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Stanley v. State
STEVEN K. STANLEY v. STATE
OF CONNECTICUT ET AL.
(AC 48871)
Alvord, Elgo and Seeley, Js.
Syllabus
The petitioner, who had previously been convicted of, inter alia, criminal violation of a protective order, appealed from the trial court’s judgment granting the respondents’ motions to dismiss and to strike his petition for a new trial. Held:
This court dismissed the petitioner’s appeal from the trial court’s judgment granting the respondents’ motions to dismiss and to strike, as the petitioner never sought certification to appeal as required by the statute (§ 54-95 (a)) governing an appeal taken from a judgment denying a petition for a new trial.
Argued June 3—officially released June 30, 2026
Procedural History
Petition for a new trial following the petitioner’s conviction of, inter alia, the crime of criminal violation of a protective order, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of New Britain and transferred to the
judicial district of Hartford, where the court, Shaikh,
J., granted the named respondent’s motion to dismiss
and the motion to strike and to dismiss filed by the defendant William Tong and rendered judgment thereon,
from which the petitioner appealed to this court. Appeal dismissed.
Steven K. Stanley, self-represented, the appellant
(petitioner).
Opinion
PER CURIAM. The self-represented petitioner, Steven K. Stanley, appeals from the judgment of the trial
court granting the motion to dismiss filed by the respondent State of Connecticut and the motion to strike and
to dismiss filed by the respondent William Tong, as to
the petitioner’s petition for a new trial.1 Because the
1
Although the petitioner originally captioned his complaint as a “civil tort claims act,” he pursued claims under General Statutes § 52-270,
Stanley v. State
petitioner failed to obtain certification to appeal from the trial court, the appeal is dismissed.2
General Statutes § 54-95 (a) provides in relevant part
that “[n]o appeal may be taken from a judgment denying a petition for a new trial unless, within ten days
after the judgment is rendered, the judge who heard
the case or a judge of the Supreme Court or the Appellate Court, as the case may be, certifies that a question is involved in the decision which ought to be reviewed
by the Supreme Court or by the Appellate Court. . . .” In Santiago v. State, 261 Conn. 533, 804 A.2d 801 (2002),
our Supreme Court held that, although the failure to
seek certification does not deprive an appellate court of subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal, the certification requirement is nonetheless “mandatory”; id., 540;
such that an appellate court “should decline to entertain an appeal challenging the denial of a petition for a new trial until the petitioner first has sought certification to appeal pursuant to § 54-95 (a).” Id., 534.
In the present case, the petitioner did not obtain certification to appeal pursuant to § 54-95 (a) prior to filing this appeal.3 As a result, in accordance with our
Supreme Court’s directive in Santiago, we dismiss this
appeal. We note, however, that the petitioner may file
a late petition for certification and that “the decision of whether to entertain an untimely request for certification and confirmed with the trial court following a status conference that his action was brought as a petition for a new trial.
2
The respondents did not file a brief in this court. On February 2, 2026, this court ordered that this appeal shall be considered on the basis of the petitioner’s brief and appendix, the record, as defined by Practice Book § 60-4, and oral argument by the petitioner.
On May 26, 2026, this court notified the petitioner to be prepared to address at oral argument “whether this appeal should be dismissed because the petitioner failed to seek certification to appeal pursuant to General Statutes § 54-95 (a). See Santiago v. State, 261 Conn. 533, 544–45 [804 A.2d 801] (2002); Ramos v. State, 236 Conn. App. 560, 564–67 [348 A.3d 488] (2025).”
3
In this context, we consider the trial court’s judgment granting the respondents’ motions to dismiss and to strike and to dismiss to be the functional equivalent of a judgment denying a petition for a new trial for purposes of § 54-95 (a).
Stanley v. State
to appeal under § 54-95 (a) [would be] within the sound
discretion of the [trial] court.” Id., 544–45 n.17; see also id., 545 n.17 (on appeal, appellate court employs abuse
of discretion standard in reviewing trial court’s denial of petition for certification to appeal under § 54-95 (a) on timeliness ground).
The appeal is dismissed.