488 A.2d 850 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1985
This matter is before the court on Keith Hornak's petition for habeas corpus. The plaintiff entered pleas of guilty on February 14, 1983, to two counts of robbery, one count of assault, and one count of failure to appear. He was sentenced by the court to a definite term of incarceration of four years pursuant to the agreed recommendation between his counsel and the state. The plaintiff alleges that his guilty pleas resulted in part from the advice of his counsel, that, if sentenced pursuant to the agreed recommendation, the plaintiff would be entitled to request a reduction of that sentence during the period of the sentence. General Statutes §
It is established that the imposition of a sentence may have a number of collateral consequences, and a plea of guilty is not rendered involuntary in a constitutional sense if the defendant is not informed of all the possible indirect and collateral consequences, such as parole eligibility. Strader v. Garrison,
Although there is a division of authority on what constitutes gross misadvice, there are two decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit which offer guidance on this issue. O'Tuel v. Osborne, supra; Strader v. Garrison, supra. In Strader, an attorney misadvised the defendant on the effect of a new sentence, which was to run concurrent with a former *240 sentence, upon the defendant's parole eligibility. The court held that the defendant's parole eligibility date was of great importance to him and that he would not have entered his guilty plea if he had been correctly advised. Strader v. Garrison, supra, 63. In O'Tuel, the defendant was told by his attorney that, if he pleaded guilty to second degree murder, he could be eligible for parole after serving ten years, whereas he would actually be required to serve twenty years. O'Tuel v.Osborne, supra, 499. The court found that even if the defendant's primary consideration for a plea of guilty to second degree murder was to avoid the very likely consequence of the death penalty, this did not lessen the effect of the defendant's concern with his parole eligibility. Id. Thus, it appears from these decisions that when actual misadvice on the relevant law is given and the defendant relies on it in reaching his decision to enter a guilty plea, then he has been deprived of his sixth amendment right to counsel.
Two recent cases indicate what is not considered "gross misadvice." In Little v. Allsbrook,
In Hill v. Lockhart,
In this action, the plaintiff claims that but for his lawyer's assurance that he would be entitled to request a sentence reduction, he would not have pleaded guilty. It appears from the two letters written by the plaintiff's counsel to him that counsel believed that the plaintiff could request a sentence reduction. General Statutes (Rev. to 1983) §
The state argues that although the plaintiff was excluded under the ameliorative terms of §
It is established that "courts have an inherent power, independent of statutory authorization, to prescribe rules to regulate their proceedings and facilitate the administration of justice as they deem necessary." State
v. King,
It is the opinion of this court, however, that the mis-information given to the plaintiff does not constitute "gross misadvice" under the standards of the cases discussed as it did not result in the plaintiff's serving a substantially longer sentence. See Hill v. Lockhart,
Accordingly, the petition for habeas corpus is dismissed.