Opinion ID: 886072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Instruction on Negligent Homicide

Text: ¶ 51 Hagen next contends that his appellate counsel was ineffective for raising his trial counsel's failure to request a lesser included offense instruction on direct appeal rather than by postconviction relief. Appellate counsel, according to Hagen, should have recognized that an evidentiary hearing was necessary, and, therefore, should have raised the issue by way of a postconviction proceeding. While Hagen contends that evidence in support of his claim would have been presented at a postconviction hearing, he failed to establish what that evidence would have shown. Furthermore, claims which can reasonably be raised on direct appeal may not be raised, considered, or decided in a postconviction relief proceeding. § 46-21-105(2), MCA. Had Hagen's appellate counsel not raised the claim, Hagen would have, in all likelihood, been procedurally barred from raising it by postconviction relief. Therefore, we conclude that he was not ineffective for raising it on appeal.