first petition had been denied by the district court. Specifically, the 

district court found good cause to hear appellant's claim that trial counsel 

was ineffective for telling appellant to take the plea offer without doing an 

adequate investigation. After an evidentiary hearing, the district court 

determined that appellant failed to demonstrate prejudice. This appeal 

followed. 

We conclude that the district court erred in determining that 

appellant had demonstrated good cause. The failure of counsel to send 

appellant his files did not establish good cause in this case for appellant's 

procedural default. See Hood v. State, 111 Nev. 335, 338, 890 P.2d 797, 

798 (1995). We note that appellant filed his first petition before receiving 

his case file, which he received within the one year time period. Further, 

appellant was represented by counsel for his first petition, and there is no 

explanation why first post-conviction counsel could not have obtained the 

case file and presented the claims in his first petition. 2Therefore, the 

failure to file all of his claims in his first petition was not caused by an 

impediment external to the defense. Hathaway v. State, 119 Nev. 248, 

252, 71 P.3d 503, 506 (2003). Further, piecemeal litigation is not 

permitted, and NRS 34.810 does not contemplate being able to file two 

timely petitions. Thus, appellant failed to demonstrate good cause. 

2We note that ineffective assistance of post-conviction counsel is not 

good cause to overcome the procedural bars. Crump v. Warden, 113 Nev. 

293, 303 n.5, 934 P.2d 247, 253 n.5 (1997); McKague v. Warden, 112 Nev. 

159, 164, 912 P.2d 255, 258 (1996). 

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In addition to failing to demonstrate good cause, appellant 

failed to demonstrate prejudice because he failed to demonstrate that his 

ineffective assistance of counsel claim had merit. To prove ineffective 

assistance of counsel sufficient to invalidate a judgment of conviction 

based on a guilty plea, a petitioner must demonstrate that his counsel's 

performance was deficient in that it fell below an objective standard of 

reasonableness, and resulting prejudice such that there is a reasonable 

probability that, but for counsel's errors, petitioner would not have 

pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial. See Hill v. 

Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 58-59 (1985); Kirksey v. State, 112 Nev. 980, 988, 

923 P.2d 1102, 1107 (1996). Both components of the inquiry must be 

shown. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 697 (1984). 

Appellant's claim was essentially that counsel did not inform 

him or investigate the fact that the child victims were reluctant to accuse 

appellant. Appellant failed to demonstrate prejudice because he failed to 

demonstrate a reasonable probability that he would not have pleaded 

guilty and would have insisted on going to trial. Appellant testified at the 

evidentiary hearing that he knew, prior to pleading guilty, that the 

children were reluctant to accuse him because they informed him of that 

fact after their interviews. Further, trial counsel testified that he 

discussed the police reports with appellant prior to him pleading guilty. 

The district court concluded that trial counsel was credible and that 

appellant was not credible and substantial evidence supports the decision 

of the district court. See Means v. State, 120 Nev. 1001, 1012, 103 P.3d 25, 

33 (2004); Riley v. State, 110 Nev. 638, 647, 878 P.2d 272, 278 (1994). 

Therefore, the district court did not err in determining that appellant 

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failed to demonstrate prejudice. Further, we conclude that the remainder 

of appellant's petition was procedurally barred and appellant failed to 

demonstrate good cause and prejudice to overcome the procedural bars. 

Accordingly, we 

ORDER the judgment of the district court AFFIRMED. 

Saitta 

J. 

J. 

cc: Hon. Jerome Polaha, District Judge 

Federal Public Defender/Las Vegas 

Attorney General/Carson City 

Washoe County District Attorney 

Washoe District Court Clerk 

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