on the record ensued. Cosgrove proposed that the court release the petitioner on a promise to appear subject to conditions that the petitioner live with his aunt, [that he] obey her house rules, ‘that he stay out of trouble,’ and that he appear for sentencing on January 20. Cos-grove then added: ‘He understands if he were not to do that, he could face an additional charge of failure to appear, and that his plea bargain that we worked out will be null and void.’ ”

After recital of several other conditions of release, the court stated: “Also, if he gets arrested for anything during this period of time with probable cause all deals are off,” to which the assistant state’s attorney added, “[a]nd he could be sentenced up to the maximum of the statute.” The court once again reiterated that “[the [169]*169petitioner is] to understand if he gets in any trouble again, he can be arrested with probable cause, and he’s back in the yellow suit again and all deals are off. If he doesn’t show up for the sentencing, all deals are off.” Without further comment from the petitioner, the court then set sentencing for January 20, 2006.

Sentencing took place on May 5, 2006.2 At that time, the “state represented that, during the previous week, the petitioner had been arrested in Hamden on charges of robbery in the second degree, larceny in the sixth degree, and interfering with the police. The court responded that it had reviewed a police report and a typed witness statement, and that it found probable cause for the arrest. The state indicated that it had supplied copies of those documents to Cosgrove, and it entered the reports into the record as exhibits.

“The state next made sentencing remarks and requested a sentence of twenty years. Cosgrove then made a motion to withdraw the petitioner’s plea as follows: ‘First of all, I am aware of the most recent State Supreme Court case on this matter of these Garvin3 plea canvasses. [State v. Stevens, 278 Conn 1, 895 A.2d 771 (2006)] was just released this week, Your Honor, and I do appreciate the import of that. But I believe that, still at this point, it’s up to the court—the court has the discretion as to whether or not to proceed with a sentencing. I would ask the court to consider today to allow [the petitioner] to withdraw his plea and to proceed with this case, to increase his bond for sure but to—to withdraw his plea. And just a moment ago as we stood before you, [the petitioner] asked me to ask you for a continuance so that he could obtain private counsel for that purpose, Your Honor.’

[170]*170“The state opposed the motion, and the court denied it without further comment. The court then heard sentencing remarks from Cosgrove and the petitioner. The court thereupon imposed a sentence of eight years to serve followed by four years of special parole. The petitioner, at Cosgrove’s request, received notice of his right to sentence review. There was no discussion of a right to appeal.”

On December 8, 2006, the petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas coipus and amended this petition on September 1,2010, setting forth one count of ineffective assistance of counsel against Cosgrove and a second count reciting a violation of due process under both the state and federal constitutions. The habeas court denied the petition for writ of habeas corpus on October 29, 2010. The court first noted that the petitioner was procedurally defaulted by not raising “either of the themes that he now presses ... he did not attempt to argue that there was no Garvin plea or Garvin violation.” It stated that the petitioner could overcome the defense of procedural default, however, if he could show that Cosgrove’s deficient performance was the cause of the default and that he was prejudiced by the deficient performance. The court thereafter concluded that the petitioner failed to prove both deficient performance and resultant prejudice, as required by Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984). The petitioner thereafter filed a petition for certification to appeal, which the court denied. This appeal followed.

The petitioner claims that the habeas court abused its discretion when it denied his petition for certification to appeal and rejected his claim that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. “Faced with a habeas court’s denial of a petition for certification to appeal, a petitioner can obtain appellate review of the dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus only by satisfying the [171]*171two-pronged test enunciated by our Supreme Court in Simms v. Warden, 229 Conn. 178, 640 A.2d 601 (1994), and adopted in Simms v. Warden, 230 Conn. 608, 612, 646 A.2d 126 (1994). First, he must demonstrate that the denial of his petition for certification constituted an abuse of discretion ... in which the petitioner must demonstrate that the [resolution of the underlying claim involves issues that] 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.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Farnum v. Commissioner of Correction, 118 Conn. App. 670, 674, 984 A.2d 1126 (2009), cert. denied, 295 Conn. 905, 989 A.2d 119 (2010).

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Related

North Carolina v. Alford
400 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Farnum v. Commissioner of Correction
984 A.2d 1126 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2009)
Shelton v. Commissioner of Correction
977 A.2d 714 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2009)
State v. Stevens
895 A.2d 771 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2006)
Simms v. Warden
640 A.2d 601 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1994)
Simms v. Warden, State Prison
646 A.2d 126 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1994)
State v. Garvin
699 A.2d 921 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1997)
Ghant v. Commissioner
761 A.2d 740 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2000)
Saucier v. Commissioner of Correction
57 A.3d 399 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 A.3d 1205, 147 Conn. App. 166, 2013 WL 6449025, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 570, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morrow-v-commissioner-of-correction-connappct-2013.