Hilton v. Commissioner of Correction

Summary

The court affirmed denial of the petitioner's second habeas petition, holding that the habeas court applied the correct standard when evaluating the credibility of the petitioner's forensic pathology expert and assessing prejudice from counsel's alleged failures. The court explained that the earlier decision did not create a different credibility standard; it addressed an exceptional case involving clearly unsupported factual findings and a weak prosecution case. Here, the habeas court reasonably rejected the expert's opinion and found no reasonable probability of a different result in light of the expert's methodological omissions and the strong eyewitness, forensic, and motive evidence.