Simeon v. State

OPINION

COATS, Chief Judge.

This case raises the question of whether the lawyer or the defendant has the authority to decide whether to request a jury instruction on a lesser included offense. We conclude that the Alaska Rules of Professional Conduct establish that it is the lawyer’s decision.

Factual and 'procedural background

Stanley J. Simeon was convicted of sexual assault in the first degree. 1 Simeon appealed his conviction to this court, arguing that it was plain error for the superior court to fail to provide the jury with instructions on the lesser included offenses of sexual assault in…