Opinion ID: 1689027
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Request Jury Instruction

Text: ¶ 30. Smiley next asserts that Bass failed to request a jury instruction regarding Smiley's right not to testify. The record shows that at the conclusion of the jury instruction conference, the trial court stated to Bass, you had a jury instruction that you were going to give relating to your client not testifying. Bass responded by saying, We withdrew that, your Honor. During the trial Smiley was advised by the trial court of his right to take the stand in his own defense or remain silent. ¶ 31. An attorney's failure to request a jury instruction regarding a defendant's right to not testify is a matter of first impression for this Court. However, there does exist persuasive authority holding that trial counsel's decision to not request a jury instruction falls under the category of trial tactics, which are not subject to review: Petitioner claims that his attorneys did not ask for a jury instruction commenting on petitioner's right not to testify. However, this is a matter of trial tactics, as an attorney may not want to call the jury's attention to a defendant's failure to testify. Trial tactics are beyond this court's review. Durham v. Blankenship, 461 F.Supp. 492, 501 (W.D.Va.1978) (citations omitted), appeal dismissed, 609 F.2d 506 (4th Cir. 1979). ¶ 32. This Court has discussed the wide latitude allowed attorneys regarding their trial strategy: This Court gives much deference to an attorney's trial tactics. As this Court has stated: Judicial scrutiny of counsel's performance must be highly deferential. It is all too tempting for a defendant to second-guess counsel's assistance after conviction or adverse sentence, and it is all too easy for a court, examining counsel's defense after it has proved unsuccessful, to conclude that a particular act or omission of counsel was unreasonable. Cf. Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 133-134 [102 S.Ct. 1558, 1574-75, 71 L.Ed.2d 783] (1982). A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel's challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel's perspective at the time. Lambert v. State, 462 So.2d 308, 316 (Miss.1984), citing Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2065, 80 L.Ed.2d at 694. The right to effective counsel does not entitle the defendant to have an attorney who makes no mistakes at trial. The defendant just has a right to have competent counsel. Mohr v. State, 584 So.2d 426, 430 (Miss. 1991). ¶ 33. In the present case, it is conceivable that Bass withdrew the jury instruction as part of his trial strategy in the hope of not highlighting Smiley's decision not to testify. Whatever reason Bass had for withdrawing the instruction, [a]long with the presumption that counsel's conduct is within the wide range of reasonable conduct, there is a presumption that the decisions made are strategic. Leatherwood v. State, 473 So.2d 964, 969 (Miss.1985). Smiley has failed to show that Bass was deficient, much less that Bass's decision deprived him of a fair trial, which, but for the withdrawal of the jury instruction, would have likely resulted in a different outcome. This claim is without merit.