State v. Martini

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

PORITZ, C.J.

This case comes to us on the Public Defender’s petition for post-conviction relief over the objection of the defendant, John Martini, Sr., whose conviction of murder and sentence of death have been *255upheld by this Court. The gravamen of the Public Defender’s petition is that the failure to present certain mitigating evidence at defendant’s penalty-phase trial “constituted ineffective assistance of counsel and otherwise violated defendant’s constitutional rights.” State v. Martini 148 N.J. 453, 454, 690 A.2d 603 (1997) (Martini TV). Because…