Opinion ID: 1830222
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: District Court's Denial of Jury Instructions

Text: McCracken's third assignment of error alleges that the district court's denial of his request for jury instructions on second degree murder and manslaughter had the effect of preventing his attorney from arguing to the jury that McCracken lacked the ability to form the requisite premeditated intent to commit murder in the first degree. We note that McCracken has couched this assignment of error in terms of ineffective assistance of counsel. No Sixth Amendment issue is presented, however, as the substance of McCracken's argument is that the district court erred in denying his request for lesser-included offense instructions; McCracken's assertion that his attorney's arguments were limited is nothing more than another theory by which McCracken claims he was prejudiced by the lack of lesser-included offense instructions. As previously explained, however, there was no evidence upon which the jury could have acquitted McCracken of first degree murder and convicted him of the lesser-included offense of either second degree murder or manslaughter. Moreover, McCracken's counsel was not, and could not be, prevented from arguing that McCracken lacked the requisite premeditated intent to commit first degree murder because of insanity or any other justification that the evidence supported. McCracken has therefore failed to show how he was prejudiced by the trial court's failure to give his requested instructions, and we conclude that this assignment of error is without merit.