State v. Robinson

This opinion is a memorandum of decision on the defendant’s motion to clarify the status of his appeal. The principal issue to be decided is whether the trial court, Ripley, J., on a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, had the authority to order the discharge of the defendant from custody unless his appeal was reinstated by this court within a prescribed period of forty-five days. We hold that the habeas court exceeded the scope of its authority, and we therefore vacate the trial court’s order.

The defendant was convicted, after a trial to a jury, of sexual assault in the first degree in…