ROBERT GOGUEN v. COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION
(AC 41339)
Appellate Court of Connecticut
January 28, 2020
DiPentima, C. J., and Alvord and Moll, Js.
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Syllabus
The petitioner, who had been convicted on a plea of guilty of the crime of sexual assault in the second degree, sought a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that he did not voluntarily enter his guilty plea and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with his guilty plea. Pursuant to the applicable rule of practice (
Argued December 10, 2019—officially released January 28, 2020
Procedural History
Petition for a writ of habeas corpus, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Tolland, where the court, Oliver, J., rendered judgment declining to issue a writ of habeаs corpus; thereafter, the court granted the petitioner‘s motion for reconsideration but denied the relief requested; subsequеntly, the court denied the petition for certification to appeal, and the petitioner appealed to this cоurt. Appeal dismissed.
James A. Killen, senior assistant state‘s attorney, with whom, on the brief, was Davis S. Shepak, state‘s attorney, for the appellee (respondent).
Opinion
PER CURIAM. The self-represented petitioner, Robert Goguen, appeals, follоwing the denial of his petition for certification to appeal, from the judgment of the habeas court declining to issue a writ of habeas corpus. Although the petitioner raises a variety of substantive claims with respect to his underlying conviction on appеal, he has failed to brief the threshold issue of whether the habeas court abused its discretion in denying his petition for certification tо appeal. Accordingly, we dismiss the petitioner‘s appeal.
The following facts and procedural history are relevаnt to our conclusion. On September 6, 1996, the petitioner pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault in the second degreе in violation of
On April 18, 2017, pursuant to
“Faced with a habeas court‘s denial of a petition for certification to appeal, a petitionеr can obtain appellate review of the dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus only by satisfying the two-pronged test enunciated by our Supreme Court in Simms v. Warden, 229 Conn. 178, 640 A.2d 601 (1994), and adopted in Simms v. Warden, 230 Conn. 608, 612, 646 A.2d 126 (1994). First, he must demonstrate that the denial of his petition for certification constituted an abuse of discretiоn. ... Second, if the petitioner can show an abuse of discretion, he must then prove that the decision of the habeas court shоuld be reversed on its merits. ...
“To prove an abuse of discretion, the petitioner must demonstrate that the [resolution of the underlying claim involves issues that] are debatable among jurists of reason; that a court could resolve the issues [in a different manner]; or that the quеstions are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. ... If this burden is not satisfied, then the claim that the judgment оf the habeas court should be reversed does not qualify for consideration by this court.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Logan v. Commissioner of Correction, 125 Conn. App. 744, 750–51, 9 A.3d 776 (2010), cert. denied, 300 Conn. 918, 14 A.3d 333 (2011).
Our rеview of the petitioner‘s briefing to this court indicates that he has failed to brief the threshold question of whether the habeas court аbused its discretion in denying his petition for certification to appeal. Under these circumstances, we have repeatedly determined that a petitioner who has failed to brief this issue is not entitled to appellate review. See, e.g., Cordero v. Commissioner of Correction, 193 Conn. App. 902, 215 A.3d 1282, cert. denied, 333 Conn. 944, 219 A.3d 374 (2019); Thorpe v. Commissioner of Correction, 165 Conn. App. 731, 733, 140 A.3d 319, cert. denied, 323 Conn. 903, 150 A.3d 681 (2016); Mitchell v. Commissioner of Correction, 68 Conn. App. 1, 8, 790 A.2d 463, cert. denied, 260 Conn. 903, 793 A.2d 1089 (2002); Reddick v. Commissioner of Correction, 51 Conn. App. 474, 477, 722 A.2d 286 (1999). Because the petitioner has failed to meet the first prong of Simms by demonstrating that the denial of his petition for certification to appeal constituted an abuse of discretion, we decline to review his claims on appeal.
The appeal is dismissed.