Adkins v. Comm'r of Corr.

• Decision Date: 02 October 2018
• Docket Number: AC 40037
• Citation: 196 A.3d 1149,185 Conn.App. 139
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: Dennis ADKINS v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION

185 Conn.App. 139

196 A.3d 1149

Dennis ADKINS

v.COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION

AC 40037

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued April 10, 2018

Officially released October 2, 2018

Michael W. Brown, assigned counsel, for the appellant (petitioner).

Timothy F. Costello, assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Patrick J. Griffin, state's attorney, and Adrienne Russo, assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (respondent).

Sheldon, Keller and Prescott, Js.

KELLER, J.

Following the granting of his petition for certification to appeal, the petitioner, Dennis Adkins, appeals from the judgment of the habeas court denying his amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner claims that the court improperly rejected his claim that his prior habeas counsel rendered ineffective assistance on the basis that he failed (1) to claim that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to advise the petitioner with respect to his right to appeal from the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea, (2) to present evidence in support of the petitioner's claim that his guilty plea was the result of trial counsel's ineffective assistance, and (3) to claim that trial counsel's conflict of interest resulted in the petitioner's guilty plea. We affirm the judgment of the habeas court.

The following undisputed procedural history is relevant to this appeal. The petitioner was arrested and charged with murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54 (a), felony murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54c, and carrying a pistol without a permit in violation of General Statutes § 29-35 (a). On April 4, 2000, pursuant to a plea agreement with the state, the petitioner pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine¹ to felony murder in violation of § 53a-54c. The petitioner was represented by Attorney Francis Mandanici.

The prosecutor set forth the factual basis of the plea, as follows: "On August 24, 1999, at or about 10:27 p.m., in front of 119 Dewitt Street in New Haven, the victim [in] this case, Rodney Williams, was on the front porch and a person wearing a mask came down the driveway and confronted two people standing in the driveway, one of them a young lady. The person in the mask grabbed the lady's chain from around her neck. She grabbed it back. She and her boyfriend, who were in the driveway, indicated that the person was wearing a mask and had a handgun in his hand. According to witnesses out front, the individual came down the driveway with the mask and confronted the victim in this case, who was standing on the front steps or on the ground near the front steps, confronted the victim with a handgun, and the victim came down off the steps and went toward the assailant and there was a short tussle during which the assailant fired a series of shots, one of which hit the victim, Rodney Williams, in the chest and caused his death.

"During the subsequent investigation, a Calvin Hinton ... was interviewed and indicated that he had been with [the petitioner] earlier that evening. They had talked about robbing the victim in this case and that he saw the [petitioner] with a weapon. The [petitioner], in a subsequent statement, indicated [that] he received the weapon ... from Hinton. In any event, Hinton indicated that he saw the [petitioner] go to the area where the victim was standing and later saw the [petitioner] run away from the area.

"Subsequently, [the petitioner] was interviewed and admitted that he and Hinton had talked about [committing] the robbery, that Hinton had provided him the gun, that he had gone to the area for the purpose of committing a robbery of Williams, who they knew to be a drug dealer, [and] that a struggle ensued and shots were fired from his gun which struck Williams. [The petitioner] indicated that he did not intend to kill him, but that this did occur during the attempted commission of a robbery. Subsequently, after [the petitioner] was arrested and [incarcerated,] he admitted to an individual in the correctional facility that he was responsible for the shooting and actually detailed the fact that it occurred during the commission of an attempted robbery."

The prosecutor set forth the details of the plea agreement. The petitioner was to serve a thirty-five year term of incarceration and the state agreed to enter a nolle prosequi with respect to additional charges. Additionally, the state agreed not to bring charges against the petitioner for what it considered to be efforts made by him to seek retribution against a witness. The trial court, Fasano, J. , thoroughly canvassed the petitioner. After finding that the plea was made knowingly and voluntarily, the court accepted the plea and entered a finding of guilt.

The petitioner returned before the court, Fasano, J. , on May 26, 2000, for sentencing. At the hearing, Mandanici indicated that, although he was unaware of any legal grounds for the request, the petitioner indicated to him that he wanted to withdraw his plea. The court observed that there was a reference to the petitioner's request in the presentence investigation report and that it had received a correspondence from the petitioner in which he requested to withdraw his plea. The petitioner addressed the court personally with respect to his request, indicating that he was not satisfied with Mandanici's representation, Mandanici was aware that he did not commit the crime, the evidence that he had confessed to the crime was "bull shit," and he believed that he was entitled to "a lesser charge." The petitioner stated that he was "not pleading out to no murder." The court replied that the petitioner already had pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine, that the petitioner had been canvassed thoroughly, and that the petitioner had not presented the court with a basis on which to permit him to withdraw his guilty plea.² Thereafter, the court sentenced the petitioner in accordance with the plea agreement that he had reached with the state.

In 2003, in a prior habeas corpus action, the petitioner filed an amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus in which he alleged that Mandanici had rendered ineffective assistance and, because of this violation of his constitutional rights, he should be permitted to withdraw his guilty plea. Also, relying on what he characterized as newly discovered evidence, the petitioner alleged that he was actually innocent. With respect to his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the petitioner alleged that Mandanici had failed to conduct a proper pretrial investigation, failed to devote sufficient time to his defense, and failed to withdraw from his representation of the petitioner.

During the prior habeas action, the petitioner was represented by Attorney Brian Russell. Following a hearing, the court, Fuger, J. , concluded that the petitioner had failed to demonstrate that Mandanici had performed deficiently and that even if such a showing had been made, the petitioner had failed to demonstrate that he suffered any prejudice as a result of Mandanici's acts or omissions. In its memorandum of decision, the court observed that there were two witnesses to the murder committed by the petitioner and that the petitioner had provided a confession to the police in which he revealed his role as the shooter. The court then stated: "[T]he petitioner now asserts that he was under the influence of illegal drugs at the time he made the statement [to the police], that the statement is false and that he only did it because he did not want to be labeled a ‘snitch.’ However, these assertions are not worthy of belief. Insofar as being under the influence of drugs at the time the statement was made, there are two factors that undermine the credibility of this assertion. First, the petitioner was arrested at about 10 a.m. on September 23, 1999. The statement was taken between 7:46 p.m. and 8:17 p.m. on that day. According to the petitioner, he ran from the police and swallowed some unspecified amount of crack cocaine that he had on him. There has been no evidence presented to this habeas court that would allow the court to conclude that a person who had ingested cocaine would still be under the influence of that drug nearly ten hours later. Significantly, there has been no evidence adduced to allow this court to conclude what, if anything, the ingestion of cocaine might do to a person's cognitive abilities. However, it is more or less colloquially known that the effects of cocaine are relatively short lived. Second, the testimony of Detective Sergeant [Joanne] Schaller, who coincidentally has training as an EMT paramedic, is clear that the petitioner was not exhibiting any outward signs of drug intoxication, nor did he complain of any illness or impairment. Moreover, there is some evidence that the idea to argue intoxication as a means to invalidate the confession originated with another inmate, Jason Reese. All of this leads this court to conclude that the petitioner's statement attacking his confession is self-serving and unworthy of belief." (Footnote omitted.)

Moreover, the court rejected the petitioner's claim of actual innocence, noting that the petitioner had failed to submit to the court "anything even remotely resembling newly discovered evidence." Consequently, the court denied the amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. This court affirmed the judgment of the habeas court. Adkins v. Commissioner of Correction , 88 Conn. App. 901, 869 A.2d 279 (2005), cert. denied, 281 Conn. 906, 916 A.2d 48 (2007).

In May, 2016, the petitioner, represented by counsel, filed a third amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the habeas corpus action that underlies the present appeal. The amended petition set forth three counts. In count one, the petitioner alleged that Mandanici deprived him of his right to effective representation by failing to advise him with respect to his right to appeal from the trial court's denial of his oral motion to withdraw his guilty plea...