State v. Simpson

Following the trial court's acceptance of his guilty plea under the Alford doctrine, 1 the defendant, Earl Simpson, was convicted of murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-54a (a) and 53a-8. 2 The defendant now appeals from the judgment, claiming that: (1) on the basis of facts and circumstances that were apparent to the court at the time of the plea and which undermined a finding that the defendant understood the nature of the charge at issue, the court abused its discretion by denying the defendant's motion to withdraw his plea prior to sentencing and, in the alternative, abused its…