Stanley v. State

• Court: Connecticut Appellate Court
• Decided: June 30, 2026
• Docket: AC48871
• Status: Published

Opinion

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STEVEN K. STANLEY v. STATE OF CONNECTICUT ET AL. (AC 48871) Alvord, Elgo and Seeley, Js.

Syllabus

The petitioner, who had previously been convicted of, inter alia, criminal violation of a protective order, appealed from the trial court’s judgment granting the respondents’ motions to dismiss and to strike his petition for a new trial. Held:

This court dismissed the petitioner’s appeal from the trial court’s judgment granting the respondents’ motions to dismiss and to strike, as the petitioner never sought certification to appeal as required by the statute (§ 54-95 (a)) governing an appeal taken from a judgment denying a petition for a new trial.

Argued June 3—officially released June 30, 2026

Procedural History

Petition for a new trial following the petitioner’s con- viction of, inter alia, the crime of criminal violation of a protective order, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of New Britain and transferred to the judicial district of Hartford, where the court, Shaikh, J., granted the named respondent’s motion to dismiss and the motion to strike and to dismiss filed by the defen- dant William Tong and rendered judgment thereon, from which the petitioner appealed to this court. Appeal dismissed. Steven K. Stanley, self-represented, the appellant (petitioner).

Opinion

PER CURIAM. The self-represented petitioner, Ste- ven K. Stanley, appeals from the judgment of the trial court granting the motion to dismiss filed by the respon- dent State of Connecticut and the motion to strike and to dismiss filed by the respondent William Tong, as to the petitioner’s petition for a new trial.1 Because the 1 Although the petitioner originally captioned his complaint as a “civil tort claims act,” he pursued claims under General Statutes § 52-270, Stanley v. State

petitioner failed to obtain certification to appeal from the trial court, the appeal is dismissed.2 General Statutes § 54-95 (a) provides in relevant part that “[n]o appeal may be taken from a judgment deny- ing a petition for a new trial unless, within ten days after the judgment is rendered, the judge who heard the case or a judge of the Supreme Court or the Appel- late Court, as the case may be, certifies that a question is involved in the decision which ought to be reviewed by the Supreme Court or by the Appellate Court. . . .” In Santiago v. State, 261 Conn. 533, 804 A.2d 801 (2002), our Supreme Court held that, although the failure to seek certification does not deprive an appellate court of subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal, the certifica- tion requirement is nonetheless “mandatory”; id., 540; such that an appellate court “should decline to entertain an appeal challenging the denial of a petition for a new trial until the petitioner first has sought certification to appeal pursuant to § 54-95 (a).” Id., 534. In the present case, the petitioner did not obtain cer- tification to appeal pursuant to § 54-95 (a) prior to fil- ing this appeal.3 As a result, in accordance with our Supreme Court’s directive in Santiago, we dismiss this appeal. We note, however, that the petitioner may file a late petition for certification and that “the decision of whether to entertain an untimely request for certification and confirmed with the trial court following a status conference that his action was brought as a petition for a new trial. 2 The respondents did not file a brief in this court. On February 2, 2026, this court ordered that this appeal shall be considered on the basis of the petitioner’s brief and appendix, the record, as defined by Practice Book § 60-4, and oral argument by the petitioner. On May 26, 2026, this court notified the petitioner to be prepared to address at oral argument “whether this appeal should be dismissed because the petitioner failed to seek certification to appeal pursuant to General Statutes § 54-95 (a). See Santiago v. State, 261 Conn. 533, 544–45 [804 A.2d 801] (2002); Ramos v. State, 236 Conn. App. 560, 564–67 [348 A.3d 488] (2025).” 3 In this context, we consider the trial court’s judgment granting the respondents’ motions to dismiss and to strike and to dismiss to be the functional equivalent of a judgment denying a petition for a new trial for purposes of § 54-95 (a). Stanley v. State

to appeal under § 54-95 (a) [would be] within the sound discretion of the [trial] court.” Id., 544–45 n.17; see also id., 545 n.17 (on appeal, appellate court employs abuse of discretion standard in reviewing trial court’s denial of petition for certification to appeal under § 54-95 (a) on timeliness ground). The appeal is dismissed.