Carvaughn Johnson v. Commissioner of Correction

Summary

The court affirmed the Appellate Court's reversal of habeas relief on the petitioner's ineffective-assistance claims. It held that counsel reasonably declined to present the alibi evidence because it was potentially harmful, insufficiently definitive, and distracting from the eyewitness's recantation, and that counsel did not perform deficiently by omitting the third-party culpability evidence because it established at most a speculative connection. The petitioner also failed to establish prejudice because the proposed third-party witness might properly have invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege. There were no separate opinions.