Anderson v. Commissioner of Correction, 201 Conn.App. 1

State marshals (Quinn, Valentino, Butler, Krueger) went to petitioner Lonnie Anderson’s home to serve a capias for failure to appear; Quinn and Valentino approached the front door in identifiable marshal attire.
The petitioner came to the door, drew a 9mm pistol, chambered a round, and fired; the marshals fled and Quinn suffered gunshot wounds.
Police later arrived, the petitioner was detained and found lying on top of the handgun; ballistics linked the gun to the scene.
At trial defense counsel requested a self-defense instruction under §53a-19; the court declined and the jury convicted the petitioner of first‑degree assault and assault of a peace officer with firearm enhancements.
In habeas proceedings the petitioner claimed trial counsel (Brown) was ineffective for failing to call three witnesses (Officer Juan Hernandez, Officer Bobby Jones, and Lyman Anderson) whose testimony allegedly would have supported self‑defense; the habeas court denied relief on that claim and also denied certification to appeal.
The habeas court did grant relief on a separate appellate‑counsel claim (reinstating the petitioner’s right to directly appeal), but that ruling was not at issue in this appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Anderson)	Defendant's Argument (Commissioner)	Held
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for not calling Jones, Hernandez, and Lyman to support a jury instruction on self‑defense	Testimony would have shown a marshal was armed and marshals tried to barge in and grab Anderson, creating a reasonable fear of imminent deadly force and entitling him to a self‑defense charge	Even if one marshal had a gun or a grab occurred, Quinn and Valentino were readily identifiable peace officers, there was no evidence any marshal brandished a weapon at the doorway, and the marshals were fleeing when Anderson shot at them—so no reasonable probability of a different outcome under Strickland	Denied: habeas court did not abuse discretion; petitioner failed to show prejudice under Strickland and certification to appeal was properly denied

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two‑prong standard for ineffective assistance of counsel: deficient performance and prejudice)
State v. Lewis, 245 Conn. 779 (Conn. 1998) (subjective‑objective test for reasonableness in self‑defense and repeated deadly force)
State v. Best, 168 Conn. App. 675 (Conn. App. 2016) (threshold evidentiary standard for self‑defense instruction)
State v. Brocuglio, 264 Conn. 778 (Conn. 2003) (limits on the right to resist warrantless entry; resistance does not justify assault)
State v. Erickson, 297 Conn. 164 (Conn. 2010) (self‑defense unavailable where victim is retreating when shot)