State v. Perez

Citations

• 2020 Ohio 100

Syllabus

Ineffective assistance of counsel, trial strategy, jury instruction, affirmative defense, parental discipline, plain error. Appellant has not demonstrated that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel when defense counsel failed to assert the affirmative defense of parental discipline and request the corresponding jury instruction. We find the challenged actions are nothing more than the product of sound trial strategy that fall squarely within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance. Additionally, we cannot find that trial counsel was ineffective for not requesting a jury instruction that was inappropriate in regards to the evidence presented to the jury and an accurate statement of law. The trial court did not commit plain error by failing to give the jury instructions regarding the affirmative defense of parental discipline. A trial court does not err in failing to instruct the jury on an affirmative defense where the evidence is insufficient to support the instruction.