Davis v. Commissioner of Correction

Summary

Justice Espinosa, joined by Justice Zarella, dissented from the majority's application of the presumption-of-prejudice framework to the petitioner's sentencing claim. The dissent would apply the ordinary ineffective-assistance standard, concluding that counsel's failure to argue for a lesser sentence did not constitute a complete breakdown in adversarial testing and that the petitioner failed to prove prejudice. The dissent would affirm the Appellate Court's judgment denying habeas relief.