St. Juste v. Comm'r of Corr.

177 A.3d 1144, 328 Conn. 198
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedJanuary 30, 2018
DocketSC 19460
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 177 A.3d 1144 (St. Juste v. Comm'r of Corr.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Juste v. Comm'r of Corr., 177 A.3d 1144, 328 Conn. 198 (Colo. 2018).

Opinion

ROBINSON, J.

**200This certified appeal presents a question of first impression to this court, namely, whether we should apply the federal courts' modified categorical analysis to determine whether a Connecticut criminal statute, which lists potential offense elements in the alternative, carries the adverse immigration consequences attendant to a crime of moral turpitude as defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a) (13) (C) (v) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (immigration act), 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq.1 The *1147petitioner, Jean St. Juste, appeals, **201upon our grant of his petition for certification,2 from the judgment of the Appellate Court dismissing, as moot, his appeal from the judgment of the habeas court, which had denied his amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging a conviction of assault in the second degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-60 (a) (2). St. Juste v. Commissioner of Correction , 155 Conn. App. 164, 165-66, 109 A.3d 523 (2015). In its decision, the Appellate Court agreed with the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction (commissioner), and concluded that the habeas appeal was rendered moot by the petitioner's subsequent deportation to Haiti because any relief that could be provided in relation to the petitioner's assault conviction would have no effect on his ability to lawfully reenter this country or to become a citizen. Id., at 181, 109 A.3d 523. Specifically, the Appellate Court concluded that a prior unchallenged conviction of threatening in the second degree in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 2005) § 53a-62 (a),3 which the Appellate Court **202concluded constituted a crime of moral turpitude under the immigration act, would remain as an impediment to the petitioner's reentry. Id. Following case law from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, we conclude that § 53a-62 (a) is a divisible statute because it lists potential offense elements in the alternative, not all of which constitute crimes of moral turpitude as a matter of federal law. Applying a modified categorical approach to this divisible statute, because the record does not establish the subdivision of § 53a-62 (a) under which the petitioner was convicted, we further conclude that the Appellate Court improperly *1148determined that the petitioner's threatening conviction constituted a crime of moral turpitude that rendered moot his habeas appeal challenging his assault conviction. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Appellate Court.

The opinion of the Appellate Court sets forth the relevant facts and procedural history. "On July 26, 2010, the petitioner filed an amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus in which he alleged that, on December 17, 2007, he pleaded guilty to assault in the second degree in violation of ... § 53a-60 (a) (2), and guilty under the Alford doctrine4 to possession of a sawed-off shotgun in violation of General Statutes § 53a-211. He was represented by Attorney Howard Ignal. On January **20328, 2008, he was sentenced pursuant to a plea agreement to a total effective sentence of five years incarceration, execution suspended after eighteen months, followed by five years of probation. On July 27, 2009, the petitioner, represented by Attorney Anthony Collins, filed a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas on the ground that at the time he entered them, he did not understand their immigration consequences. On November 17, 2009, the [trial] court denied the motion.

"In his two count amended petition, the petitioner alleged that Ignal rendered ineffective assistance of counsel because, among other deficiencies, he (1) failed to educate himself about the immigration consequences of the pleas, (2) misadvised the petitioner with respect to the immigration consequences of the pleas, and (3) failed to meaningfully discuss with the petitioner what immigration consequences could ... flow from the pleas. The petitioner alleged that Ignal's representation was below that displayed by attorneys with ordinary training and skill in ... criminal law, and that but for such representation, he would not have pleaded guilty and he would have resolved the case in a way that would not result in 'deportation consequences.' In the second count of his petition, the petitioner alleged that his pleas were not knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently made because he made them under the mistaken belief that his conviction would not subject him to deportation. The petitioner alleged that '[a]s a result of his conviction, [he] has been ordered removed from this country by an immigration judge, and the judge's order has been affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals.' Additionally, the petitioner alleged that '[t]he basis for the removal order was the conviction [of] assault in the second degree and possession of a sawed-off shotgun.'5

**204"Following an evidentiary hearing, the habeas court orally rendered its decision denying the petition.6 In relevant part, the court stated that it accepted as true the testimony of the petitioner's trial attorney, Ignal. The court stated: '[Ignal] clearly saw all of the problems with this case, and they all spelled the word "immigration." From day one, I think, he was *1149alerted to this and did everything he could, from what I can see, to try to avert the ultimate result.' The court found that Ignal was well aware of the adverse consequences of the pleas insofar as they involved deportation, and that he had thoroughly discussed that issue with the petitioner. The court rejected the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Later, the court granted the petitioner's petition for certification to appeal." (Footnotes added and omitted.) Id., at 166-67, 109 A.3d 523. Following the habeas court's decision, in accordance with the September 2, 2009 decision of the United States Immigration Court (immigration court), the petitioner was deported to Haiti on April 15, 2011.7

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
177 A.3d 1144, 328 Conn. 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-juste-v-commr-of-corr-conn-2018.