State v. Martini

Justice WALLACE, JR.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Defendant John Martini, Sr., appeals from the denial of his third petition for post-conviction relief. He claims that the trial court erred in instructing the penalty phase jury that, to the extent possible, it should attempt to “reach agreement” on the existence of the mitigating factors, and that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise that issue on direct appeal. We affirm the judgment denying relief.

I

Defendant was convicted of the 1989 kidnapping and murder of Irving Flax. The facts of this case are set forth in…