Rodriguez v. Comm'r of Corr., 18940.
Citation | 92 A.3d 944,312 Conn. 345 |
Decision Date | 01 July 2014 |
Docket Number | No. 18940.,18940. |
Court | Supreme Court of Connecticut |
Parties | Eddie RODRIGUEZ v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
April E. Brodeur, assigned counsel, for the appellant (petitioner).
Timothy J. Sugrue, assistant state's attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Michael Dearington, state's attorney, and David Clifton, assistant state's attorney, for the appellee (respondent).
ROGERS, C.J., and PALMER, ZARELLA, EVELEIGH, McDONALD, ESPINOSA and VERTEFEUILLE, Js.
The dispositive issue in this habeas corpus appeal is whether the petitioner, Eddie Rodriguez, was denied his right to the effective assistance of counsel because there was a constitutionally impermissible risk that the jury would impute to him the alleged improprieties of his attorney, who had been prosecuted but acquitted of a nonviolent and dissimilar crime in the same judicial district in which the petitioner was prosecuted. The petitioner appeals from the judgment of the Appellate Court affirming the habeas court's denial of his second amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Rodriguez v. Commissioner of Correction, 131 Conn.App. 336, 338, 27 A.3d 404 (2011). On appeal, the petitioner claims that the Appellate Court improperly applied this court's precedent in Phillips v. Warden, 220 Conn. 112, 595 A.2d 1356 (1991), in concluding that the petitioner failed to demonstrate an actual conflict of interest that adversely affected his attorney's performance. We conclude that the Appellate Court properly applied Phillips, and, accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.
The Appellate Court opinion sets forth the following facts and procedural background. “In connection with an incident involving the petitioner's estranged girlfriend, which occurred in October, 1990, the petitioner was charged with burglary in the first degree in violation of General Statutes [Rev. to 1989] § 53a–101 (a)(1), attempt to commit assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes [Rev. to 1989] §§ 53a–49 (a) and 53a–59 (a)(1), robbery in the third degree in violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 1989) § 53a–136 (a), interfering with an officer in violation of General Statutes [Rev. to 1989] § 53a–167a (a) and carrying a dangerous weapon in violation of General Statutes [Rev. to 1989] § 53–206. On May 29, 1991, [A]ttorney Frank Cannatelli filed an appearance on behalf of the petitioner.
(Footnotes omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Rodriguez v. Commissioner of Correction, supra, 131 Conn.App. at 338–41, 27 A.3d 404. The petitioner appealed from the habeas court's denial of certification to the Appellate Court.
The Appellate Court determined that the habeas court abused its discretion in denying the petitioner's request for certification to appeal. Id., at 344, 27 A.3d 404. Specifically, the Appellate Court concluded that the petitioner's ineffective assistance of counsel claim deserved to proceed further because it presented the novel question of whether there was a constitutionally impermissible risk that a jury would attribute an attorney's conduct to his client, when the attorney had been acquitted of a nonviolent and dissimilar crime in the same judicial district in which his client faced criminal prosecution. Id., at 347, 27 A.3d 404; see Simms v. Warden, 230 Conn. 608, 616, 646 A.2d 126 (1994) ( ). Nonetheless, the Appellate Court concluded that the petitioner's ineffective assistance of counsel claim failed on its merits, and, accordingly, affirmed the judgment of the habeas court. Rodriguez v. Commissioner of Correction, supra, 131 Conn.App. at 349, 27 A.3d 404. This certified appeal followed.1
On appeal, the petitioner claims that the Appellate Court improperly concluded that he failed to demonstrate a conflict of interest pursuant to Phillips that deprived him of his right to the effective assistance of counsel. In response, the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, claims that the Appellate Court properly distinguished Phillips from the present case and correctly determined that there was not a constitutionally impermissible risk that the jury would impute to the petitioner the alleged improprieties of his trial attorney. We conclude that the Appellate Court properly applied Phillips in concluding that the petitioner failed to demonstrate a conflict of interest of constitutional magnitude. We therefore affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.
We begin with the well settled standard of review governing ineffective assistance of counsel claims. (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Johnson v. Commissioner of Correction, 288 Conn. 53, 62, 951 A.2d 520 (2008).
We next set forth the legal principles that inform our disposition of the present appeal. (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Gaines v. Commissioner of Correction, 306 Conn. 664, 677–78, 51 A.3d 948 (2012). “As an adjunct to this right, a criminal defendant is entitled to be represented by an attorney free from conflicts of interest.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Phillips v. Warden, supra, 220 Conn. at 132, 595 A.2d 1356.
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