Morant v. Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, P.C., HHDCV166067801S

Stefon MORANT v. KOSKOFF, KOSKOFF & BIEDER, P.C. et al.

No. HHDCV166067801S

Superior Court of Connecticut, Judicial District of Hartford, Hartford

August 7, 2018

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

OPINION

Cesar A. Noble, J.

Presently before the court is the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Because the court adopts and applies the "exoneration rule," which requires a convicted criminal defendant to obtain appellate or post-conviction relief as a precondition to maintaining a legal malpractice action, the defendants’ motion for summary judgment is granted.

FACTS

On November 17, 2017, the plaintiff, Stefon Morant, filed the second amended complaint sounding in professional negligence against the defendants, Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, P.C. (KKB) and William M. Bloss, who is an attorney at KKB.^[1] The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut appointed Attorney Bloss to replace prior counsel in the pro bono representation of the plaintiff in his habeas petition following the plaintiff’s two felony murder convictions.

The plaintiff voluntarily accepted a sentence modification to time served, rather than continue to pursue exoneration through his federal habeas petition, and was released from prison. The plaintiff’s habeas petition was dismissed, and he remains a convicted felon. The plaintiff alleges Attorney Bloss was negligent, largely due to claimed inaction, and claims damages stemming from the consequences of convictions.

The undisputed facts are as follows. On October 11, 1990, Ricardo Turner and Lamont Fields were shot and killed in their apartment in New Haven. The state charged the plaintiff and another individual, Scott Lewis, with the murders and tried them separately in the Superior Court. In 1994, following a jury trial, the plaintiff was convicted of two counts of felony murder. The Superior Court for the Judicial District of New Haven, Hadden, J., sentenced the plaintiff to thirty-five years imprisonment on each count, to run consecutively, for an effective sentence of seventy years. In a separate trial in 1995, Lewis was convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of felony murder, one as to each victim. Lewis was sentenced to 120 years’ imprisonment. On direct appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed Lewis’ convictions for the murders of Turner and Fields but vacated his felony murder convictions on double jeopardy grounds. See State v. Lewis, 245 Conn. 779, 817 A.2d 1140 (1998).

In 1997, the Supreme Court affirmed the plaintiff’s convictions. See State v. Morant, 242 Conn. 666, 701 A.2d 1 (1997). Following the plaintiff’s unsuccessful direct appeal he unsuccessfully petitioned twice for a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence. Morant v. State, Superior Court, judicial district of New Haven, Docket No CV-970398736-S 1999 WL 566934 (July 26, 1999, Hadden, J.) aff’d, 68 Conn.App. 137, 802 A.2d 93, cert. denied, 260 Conn 914, 796 A.2d 558 (2002) (discovery of alibi witnesses) and Morant v. State, Superior Court, judicial district of New Haven, Docket No. 398736, 2000 WL 804695 (June 5, 2000, Blue, J.), aff’d, Morant v. State, 68 Conn.App. 137, 802 A.2d 93, cert. denied, 260 Conn. 914, 796 A.2d 558 (2002) (second petition).

The plaintiff’s second petition is the one most relevant to the present action as it raised significant issues of perjury and fabrication of evidence. Following a complaint by Lewis, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted an investigation. Morant v. State, supra, 2000 WL 804695 *1. During the investigation, Ovil Ruiz, a principal witness,^[2] recanted his trial testimony related to events immediately surrounding the murder of Turner and Fields. Id. The trial testimony, as recounted by the court in its decision denying the plaintiff’s second petition for new trial, included the following. Ruiz had sold drugs for the plaintiff and Lewis. Id., *4. Turner held money and drugs for the two in the same operation. Id. Lewis, however, suspected that Turner planned to abscond with the money and drugs. Id. At the plaintiff’s instruction, Ruiz retrieved two handguns. Id. Ruiz drove with the plaintiff and Lewis to Turner’s house. Id. After they arrived, the plaintiff and Lewis entered Turner’s apartment with the guns while Ruiz remained in the vehicle. Id. After about thirty minutes, Ruiz heard gun shots, and the plaintiff and Lewis quickly entered the car and threw some bags in the back seat. Id. Upon entering the car, Lewis asked Morant if he thought "they" were dead. Id. Weeks later, Ruiz saw Lewis throw one of the handguns into the river in Morant’s presence. Id.

As damning as the trial testimony was, the recantation was equally lurid. When first interviewed by the FBI, Ruiz recounted the events consistent with his testimony at the plaintiff’s criminal trial. Morant v. State, supra, 2000 WL 804695, *6. Thereafter, Ruiz admitted that he lied under oath, that the plaintiff and Lewis were innocent and had been framed by him and the principal investigating police officer, Detective Vincent Raucci,^[3] who, at the time, served as a detective of the New Haven Police Department (NHPD). Id. Detective Raucci and Ruiz conspired to fabricate a case against the plaintiff and Lewis. Id., *7. According to Ruiz, Detective Raucci’s motivation for the fabrication was that "Lewis owed a great deal of drug trafficking money to another drug dealer who was [allegedly] in partnership with [Detective] Raucci in the drug trade." Id.

The plaintiff presented additional exculpatory evidence during the second petition hearing. This evidence was the testimony of Detective Michael Sweeney.^[4] Morant v. State, supra, 2000 WL 804695, *9. In January 1991, Detective Sweeney supervised Detective Raucci and participated in Ruiz’ initial interrogation, which ultimately yielded a statement from Ruiz consistent with his later trial testimony. Id. Detective Sweeney testified that Ruiz had initially stated, in Detective Raucci’s absence, that he knew nothing about the Turner-Fields murder. Id. When Detective Raucci joined the interview he started supplying Ruiz with facts about the Turner-Fields case to the extent that Detective Sweeney thought was inappropriate. As a consequence Sweeney directed Detective Raucci to provide no further facts. Id. After the interview was resumed Detective Sweeney was obliged to once again admonish Detective Raucci to stop providing additional facts. Id., *10. Thereafter, Detective Raucci resumed the interview with Ruiz alone. Id. After a period of time, Detective Raucci reported that Ruiz wanted to give the whole case up. Id. Detective Sweeney reentered the room with Detective Raucci to listen to Ruiz. Id. Ruiz admitted to driving the car the night of the Turner-Fields murder, having seen Morant and Lewis go up to Turner’s apartment with guns, and subsequently return to the car after hearing shots. Id. Detective Sweeney then confronted Ruiz alone who again reported that he was not telling the truth and that the information he had given had come from Detective Raucci. Id. Detective Sweeney’s shift ended, at which point Detective Raucci took a recorded statement from Ruiz that provided details consistent with his trial testimony. Id.

The court denied the second petition for a new trial because the plaintiff had failed to satisfy his burden of proving that the testimony of a material witness was false. Morant v. State, supra, 2000 WL 804695 *13. Significant to this conclusion were significant inconsistencies in Ruiz’ statements and a subsequent repudiation of his recantation in which he asserted that he had been pressured to lie to the FBI by Lewis and re-affirmed that his testimony about Lewis and the plaintiff was the truth. Morant v. State, supra, 2000 WL 804695 *13. Given the inconsistencies in Ruiz’ statements, his statements to the FBI were not considered to be entitled to no evidentiary weight whatsoever. Id., *16. In the view of the court the availability of the newly discovered evidence would not have led to a different result because of the other evidence at the trial, including an inculpatory statement made by the plaintiff, which placed him near the scene of the crime at the time of the Turner-Fields homicides. Id., *14, 16. The court concluded that the totality of the evidence did not meet the standard for granting a new trial. The plaintiff appealed but the Appellate Court affirmed the denial concluding that "[the plaintiff] did not sustain his burden of proving that the testimony of a material witness was false or that newly discovered evidence would probably result in a different verdict." Morant v. State, 68 Conn.App. 137, 160, 802 A.2d 93, cert. denied, 260 Conn. 914, 796 A.2d 558 (2002).

Meanwhile, Lewis twice sought habeas corpus relief from the Connecticut courts, without success. See Lewis v. Commissioner of Correction, 73 Conn.App. 597, 808 A.2d 1164 (2002), cert. denied, 262 Conn. 939, 815 A.2d 17 (2003); Lewis v. Warden, Superior Court, judicial district of Tolland, Docket No. CV-06-4001783-S, 2008 WL 544579 (February 5, 2008, Schuman, J.), appeal dismissed, 116 Conn.App. 400, 975 A.2d 740 (2009), cert. denied, 294 Conn. 908, 982 A.2d 1082 (2009).

In October 2006, the plaintiff filed an amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus and claimed he was entitled to a new criminal trial because, the state had withheld material evidence in violation of Brady, ^[5] and that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present certain evidence. After a trial, the habeas court denied the plaintiff’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. See Morant v. Commissioner of Correction, Superior Court, judicial district of New Haven, Docket No CV-02-0485200-S, 2007 WL 1893329 (June 12, 2007, DeMayo, J.T.R.), aff’d, 117 Conn.App. 279, 979 A.2d 507, cert....