Nieves v. Commissioner of Correction

• Decision Date: 06 December 2005
• Docket Number: (AC 25814)
• Citation: 92 Conn. App. 534,885 A.2d 1268
• Parties: ALBERTO NIEVES v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals

92 Conn. App. 534

885 A.2d 1268

ALBERTO NIEVES v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION

(AC 25814)

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued October 20, 2005.

Officially released December 6, 2005.

Lavery, C. J., and Schaller and Harper, Js.

Auden Grogins, special public defender, for the appellant (petitioner).

Sarah Hanna, special deputy assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, state's attorney, and Linda N. Howe, senior assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (respondent).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

The petitioner, Alberto Nieves, appeals from the judgment of the habeas court, denying his amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus in which he alleged that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. We affirm the judgment of the court.

The facts of the underlying criminal case are set out in State v. Nieves, 69 Conn. App. 96, 793 A.2d 290, cert. denied, 260 Conn. 930, 798 A.2d 972 (2002), in which we affirmed the petitioner's conviction of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a and carrying a pistol without a permit in violation of General Statutes § 29-35 (a). Briefly, on June 28, 1996, the petitioner and four other men were involved in an altercation with the victim, David Laureano, whom the defendant fatally shot. When the police apprehended the petitioner, he shouted that he had not shot or killed anyone. Forensic tests revealed the presence of lead on the petitioner's hands. State v. Nieves, supra, 97-99.

"On appeal, we review a habeas court's findings of fact under the clearly erroneous standard of review. . . . [W]hether the representation a defendant received at trial was constitutionally inadequate is a mixed question of law and fact. . . . As such, that question requires plenary review by this court unfettered by the clearly erroneous standard. . . .

"The petitioner's right to the effective assistance of counsel is assured by the sixth and fourteenth amendments to the federal constitution, and by article first, § 8, of the constitution of Connecticut. In Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984), the United States Supreme Court established that for a petitioner to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, he must show that counsel's assistance was so defective as to require reversal of [the] conviction. . . . That requires the petitioner to show (1) that counsel's performance was deficient and (2) that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. . . . Unless a [petitioner] makes both showings, it cannot be said that the conviction . . . resulted from a breakdown in the adversary process that renders the result unreliable. . . . A court deciding an ineffective assistance of counsel claim need not address the question of counsel's performance, if it is easier to dispose of the claim on the ground of insufficient prejudice. . . .

"We cannot, in a habeas corpus appeal, disturb underlying historical facts found by the habeas court unless they are clearly erroneous. . . . The habeas court judge, as the trier of the facts, is the sole arbiter of the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given to their testimony." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Edwards v. Commissioner of Correction, 88 Conn. App. 169, 172-73, 868 A.2d 125, cert....