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Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
DANTE HUGHES v. COMMISSIONER
OF CORRECTION
(AC 47977)
Cradle, C. J., and Elgo and Moll, Js.*
Syllabus
The petitioner, who previously had been convicted of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm and criminal possession of a firearm, appealed following the granting of his petition for certification to appeal from the habeas court’s judgment denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He claimed, inter alia, that his criminal trial counsel, H, rendered ineffective assistance by failing, inter alia, to request that the jury be instructed on the lesser included offense of manslaughter in the second degree with a firearm. Held:
The habeas court properly concluded that H did not render ineffective assistance in deciding not to request a jury instruction on manslaughter in the second degree with a firearm, as the petitioner’s actions in shooting the victim multiple times after the situation between them had deescalated and then fleeing without attempting to render aid were ill-suited to a claim that the petitioner had acted with recklessness, as required under second degree manslaughter, and, as a jury instruction on that offense would have undermined the petitioner’s credibility and his claim of self-defense, H’s decision reflected objectively reasonable trial strategy.
The habeas court properly concluded that H’s decision not to object to the state’s evidence of the victim’s peaceful character did not demonstrate deficient performance, as H’s strategic decision to counter the evidence of the victim’s peaceful character with evidence that supported the defense theory that the victim had been aggressive toward the petitioner and was a potential threat to him was not an unreasonable one.
Argued April 23—officially released September 1, 2026
Procedural History
Amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus, brought
to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Tolland and tried to the court, Wagner, J.; thereafter, the petition was withdrawn in part; judgment denying the
petition, from which the petitioner, on the granting of
certification, appealed to this court. Affirmed.
*
The listing of judges reflects their seniority status on this court as of the date of oral argument.
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
Robert L. O’Brien, assigned counsel, with whom, on
the brief, was Christopher Y. Duby, assigned counsel,
for the appellant (petitioner).
Lauren Williams, special deputy assistant state’s
attorney, with whom, on the brief, were Paul J. Narducci, state’s attorney, and Christa Baker, senior assistant state’s attorney, for the appellee (respondent).
Opinion
ELGO, J. The petitioner, Dante Hughes, appeals from
the judgment of the habeas court denying his amended
petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He claims that the
court improperly rejected his claim that his criminal trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance.1 We affirm the
judgment of the habeas court.
This case involves a homicide in Groton. As our
Supreme Court recounted in the petitioner’s direct
appeal, “[i]n the early morning hours of December 11,
2016, the [petitioner] and his girlfriend, Latoya Knight, stopped for a drink at Ryan’s Pub, a neighborhood bar
in Groton, after Knight picked the [petitioner] up from
work in the couple’s Nissan Armada. Knight was already
intoxicated when the couple arrived at the pub. While
the [petitioner] and Knight were inside the pub, the
[petitioner] engaged in a friendly conversation with two
other patrons, John Hoyt and then the victim, Joseph
Gingerella.
“At some point, the [petitioner] and Knight started
arguing. Knight slapped a beer bottle out of the [petitioner’s] hand, picked it up, and hit him in the face
with it. She then demanded the keys to the Armada and
stormed outside through the pub’s side door with the
keys in hand. When the [petitioner] went to follow her,
the pub’s bartender, Rachel Smith, tried to stop him
because she could see that he was angry and told him not
1
In his appellate brief, the petitioner also challenged the habeas court’s conclusion that he had not established ineffective assistance on the part of his criminal appellate counsel. The petitioner withdrew that claim at oral argument before this court.
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
to hurt Knight. The [petitioner] pushed Smith away and
continued to follow Knight. Smith then asked Andrew
Flynn, another patron, Hoyt, and the victim to check
on Knight. When the [petitioner] reached the Armada,
Knight was sitting in the driver’s seat. The [petitioner] opened the door and punched Knight multiple times in
the face, causing her nose to bleed. Hoyt and the victim
then approached the Armada, positioned themselves on
either side of the [petitioner], and attempted to stop the assault. Hoyt put his hands underneath the [petitioner’s] arms and tried to pull him away. The victim also tried
to pull the [petitioner] away from Knight and yelled,
‘[y]ou’re not gonna hit her like that! . . . [Y]ou’re not gonna put your hand[s] on her!’ The [petitioner] and
the victim continued arguing, and Flynn intervened by
extending his arms between the two of them and telling
them to ‘chill.’
“Another pub patron observing the incident, Elvira
Gonzalez, saw both Flynn and the victim gesture with
their hands for the [petitioner] to calm down. Smith,
who had gone outside to tell everyone to calm down, saw
Flynn gesture to her that everything was okay. Seconds
later, several witnesses present at the scene heard multiple gunshots fired, but no one saw the [petitioner] pull the trigger or observed the victim immediately before
he was fatally shot. . . . After Hoyt heard the shots, he turned around to see what had happened and saw the
[petitioner] holding a gun and the victim lying on the
ground, shielding himself with his hand up. The [petitioner] then fled the scene.2
“The [petitioner] went to his home, changed his clothes,
and made phone calls to his two brothers, his sister,
and his mother. Thereafter, one of the [petitioner’s]
2
At his criminal trial, the petitioner testified that, prior to the shooting, he had retrieved a nine millimeter pistol from his vehicle that was “loaded and cocked . . . .” State v. Hughes, 341 Conn. 387, 396, 267 A.3d 81 (2021). He further testified that, when he saw the victim reach into his waistband moments later, the petitioner “thought that the victim was going to shoot him,” so the petitioner “ ‘came up and just shot’ ” the victim. Id.
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
brothers picked him up and drove him to the Norwich
home of their uncle, Shelton Rawls. The [petitioner] told Rawls that he had shot someone after telling that person
to mind his own business and to leave him and Knight
alone, and that he thought he had killed this person.
He asked Rawls to cut his hair, and Rawls then cut off
the [petitioner’s] green dreadlocks. The [petitioner’s]
other brother met the [petitioner] at Rawls’ house later
that morning to give the [petitioner] a new prepaid cell
phone. Before turning off the subscriber phone that he
had been using, the [petitioner] sent a text message to
his work supervisor that stated, ‘[n]ot coming in for a
long time . . . .’
“The [petitioner] made arrangements to be driven to
Boston, Massachusetts, by one of his brother’s friends
and decided to make his way across the Canadian border
from there. While heading to Canada, the [petitioner]
called several family members using the prepaid phone
but used a function on the phone that prevents the person receiving the call from seeing the phone number of
the person who is calling. The [petitioner] made a stop
at Niagara Falls, New York, and threw the gun that he
had used to shoot the victim into the Niagara River.
Afterward, he walked across a bridge into Canada, where
he was detained by Canadian border agents.
“Nine days after the shooting, Groton police detectives
drove to Canada, took custody of the [petitioner], and
brought him back to Connecticut, where he was placed
under arrest. Groton detectives subsequently interrogated the [petitioner]. For most of the approximately two hour interrogation, the [petitioner] denied any involvement in the shooting. He falsely claimed that he had left the area before the shooting occurred and had no idea
how it happened. He also falsely claimed that he did not
own a gun, had fought with Knight outside the pub but
no one intervened, had left the pub after calling a cab to take him to the bus station, had cut his hair in Buffalo, New York, because he had an upcoming job interview,
and had traveled to Canada for enjoyment. At one point,
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
when the interrogating officers urged the [petitioner] to tell them the real story because they already knew that he had shot the victim, he responded, ‘[y]ou got no cameras.’
“Approximately one hour and forty minutes into the
interrogation, the [petitioner] admitted that he had shot the victim but claimed to have done so in self-defense.
He claimed that the victim had started to pull up his
shirt, and the [petitioner] ‘thought [that the victim] was reaching for something . . . that he was going for a gun.’ He stated that he was trying to protect himself and was
‘not trying to kill [the victim].’ He also indicated that he ‘didn’t know [that the victim] didn’t have nothin’.’
“In two substitute informations, the [petitioner] was
charged with murder in violation of General Statutes
§ 53a-54a (a) and criminal possession of a firearm [in
violation of General Statutes (Rev. to 2015) § 53a-217,
as amended by Public Acts 2016, No. 16-34, § 15]. At
trial, the [petitioner] asserted a defense of self-defense. The state disputed that the [petitioner] had acted in
self-defense but also argued that he was not entitled to
the defense because he had a duty to retreat. . . . At the close of evidence, pursuant to the state’s request, the
trial court instructed the jury on both murder and the
lesser included offense of manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm [pursuant to General Statutes §§ 53a-55
and 53-55a]. The court also instructed the jury on its
obligation to consider whether the [petitioner] acted in
self-defense, if it found the [petitioner] guilty of either crime.
“The jury found the [petitioner] guilty of manslaughter
in the first degree with a firearm, and the court thereafter found the [petitioner] guilty of criminal possession of a firearm. The court rendered judgment in accordance with
the verdict and its finding, and imposed a total effective sentence of fifty years of imprisonment, execution suspended after forty-five years, followed by five years of
probation.” (Footnote added; footnotes omitted.) State
v. Hughes, 341 Conn. 387, 390–94, 267 A.3d 81 (2021).
The petitioner directly appealed from that judgment
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
of conviction, which our Supreme Court affirmed. See
id., 429.
The petitioner commenced this habeas action in 2020.
In his operative petition, his November 17, 2023 amended
petition for a writ of habeas corpus, the petitioner alleged that his criminal trial counsel, Attorney Walter Hussey,
rendered ineffective assistance by (1) failing “to seek a lesser included charge of manslaughter in the second
degree [with a firearm pursuant to General Statutes
§§ 53a-56 and 53-56a] after the [prosecutor] sought jury
instructions for manslaughter in the first degree with
a firearm,” (2) opening “the door to evidence of the victim’s peaceful character,” and (3) failing “to object to
evidence regarding the victim’s peaceful character and/
or preserve the issue for appeal . . . .”3 In addition, the petitioner alleged that his criminal appellate counsel,
Attorney Vishal K. Garg, rendered ineffective assistance by failing “to directly challenge the trial court’s line of inquiry into jury misconduct when it questioned
[a] juror . . . on his use of the dictionary definition of manslaughter.”
A trial was held on February 8, 2024, at which the
petitioner offered the testimony of Hussey and Garg, as
well as documentary evidence that included transcripts
from his criminal trial.4 In its subsequent memorandum
of decision, the habeas court concluded that the petitioner had failed to demonstrate that Hussey or Garg rendered
ineffective assistance of counsel. Accordingly, the court denied the petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The court subsequently granted certification to appeal from that
judgment, and this appeal followed.
“A criminal defendant’s right to the effective assistance of counsel extends through the first appeal of right 3
In his amended petition, the petitioner also claimed that Hussey rendered ineffective assistance by failing “to move for a mistrial based on a due process violation for paneling a juror with a diminished capacity.” The petitioner abandoned that claim in his posttrial brief to the habeas court.
4
The respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, did not present any evidence.
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
and is guaranteed by the sixth and fourteenth amendments to the United States constitution and by article
first, § 8, of the Connecticut constitution.” Small v.
Commissioner of Correction, 286 Conn. 707, 712, 946
A.2d 1203, cert. denied sub nom. Small v. Lantz, 555
U.S. 975, 129 S. Ct. 481, 172 L. Ed. 2d 336 (2008). “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 [by establishing a reasonable
probability that, but for the counsel’s mistakes, the
result of the proceeding would have been different]. . . . Furthermore, [i]n a habeas corpus proceeding, the petitioner’s burden . . . is not met by speculation . . . but by demonstrable realities.” (Citation omitted; emphasis in
original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Farnum v.
Commissioner of Correction, 118 Conn. App. 670, 675,
984 A.2d 1126 (2009), cert. denied, 295 Conn. 905, 989
A.2d 119 (2010). “Although a petitioner can succeed
only if he satisfies both prongs, a reviewing court can
find against the petitioner on either ground.” Breton v.
Commissioner of Correction, 325 Conn. 640, 669, 159
A.3d 1112 (2017).
I
The petitioner claims that the court improperly concluded that he had not established ineffective assistance on the part of Hussey for failing to request a jury instruction on the lesser included offense of manslaughter in the second degree with a firearm. In response, the respondent, the Commissioner of Correction, maintains that Hussey
made a reasonable strategic decision not to request such
an instruction. We agree with the respondent.
At the petitioner’s criminal trial, the state presented
ample evidence that (1) the petitioner punched Knight
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
in the face multiple times outside Ryan’s Pub on December 11, 2016, (2) the victim was shot after attempting
to intervene on Knight’s behalf, (3) a witness saw the
petitioner holding a gun after the victim was shot, (4)
the petitioner fled the scene, (5) the petitioner told his uncle that he had shot someone, (6) the petitioner fled
the state and attempted to flee the country, and (7) the
petitioner subsequently admitted to shooting the victim
in an interview with detectives from the Town of Groton
Police Department. See State v. Hughes, supra, 341
Conn. 391–93. In light of that uncontroverted evidence,
Hussey testified at the habeas trial that self-defense
was the petitioner’s only viable theory of defense. As he stated: “[The petitioner] was identified. It’s not like . . . he wasn’t the perpetrator. So . . . we needed an explanation as to why it happened.” Hussey also noted that the state
was required to disprove that the petitioner had acted in self-defense, which “makes it that much harder for the
state.” See State v. Matheney, 354 Conn. 212, 217–18,
350 A.3d 516 (2026) (“[i]n Connecticut, once a criminal
defendant raises the justification defense of self-defense, the state must disprove that defense beyond a reasonable
doubt in order to secure a conviction”).
As Hussey explained, the petitioner’s theory of defense
was that he reasonably feared for his life during the
altercation outside Ryan’s Pub because the victim acted
aggressively with him, made a racially inflammatory
statement to him, and then made “a movement toward
his waistband, which, to [the petitioner] . . . indicated [that the victim] was reaching for a weapon, and [the
petitioner] reacted accordingly.” Hussey testified that,
in his view, the petitioner’s self-defense claim “had some pretty good merit to it” and that he personally believed
the petitioner’s account of what transpired.
Following the close of evidence at the petitioner’s
criminal trial, the court instructed the jury on both
murder and the lesser included offense of manslaughter in the first degree at the request of the state. The
court also provided the jury with detailed instructions on
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
self-defense and the state’s corresponding burden. The
record indicates that Hussey did not request an instruction on the lesser included offense of manslaughter in
the second degree.
On direct examination at the habeas trial, Hussey
was asked if his strategy changed after the court provided the instruction on the lesser included offense of
manslaughter in the first degree. Hussey answered in
relevant part: “No, because the way I look at it in a situation like this, if the jury believes [the petitioner] and it’s self-defense, it is not disproved beyond a reasonable doubt . . . he would be convicted of carrying the firearm, but that was a manageable situation given that factual
scenario. . . . I think if you ask for something lesser than that, you’re just drawing attention to a weakness to your defense that you’re trying to establish. I mean, that’s just a strategy. . . . So, if the state’s going to say, well, look, this really isn’t a murder, it’s . . . a manslaughter case with a firearm. And then you say, well, wait a second . . . I wanted something lesser than that because [the petitioner] didn’t have the requisite intent that they claim. Now, you’re really kind of diluting [the petitioner’s
self-defense claim that he] wouldn’t have done this but
for the fact that [he] feared for [his] life.”
On cross-examination, Hussey further explained the
strategy behind not pursuing an instruction on the lesser included offense of manslaughter in the second degree.
He stated in relevant part: “[H]ere’s how I view things,
and I could be wrong, but when you have a situation like
[the petitioner’s case] . . . the first thing is, why else would he shoot [the victim] unless he thought that he
had a weapon. That was my thought process. And I told
him, as I tell everybody, that has to take the [witness]
stand in this situation, that’s the only way you’re going to [prevail] . . . you’re going to have to be a good witness and . . . the jury is going to have to believe you. . . . So, I thought that everything basically rode on what [the
petitioner] had to tell the jury. In my mind, if I was in the jury, I would have acquitted him. Unfortunately, I
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
wasn’t. So, that’s where I kind of left it. I didn’t want to take away from that because that’s really the focal
point.” Hussey also testified that, in his view, advancing an alternate theory under the lesser included offense of
manslaughter in the second degree would both weaken
the petitioner’s claim of self-defense and undermine his
“credibility to some degree” with the jury.5 Hussey thus
made a strategic decision to focus on the petitioner’s selfdefense claim at the petitioner’s criminal trial.
In its memorandum of decision, the court expressly
credited Hussey’s testimony, as was its sole prerogative. It is well established that the habeas court, “as the trier of facts, is the sole arbiter of the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given to their testimony.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Sanchez v. Commissioner of
Correction, 314 Conn. 585, 604, 103 A.3d 954 (2014).
On appeal, this court must defer to the habeas court’s
credibility determination. Id.
The court further found that Hussey’s testimony
reflected “a sound and objectively reasonable trial strategy.” We concur with that assessment. We also note
that the facts of this case are ill-suited to a claim that the petitioner acted with mere recklessness, rather than
extreme indifference to human life, which is the distinction between manslaughter in the first and second
degrees. See State v. Sotomayor, 61 Conn. App. 364,
380, 765 A.2d 1 (2001), appeal dismissed, 260 Conn.
179, 794 A.2d 996 (certification improvidently granted),
cert. denied, 537 U.S. 922, 123 S. Ct. 313, 154 L. Ed. 2d
5
As our Supreme Court observed in Fair v. Warden, 211 Conn. 398, 407, 559 A.2d 1094, cert. denied, 493 U.S. 981, 110 S. Ct. 512, 107 L. Ed. 2d 514 (1989), “[t]rial counsel . . . could reasonably have decided, given the state’s evidence . . . that any chance of an acquittal . . . based on juror sympathy had to be premised on maintaining credibility with the jury. Trial counsel’s belief that the weakness of the evidence supporting the lesser included offense would have risked that credibility falls within the range of trial strategy that courts may not second-guess upon collateral attack.” See also State v. Edwards, 247 Conn. 318, 324 n.5, 721 A.2d 519 (1998) (“[i]t may be sound trial strategy not to request a lesser included offense instruction, hoping that the jury will simply return a not guilty verdict” (internal quotation marks omitted)).
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
212 (2002). The evidence in this case indicates that the
confrontation between the petitioner, Knight, Flynn,
Hoyt, and the victim “had deescalated and . . . appeared
to have been resolved just before the shooting.” State v. Hughes, supra, 341 Conn. 402. The evidence also indicates that, as the situation deescalated, the petitioner
retrieved a nine millimeter pistol from his vehicle that
was “already loaded and cocked”; id., 396; that the petitioner then shot the victim three times; id., 391 n.3;
and that an autopsy confirmed that two of the victim’s
wounds entered his body “from the back.” Id. In addition, the evidence demonstrates that, after shooting the victim multiple times, the petitioner did not attempt to render
aid to him but, rather, “fled the scene” and later fled the state. Id., 392; see also State v. McCoy, 91 Conn. App.
1, 8–9, 879 A.2d 534 (evidence that defendant “[a]lmost
immediately after the shooting . . . engaged in a pattern of conduct reflecting not a desire to save the victim’s
life, but a desire to evade police apprehension” supported finding that defendant “was not merely reckless or careless in creating a risk of death but acted with an extreme indifference to human life”), cert. denied, 276 Conn. 904, 884 A.2d 1026 (2005). In light of the evidence adduced
at the petitioner’s criminal trial, Hussey reasonably
could have determined that an instruction on the lesser
included offense of manslaughter in the second degree
was unsupported by the facts of this case and would
undermine the petitioner’s claim of self-defense. For
those reasons, the court properly concluded that Hussey
did not render ineffective assistance by failing to request that instruction.
II
The petitioner also claims that the court improperly
concluded that he had not established ineffective assistance on the part of Hussey for failing to object to evidence of the victim’s peaceful character. We do not agree.
The following additional facts are relevant to that
claim. On the first day of the petitioner’s criminal trial, the prosecutor called Brandon Slocum, a longtime
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
acquaintance of the victim, to testify. The prosecutor
asked Slocum if he had ever known the victim to “start
a fight,” to “carry a weapon,” or to “be violent,” to which Slocum replied in the negative. The prosecutor then
called Smith, who was working at Ryan’s Pub at the
time of the incident. The prosecutor asked her if she
had ever known the victim “to be violent” or “to carry a
weapon”; she answered in the negative. The prosecutor
then asked Smith to describe the victim’s “demeanor
and his disposition,” to which Smith responded that he
“was very friendly.” The prosecutor also asked Smith if
she ever had problems with the victim “fighting at the
bar,” and she answered: “No.”
On the second day of the petitioner’s criminal trial,
the prosecutor asked Hoyt if he knew the victim to “be
violent,” to “get involved in any fights,” or to “carry
any weapons”; Hoyt answered in the negative. The prosecutor also called Flynn, who was a close friend of the
victim. The prosecutor asked Flynn if he had ever seen
the victim “carry a weapon or initiate a fight,” to which Flynn answered in the negative. On cross-examination,
Hussey asked Flynn if he recalled telling a responding
police officer that the victim had “a lot of self-confidence and he can . . . pretty much, like, talk shit to anybody,” and that the victim had “a tendency to maybe talk a little reckless to the wrong people sometimes.” Flynn answered
those questions affirmatively. Hussey also asked Flynn
if he told the police that the victim was “always getting himself into some sort of shit” and had “always been
that way”; Flynn did not deny making those statements.
On the third day of trial, the prosecutor called Gonzalez, who was in the parking lot of Ryan’s Pub when the
shooting occurred. The prosecutor asked Gonzalez if she
ever knew the victim to “start a fight or be violent,” to which Gonzalez responded in the negative. It is undisputed that Hussey did not object to the foregoing testimony from Slocum, Smith, Hoyt, Flynn, and Gonzalez
regarding the victim’s character.6
6
In his appellate brief, the petitioner also contends that Hussey failed to object to testimony from Jacqueline Caron that, in her experience,
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
At the petitioner’s habeas trial, Hussey testified that,
strategically, his “focal point” was on what transpired
between the petitioner and the victim outside Ryan’s
Pub. Hussey confirmed that his “primary philosophy”
was to establish that the victim had been aggressive
and had used “fighting words” with the petitioner.
Hussey thus sought to establish, through the testimony
of Flynn, that the victim “did have a reputation” for
“running his mouth.” As Hussey explained, there was
evidence that the victim acted aggressively and made
a racially inflammatory statement to the petitioner,7
which Hussey attempted to tie to Flynn’s testimony
that the victim would “talk shit to anybody” and had
“a tendency to maybe talk a little reckless to the wrong
people sometimes.”8 Hussey further testified that his
aim was to “get across to the jury that [the victim] was
a potential threat to [the petitioner].”
“As this court repeatedly has noted, [t]he decision of a
trial lawyer not to make an objection is a matter of trial tactics, not evidence of incompetency . . . . [T]here is a strong presumption that the trial strategy employed by a
criminal defendant’s counsel is reasonable and is a result of the exercise of professional judgment. . . . It is well established that [a] reviewing court must view counsel’s
the petitioner had “a short fuse.” That claim is not properly before this court, as it was neither raised in the operative petition nor addressed by the habeas court in its memorandum of decision. We therefore decline to review that claim. See, e.g., Giattino v. Commissioner of Correction, 169 Conn. App. 566, 582, 152 A.3d 558 (2016).
7
At his criminal trial, the petitioner testified that, during the altercation outside Ryan’s Pub, the victim threatened him, repeatedly stating, “I’ll [fuck] you up.” The petitioner also testified that the victim called him a “[b]itch ass nigger.”
8
We reject the petitioner’s bald contention that Hussey had improperly “opened the door to the admission of evidence of the [victim’s] character” by eliciting testimony from Flynn regarding the victim’s argumentative tendencies. The record belies that claim, as the prosecutor presented testimony from Slocum, Smith, and Hoyt regarding the victim’s peaceful character prior to Flynn’s testimony at the petitioner’s criminal trial. Hussey’s subsequent cross-examination of Flynn, therefore, did not initiate discussion of that issue. Cf. State v. Graham, 200 Conn. 9, 13, 509 A.2d 493 (1986) (party that initiates discussion opens door to rebuttal).
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
conduct with a strong presumption that it falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance and that a tactic that appears ineffective in hindsight may have
been sound trial strategy at the time.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Raynor v. Commissioner of Correction,
222 Conn. App. 584, 611–12, 306 A.3d 25 (2023), cert.
denied, 348 Conn. 944, 307 A.3d 910 (2024). For that reason, “judicial scrutiny of counsel’s performance must be
highly deferential. It is all too tempting for a defendant to second-guess counsel’s assistance after conviction or
adverse sentence, and it is all too easy for a court, examining counsel’s defense after it has proved unsuccessful, to conclude that a particular act or omission of counsel
was unreasonable. . . . A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate
the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the
circumstances of counsel’s challenged conduct, and to
evaluate the conduct from counsel’s perspective at the
time. Because of the difficulties inherent in making the
evaluation, a court must indulge a strong presumption
that [the] conduct [of trial counsel] falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the [petitioner] must overcome the presumption that, under
the circumstances, the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy. . . . There are countless ways to provide effective assistance in any given case. Even
the best criminal defense attorneys would not defend a
particular client in the same way.” (Emphasis omitted;
internal quotation marks omitted.) Grover v. Commissioner of Correction, 183 Conn. App. 804, 819–20, 194
A.3d 316, cert. denied, 330 Conn. 933, 194 A.3d 1196
(2018).
Applying this standard to the petitioner’s claim, we
cannot say that Hussey’s strategic decision to counter the evidence of the victim’s peaceful character, rather than
object to that evidence, was an unreasonable one, particularly in light of the testimony he elicited from Flynn on cross-examination. The habeas court, therefore, properly concluded that the petitioner did not demonstrate
Hughes v. Commissioner of Correction
deficient performance on the part of Hussey for failing
to object to evidence of the victim’s peaceful character.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.