Opinion ID: 1251648
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Trial Counsel's Request for Probation

Text: Finally, we note that in the Nature of the Case subsection of appellant's brief, Becerra discusses his trial counsel's unfamiliarity with the penalty for kidnapping, as allegedly demonstrated during the sentencing hearing. Becerra's counsel requested that the sentence be probation. The trial judge stated that kidnapping is a Class IA felony, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Becerra again mentions the alleged deficiency in the Conclusion section of his brief. An appellate court does not consider errors which are argued but not assigned. State v. McBride, supra ; State v. Lopez, 249 Neb. 634, 544 N.W.2d 845 (1996). Not only did Becerra fail to assign his trial counsel's statements at the sentencing hearing as evidence of error, Becerra did not actually argue the issue, or the nature of the alleged prejudice, in the body of his brief. Rather, Becerra merely mentioned his trial counsel's statements at sentencing in the Nature of the Case subsection of his brief, and then extrapolated that it was evidence of the deficient performance of trial counsel in the conclusion of his brief. Because the issue was neither assigned as an error nor properly argued on appeal, we decline to consider the issue.