The mission of the Connecticut Judicial Branch is to serve the interests of justice and the public by resolving matters brought before it in a fair, timely, efficient and open manner.

Habeas Supreme Court Opinions

by Townsend, Karen

 

SC20621- Banks v. Commissioner of Correction ("We conclude that plain error and Golding review is available to challenge the habeas court’s handling of the habeas proceeding itself, despite its denial of a petition for certification to appeal, if the appellant can demonstrate that the unpreserved claims involve issues that ‘are debatable among jurists of reason; that a court could resolve [them in a different manner]; or that [they] are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.’ (Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Simms v. Warden, 230 Conn. 608, 616, 646 A.2d 126 (1994) (Simms II). We therefore reverse the judgment of the Appellate Court dismissing the appeal filed by the petitioner, Harold T. Banks, Jr., and remand the case to that court for consideration of the petitioner’s claims under the Simms II criteria.")

SC20622 - Bosque v. Commissioner of Correction (“In Banks v. Commissioner of Correction, 347 Conn. 335, 350–77, A.3d (2023), also released today, we held that unpreserved claims challenging the habeas court’s handling of the habeas proceeding itself are reviewable under the plain error doctrine and Golding, despite the failure to include those claims in the petition for certification to appeal, if the appellant can demonstrate that the claims are nonfrivolous because they involve issues that ‘are debatable among jurists of reason; that a court could resolve [them in a different manner]; or that [they] are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.’ (Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Simms v. Warden, 230 Conn. 608, 616, 646 A.2d 126 (1994). Because the Appellate Court dismissed the petitioner’s uncertified appeal without first considering whether his unpreserved claims are nonfrivolous under the Simms criteria, we reverse the judgment of the Appellate Court and remand for consideration of that issue consistent with the principles set forth in Banks.”)