Copas v. Warden

• Decision Date: 23 March 1993
• Docket Number: No. 11241,11241
• Citation: 30 Conn.App. 677,621 A.2d 1378
• Parties: David L. COPAS v. WARDEN.
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals

Page 1378

621 A.2d 1378

30 Conn.App. 677

David L. COPAS v. WARDEN.

No. 11241.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued Nov. 30, 1992.

Decided March 23, 1993.

Landau, J., filed dissenting opinion.

Julia DiCocco Dewey, Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, was Jacqueline J. Footman, Asst. State's Atty., for appellant (respondent).

Christopher C. Sheehan, Deputy Asst. Public Defender, for appellee (petitioner).

Before DALY, LANDAU and FREDERICK A. FREEDMAN, JJ.

DALY, Judge.

The respondent was granted permission to appeal from the habeas court's judgment granting relief to the petitioner on his writ of habeas corpus. The respondent challenges the habeas court's conclusion that the petitioner's counsel was ineffective at his sentencing hearing in violation of the petitioner's rights guaranteed by the sixth and fourteenth amendments to the United States constitution and article first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution. The respondent also disputes the habeas court's decision to vacate the petitioner's conviction. We agree with the respondent's second claim and reverse the decision of the habeas court in part and remand the case to the habeas court for further proceedings.

The trial court found the following facts. On April 27, 1986, the body of a teenage girl was found off of Hop River Road in Coventry. The victim had been repeatedly stabbed and had been struck in the head with a rock. The police investigation revealed that two days earlier the petitioner had given a ride to the victim and two friends of hers from a bowling alley in Mansfield. The two friends were dropped off at 11:30 p.m. in Ashford. The victim was to be dropped off at her grandparents' residence but she never arrived. The investigation further revealed that early in the morning of April 26, 1986, a man who resembled the petitioner was observed standing in front of a car similar to the petitioner's on the site where the victim's body was later discovered. On the same morning, the petitioner called a friend to help him get his car started. The friend came to help the petitioner, whose car was located near the site where the body was found.

On April 29, the petitioner was searched pursuant to a warrant. A knife was found on him. The petitioner was read his rights and detained by the police. During his detention, the petitioner confessed to the murder of the victim. Before confessing, he signed a waiver form and repeatedly assured the police that he did not want a lawyer.

In his confession, the petitioner described in detail the circumstances of the night of April 25 and the morning of April 26. His account was corroborated by the findings of the police investigation. He stated that after driving around for some time after dropping off the victim's friends, he stopped on Hop River Road. He smoked marihuana with the victim. The petitioner admitted that he stabbed the victim, hit her on the head with a rock, and dragged her body into the woods. His statements were recorded and transcribed and he signed the transcription of his statements.

On May 1, 1986, the petitioner was arrested for murder. The petitioner retained Attorney Jerry Gruenbaum, a self-described tax and corporate law specialist who had handled one felony prior to the petitioner's case, and an appearance was filed on May 5, 1986. On October 7, 1986, the petitioner pleaded guilty to the offense of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a. There was no plea bargain. On November 4, 1986, Gruenbaum argued a motion to withdraw his appearance before the trial court because the petitioner's family had hired an investigator and another attorney, whose identity was not known. The court denied the motion. Prior to sentencing on November 19, 1986, the trial court heard arguments on the petitioner's motion to withdraw his plea, filed prior to the hearing, and subsequently denied the motion.

As part of the presentence investigation, the court ordered a report regarding the petitioner by the court's diagnostic clinic. The presentence investigation report stated: "He is the product of a hard working and well meaning family, certainly not a victim of a hopeless upbringing." The diagnostic clinic report was attached. It describes the petitioner's history, including the departure of his father shortly after his birth and the trouble he experienced in establishing a relationship with the man who married his mother when he was five years old. His maternal grandfather played an important role as a substitute father in his life. His grandfather died when the petitioner was fifteen and, according to the report, the petitioner never fully came to terms with the death. The petitioner's relationship with his mother became strained after his mother forced his grandmother to leave the house that she and the petitioner's mother had purchased together. The petitioner then moved in with cousins who exposed him to criminal behavior. The report also describes a history of psychiatric, educational, employment, and substance abuse problems experienced by the petitioner.

At sentencing, the state argued for the maximum sentence while Gruenbaum argued for forty years. The state presented two members of the victim's family who spoke to the court. None of the petitioner's family members was present. Gruenbaum's own sentencing argument rehashed facts adduced during arguments for the motion to withdraw the plea. The petitioner was ultimately sentenced to serve a term of incarceration of fifty years.

The petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus dated November 2, 1987. An amended petition was filed on February 1, 1991, alleging that ineffective assistance of counsel rendered his conviction illegal. The petitioner alleged that his counsel failed to consult and advise him, misinformed him of the consequences of his plea, failed to inquire into the petitioner's history of psychological and substance abuse problems, failed to inquire and develop evidence of the petitioner's mental state at the time of the incident, at the time of the confession and during the trial court proceedings, failed to get an independent evaluation of the petitioner, and failed to present evidence, information and arguments about the petitioner's mental state to the prosecutor and the trial court during pretrial proceedings, plea negotiations, and sentencing.

A full evidentiary hearing was held. The habeas court reviewed the transcript of a grievance committee hearing concerning Gruenbaum's performance on the petitioner's case. The hearing was held March 16, 1988, and the transcript was made an exhibit in the habeas corpus proceeding. The habeas court noted that "[w]ith regard to a clinical evaluation of the petitioner that was ordered by the court for sentencing purposes, Gruenbaum stated: 'That was definitely not a very helpful document. It was the most damaging document that was in David's file, but it also talked about his past criminal record, and so forth, which I knew about.... It was an extremely biased document against him.' "

The habeas court determined that the petitioner's trial counsel's "conduct in preparing for and in his presentation of the sentencing hearing was not reasonably competent nor was it within the range of competence of Connecticut attorneys practicing criminal law in 1986." The habeas court concluded that "but for Gruenbaum's incompetent representation of the petitioner the result of the proceeding would have been different." After it reached this determination, the habeas court did not consider any of the petitioner's remaining claims concerning Gruenbaum's ineffectiveness as it affected his conviction. Judgment was rendered in favor of the petitioner and the conviction was vacated. The respondent claims on appeal that the habeas court improperly determined (1) that the defendant's trial counsel was ineffective, and (2) that the proper remedy for ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing is to vacate the judgment of conviction.

I

"It is axiomatic that the right to counsel is the right to the effective assistance of counsel. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674, reh. denied, 467 U.S. 1267, 104 S.Ct. 3562, 82 L.Ed.2d 864 (1984), quoting McCann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759, 771 n. 14, 90 S.Ct. 1441 [1449 n. 14] 25 L.Ed.2d 763 (1970)." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Phillips v. Warden, 220 Conn. 112, 132, 595 A.2d 1356 (1991). A defendant has the right to counsel at every critical stage, including sentencing. Consiglio v. Warden, 153 Conn. 673, 675-76, 220 A.2d 269 (1966).

"It is our obligation as an appellate court to make a two part analysis to determine whether the habeas court's decision is clearly erroneous. First, where 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 are set forth in the memorandum of decision; second, where the factual basis of the decision is challenged, we must determine whether the facts set out in the memorandum of decision are supported by the evidence.... In a case that is tried to the court, such as the present case, the judge is the sole arbiter of the credibility of witnesses, and the weight to be given to their specific testimony.... It is the right of the trier of fact to draw reasonable and logical inferences from the facts that it finds to be proved. We cannot substitute our judgment for that of the habeas court. State v. Martin, 195 Conn. 166, 171, 487 A.2d 177 (1985)." (Citations omitted.) Tyson v. Warden, 24 Conn.App. 729, 736-37, 591 A.2d 817, cert. denied, 220 Conn. 909, 597 A.2d 340 (1991).

"Although the underlying historical facts found by the habeas court may not be disturbed unless they were clearly erroneous, whether those facts constituted a violation of the petitioner's rights under the sixth amendment 'is a mixed determination of law and fact that requires the...