Negron v. Warden, Hartford Community Correctional Center

• Citation: 429 A.2d 841,180 Conn. 153
• Court: Supreme Court of Connecticut
• Decision Date: 25 March 1980
• Parties: Jorge L. NEGRON v. WARDEN, HARTFORD COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL CENTER.

Page 841

429 A.2d 841

180 Conn. 153

Jorge L. NEGRON v. WARDEN, HARTFORD COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL CENTER.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Jan. 10, 1979.

Decided March 25, 1980.

David P. Gold, law student intern, with whom were Michael R. Sheldon, West Hartford, and, on the brief, Gary R. Johnston, law student intern, for appellant (plaintiff).

Robert E. Beach, Jr., Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (defendant).

Before COTTER, C. J., and BOGDANSKI, HEALEY, WRIGHT and NORRIS L. O'NEILL, JJ.

COTTER, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from the denial of a hearing by the Superior Court, O'Brien, J., on a second application brought by the plaintiff for a writ of habeas corpus based on an alleged illegal imprisonment due to his fugitive from justice status arising out of a manslaughter conviction in New York state. The narrow issue presented by this appeal is whether a plaintiff is entitled to a hearing upon a second application for a writ of habeas corpus if this second application is based on a different ground from any asserted in the initial habeas corpus application although not based on new evidence or new facts that were not reasonably available to the plaintiff at the time of the hearing on the first application. The underlying factual situation which brings this issue before this court is intricate, albeit undisputed, and requires delineation at some length.

On November 30, 1972, the plaintiff was indicted in the state of New York for murder. Subsequently, while released on bail, the plaintiff failed to appear for his New York trial in January, 1974, and in his absence he was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree. A New York warrant for his arrest for failure to appear was issued on or about January 9, 1974.

In February of 1977, the plaintiff was arrested on a Connecticut charge of attempted murder for an offense which allegedly occurred on January 3, 1977. On March 7, 1977, the plaintiff was charged in Connecticut with being a fugitive from justice from the state of New York. Also on March 7, 1977, the plaintiff was bound over to the Connecticut Superior Court on the charge of attempted murder in Connecticut. Later, on April 18, 1977, the state of Connecticut entered a nolle prosequi to the fugitive from justice charge; at that time the plaintiff was detained, in any event, on the charge of attempted murder in Connecticut.

Approximately seven months after the plaintiff was bound over to the Superior Court, the Connecticut state's attorney's office began corresponding with New York state authorities concerning the plaintiff's extradition to New York. This correspondence led to the signing of a governor's warrant by Governor Grasso of Connecticut on May 24, 1978, for the purpose of extraditing the plaintiff to the state of New York. The governor's warrant was executed on June 13, 1978, and on July 10, 1978, the plaintiff made an application to the Superior Court for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his arrest on that warrant. This initial habeas corpus action involved a number of claims described in detail later in this opinion. Some were made by the plaintiff pro se and others were contained in a supplemental application made by the attorney then representing the plaintiff. The court, O'Brien, J., considered these claims at a hearing on August 24, 1978, and in a lengthy and detailed memorandum of decision rendered October 19, 1978, denied the claims and dismissed the writ of habeas corpus.

On November 8, 1978, following dismissal of the first habeas corpus action, the plaintiff obtained new counsel and filed another application. That application was summarily denied without a hearing on November 29, 1978, by the court, O'Brien, J., and after certification was granted to appeal that denial to his court, the plaintiff filed the present appeal on December 19, 1979. Early in 1979, the plaintiff was acquitted of the attempted murder charge against him for the episode which occurred in Connecticut in 1977. Thus, since that time, the plaintiff has been incarcerated pursuant to the governor's warrant which was signed on May 24, 1978. ¹

The plaintiff claims that the court below erred in denying him a hearing on the merits of his second application for a writ of habeas corpus because it involved a legal claim which had not been presented previously to the court. The plaintiff does not contend that this legal claim in the second application was unavailable at the time of the hearing on his first habeas corpus action but only that it was not deliberately withheld at the time of the initial habeas corpus application. He maintains that the trial court's denial of a hearing on the second application constituted error in that it was in violation of the rules and statutes of this state and in violation of article first, § 10 of the Connecticut constitution. Thus, the threshold question raised by the plaintiff's claim of error is whether, and if so, with what guidelines, the rules and statutes of this state mandate a hearing upon a second application for a writ of habeas corpus if the second application is based upon a different ground from any relied on in the initial habeas corpus application.

I

When the plaintiff filed his second application, the procedures governing habeas corpus proceedings were set forth either in Practice Book, 1978, §§ 529 through 536 or in chapter 915 of the General Statutes, §§ 52-466 through 52-470. The plaintiff contends, and we agree, that the question of whether a hearing is mandated in a second application is controlled by Practice Book, 1978, § 531. ² Section 531 provides "If the petitioner has filed a previous application, it and the action taken thereon shall be summarily described in the pending application. If a previous application brought on the same grounds was denied, the pending application may be dismissed without hearing, unless it states new facts or proffers new evidence not reasonably available at the previous hearing." The language of § 531 is clear on its face and prescribes that trial courts may dismiss a second application without a hearing only if that application asserts the same grounds and fails to state new facts or proffer new evidence not reasonably available to the petitioner at the hearing on his previous application. The necessary implication of this prescription is that if different grounds are asserted, a hearing on the second application is indicated. It is also clear that in this context "ground" must mean a "sufficient legal basis for granting the relief sought." Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1, 16, 83 S.Ct. 1068, 1077, 10 L.Ed.2d 148. ³

The plaintiff maintains that the trial court, in denying him a hearing on his second application, had determined that the new petition presented a legal claim which was not alleged in the earlier petition. Thus, he argues that our determination that Practice Book, 1978, § 531 provides for a hearing where the second or successive application states a different ground, that is, legal basis for granting the relief sought, should be dispositive of this appeal and contends that this court need not and should not address the question of whether the plaintiff's new application does constitute a different ground from any relied on in his first application. We disagree. Even if we were to read the trial court's reason for denial as conceding that a different ground had been raised in the plaintiff's second application, ⁴ our inquiry into whether that ground had been raised would be warranted by the oft-repeated holding of this court that where the trial court arrives at a correct decision, but on incorrect grounds, that decision will be affirmed if proper grounds do exist to support it. See, e. g., Royce v. Freedom of Information Commission, 177 Conn. 584, 588, 418 A.2d 939 (40 Conn.L.J., No. 48, pp. 8, 9); Favorite v. Miller, 176 Conn. 310, 317, 407 A.2d 974; Morris v. Costa, 174 Conn. 592, 598, 392 A.2d 468; Maltbie, Conn.App.Proc. § 36.

If the second application failed to raise a different legal ground, the trial court would not have erred in denying a hearing pursuant to Practice Book, 1978, § 531. It is thus necessary to determine whether the plaintiff's application does assert a new ground or is, as the defendant contends, merely a verbal reformulation of previously rejected claims.

II

At the time of the first application for a writ of habeas corpus the plaintiff pro se raised the following claims: New York state had violated the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act; Connecticut General Statutes §§ 54-157 through 54-185; in failing to apply for a governor's requisition in timely fashion pursuant to General Statutes § 54-171. The entering of a nolle prosequi on April 18, 1977, by the state of Connecticut on its fugitive from justice charge operated collaterally to estop New York from extraditing the plaintiff. Underlying this argument was the assumption that the entry of a nolle prosequi was an action on the merits of the New York manslaughter conviction and that extradition would thus be barred by the constitutional protections against double jeopardy.

The trial court denied this claim, and the plaintiff on appeal concedes its lack of merit. The nolle was obviously not a ruling on the merits of the New York manslaughter charge and the claim that the actions of the state of Connecticut can circumscribe the powers of New York state under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act was effectively barred by Glavin v. Warden, 163 Conn. 394, 311 A.2d 86.

In the plaintiff's first application, as supplemented, his attorney raised the following additional claims in seeking a determination that the plaintiff's detention pursuant to the governor of New York's requisition and to the governor of Connecticut's warrant was illegal: Connecticut General Statutes § 54-163 in authorizing the governor to execute extradition warrants of arrest violates provisions of the federal and state constitutions; the...