Peterson v. Commissioner of Correction
Peterson v. Commissioner of Correction
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
The petitioner, Bobby Peterson, appeals from the judgment of the habeas court denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On appeal, the petitioner claims that the court improperly concluded that his habeas counsel did not provide ineffective assistance. We affirm the judgment of the habeas court.
The following procedural history is relevant to the issues on appeal. The petitioner was arrested on May 5,1990, and charged in four separate informations with numerous sexual assaults. During the course of his criminal trial, after one of his victims had testified, the
The Strickland-Hill standard is the appellate standard of review for ineffective assistance of counsel claims that result in guilty pleas. “In Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, [687] 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984), the United States Supreme Court enunciated
“In the usual ineffective assistance of counsel case, a habeas petitioner must show that his counsel was ineffective and such ineffectiveness prejudiced the petitioner in that but for the ineffective assistance there would have been no conviction. . . . That standard has been modified for ineffectiveness claims that result from guilty pleas. See Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 106 S. Ct. 366, 88 L. Ed. 2d 203 (1985). In such cases, to satisfy the prejudice requirement, the [petitioner] must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Pagan v. Commissioner of Correction, 104 Conn. App. 531, 533, 935 A.2d 175 (2007).
On the basis of our review of the extensive record, the court’s memorandum of decision and the briefs of the parties, we conclude that Judge DeMayo properly denied the petitioner’s amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
The judgment is affirmed.
The judgment of dismissal as to count one is not at issue in this appeal.
In his memorandum of decision as to the claim of ineffective assistance of habeas counsel, Judge DeMayo found that the claims against trial counsel were not substantiated and that habeas counsel could not be faulted for failing to develop a claim against trial counsel. The court stated: “In substance, if trial counsel were not ineffective, habeas counsel’s efforts were of no moment.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.