Opinion ID: 1652300
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: counsel failed to object at trial or in his motion for a new trial to the failure of the trial court to instruct the sentencing jury on kidnaping and its elements.

Text: ¶ 5. Williams claims that the jury was given an instruction that identified kidnaping as an aggravating circumstance but failed to instruct the jury as to the elements of kidnaping. Williams now argues that counsel's failure to lodge an objection at the sentencing phase constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. The underlying issue of whether the jury was properly instructed was thoroughly considered on direct appeal. Williams, 684 So.2d at 1187. Although this Court found the issue to be procedurally barred, it nonetheless went on to explore the merits of the claim. The Court specifically held that [t]he omission of the kidnaping instruction in the resentencing phase was cured by that first jury's conviction of murder and kidnaping, which by necessary implication allowed the resentencing jury to consider whether Williams was guilty of the underlying felony of kidnaping for aggravator purposes. Id. at 1188. ¶ 6. If the issue was without merit, then the failure to raise an objection cannot be considered ineffective assistance of counsel because no prejudice could result from such an omission. Further, this Court has held that a claim previously decided on its merits on direct appeal cannot be re-litigated as a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Foster v. State, 687 So.2d 1124, 1129 (Miss. 1996). This issue is without merit.