Opinion ID: 1200475
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Failure to request the Petrocelli instruction.

Text: Appellant argues that counsel's failure to request the model clemency jury instruction [2] specified in Petrocelli v. State, 101 Nev. 46, 56, 692 P.2d 503, 511 (1985), constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. He claims that the instruction actually given [3] omitted crucial protective elements found in the Petrocelli instruction. Appellant asserts that trial counsel's lack of familiarity with the Petrocelli instruction, and his ensuing failure to request the instruction, were per se ineffective assistance of counsel because it allowed the prosecution to invite jury speculation on the possibility of parole in violation of this court's holding in Milligan v. State, 101 Nev. 627, 637, 708 P.2d 289, 295 (1985). Appellant raised this contention in his direct appeal. This court found that it was without merit because he had not requested the instruction at trial. Appellant now asserts that counsel's failure to request the instruction constituted ineffective assistance. The mandatory instruction, while not expressly limited to capital cases, is generally associated with them. We therefore see nothing unreasonable in counsel's failure to request the Petrocelli instruction in a case where the State did not seek the death penalty. We also do not believe that the giving of the instruction would have made a difference in the outcome of appellant's trial or the sentence he received. Accordingly, we hold that appellant's claim fails to meet the Strickland test for ineffective assistance.