Opinion ID: 1705889
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel for Failing to Challenge Execution by Lethal Injection in the Trial Court.

Text: ¶ 83. Spicer also asserts that his attorneys were ineffective in failing to argue in the trial court or on direct appeal that Mississippi's method of execution by lethal injection is unconstitutional. An ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim requires this Court to analyze his counsel's actions pursuant to Strickland, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, and pits progeny. Although we have held that the issue would properly be raised in the trial court or on direct appeal, that does not confer merit to the issue. To date, there has been no successful challenge to Mississippi's method of execution by lethal injection. Even if this Court assumes that Spicer's attorney was deficient for failing to raise the issue at trial or on direct appeal; Spicer cannot show that the outcome would have been different.