Foote v. Commissioner of Correction
Foote v. Commissioner of Correction
Opinion
The petitioner, Stanley Foote, following a grant of certification to appeal by the habeas court, appeals from the judgment of the habeas court dismissing his amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On appeal, the petitioner claims that the habeas court improperly dismissed his habeas petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the petitioner was not in the custody of the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, on the challenged conviction when he filed his petition, as required by General Statutes § 52-466. We disagree and affirm the judgment of the habeas court.
Our review of the record reveals the following facts and procedural history. On November 13, 2002, the petitioner was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to sell by a person who is not drug-dependent and received a sentence of eight years incarceration and five years special parole (Ansonia conviction). See
State
v.
Foote
,
On January 3, 2013, after completing the sentence on the Waterbury conviction, but before completing the sentence on the Ansonia conviction, the petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging the Waterbury conviction. An amended petition was filed on May 19, 2014. On May 23, 2014, the respondent filed a motion to dismiss the petition on the ground that the petitioner was not in custody on the Waterbury conviction at the time that he filed the petition. On July 2, 2014, the petitioner filed an objection, arguing that, although the Waterbury conviction had expired at the time of the petition, the court had jurisdiction pursuant to the custody exception as expressed in
Garlotte
v.
Fordice
,
On appeal, the petitioner claims that the court improperly dismissed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that he was not in the custody of the respondent on the challenged Waterbury conviction when he filed his petition, as required by § 52-466. 2 Specifically, he claims that, although the trial court gave the petitioner a concurrent sentence on the Waterbury conviction, it became a consecutive sentence in practice because the unexpired portion of his special parole on the Ansonia conviction did not begin to run until after he finished his sentence on the Waterbury conviction. Moreover, the petitioner claims that he is actually challenging how the sentence on the Waterbury conviction affected the sentence on the Ansonia conviction, and that he should have been allowed to amend the petition to include a challenge to the Ansonia conviction. We disagree.
To resolve the petitioner's claim, we begin by setting forth our standard of review and the relevant legal principles. "We have long held that because [a] determination regarding a trial court's subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law, our review is plenary. ... Moreover, [i]t is a fundamental rule that a court may raise and review the issue of subject matter jurisdiction at any time. ... Subject matter jurisdiction involves the authority of the court to adjudicate the type of controversy presented by the action before it. ... [A] court lacks discretion to consider the merits of a case over which it is without jurisdiction .... The subject matter jurisdiction requirement may not be waived by any party, and also may be raised by a party, or by the court sua sponte, at any stage of the proceedings, including on appeal." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
Fernandez
v.
Commissioner of Correction
,
Pursuant to § 52-466 (a) (1),
3
"[a] habeas court has subject matter jurisdiction
to hear a petition for habeas corpus when the petitioner is in custody at the time that the habeas petition is filed."
Young
v.
Commissioner of Correction
,
An exception exists, however, to the custody requirement. "A habeas petitioner who is serving consecutive sentences may challenge a
future
sentence even though he is not serving that sentence at the time his petition is filed; see
Peyton
v.
Rowe
, [
With regard to a motion to dismiss, "[t]he standard of review ... is ... well established. In ruling upon whether a complaint survives a motion to dismiss, a court must take the facts to be those alleged in the complaint, including those facts necessarily implied from the allegations, construing them in a manner most favorable to the pleader. ... A motion to dismiss tests, inter alia, whether, on the face of the record, the court is without jurisdiction. ... The conclusions reached by the [habeas] court in its decision to dismiss the habeas petition are matters of law, subject to plenary review. ... Thus, [w]here the legal conclusions of the court are challenged, we must determine whether they are legally and logically correct ... and whether they find support in the facts that appear in the record." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.)
Young
v.
Commissioner of Correction
, supra,
In the present case, when the petitioner was sentenced to a term of two years imprisonment on the Waterbury conviction, beginning on July 21, 2010,
4
the trial court determined that the sentence would run concurrently with his eight years of incarceration and reduced three and one-half years special parole on the Ansonia conviction. Although the petitioner believed that his special parole would begin in November, 2010, it did not begin to run until he finished service on the Waterbury conviction, which terminated between July and September, 2012. Special parole was delayed until the petitioner completed the
sentence on the Waterbury conviction because, pursuant to General Statutes § 54-125e (a), special parole begins "at the expiration of the maximum term or terms of imprisonment imposed by the court ...." See
State
v.
Boyd
,
The petitioner argues that, because his special parole did not begin to run until the expiration of the sentence on the Waterbury conviction, the sentences should be treated as one continuous stream of custody, and, therefore, the
Garlotte
custody exception should apply. The fact that parole in the concurrent Ansonia sentence was delayed, however, did not automatically convert the concurrent sentences into consecutive sentences and, thus, trigger the
Garlotte
custody exception.
5
Rather, the delay in special parole, which cannot be served while one is incarcerated, was merely a consequence of the sentence on the Waterbury conviction, which included incarceration, being imposed. See
State
v.
Andrews
,
The petitioner also argues that he actually is challenging how the sentence on the Waterbury conviction affected the sentence
on the Ansonia conviction and that he should have been allowed to amend his petition to include a challenge to the Ansonia sentence for which he was still in custody. Specifically, the petitioner argues that, instead of dismissing the petition outright, the habeas court should have taken every precaution to save the case. This court previously has determined that the trial court does not have an obligation to amend a pleading sua sponte.
Kosinski
v.
Carr
,
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
North Carolina
v.
Alford
,
At oral argument before this court, counsel for the petitioner conceded that the outcome of this appeal would not affect the petitioner, but argued that his claim fell under the mootness exception of capable of repetition, yet evading review. See
Dutki
e
wicz
v.
Dutki
e
wicz
,
General Statutes § 52-466 (a) (1) provides in relevant part: "[a]n application for a writ of habeas corpus ... shall be made to the superior court ... for the judicial district in which the person whose custody is in question is claimed to be illegally confined or deprived of such person's liberty."
Although sentenced on September 14, 2010, the defendant was credited with the time he served between his arrest on July 21, 2010, and his sentencing.
In both his brief and at oral argument, the respondent argued that the petitioner did not meet the second prong of
Garlotte
, which requires that the petitioner show that the expired sentence had an appreciable effect on the current sentence.
Garlotte
v.
Fordice
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Stanley FOOTE v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published