Abney v. State

I concur with the majority opinion that the evidence supports the PCR court’s determination Abney did not prove trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to request a jury instruction on the lesser included offense of strong arm robbery. I write separately to further discuss the decision-making authority between a criminal defendant and his lawyer.

*48Certain decisions are considered fundamental and personal to a criminal defendant, and thus, are waivable only by the defendant. United States v. Teague, 953 F.2d 1525, 1531 (11th Cir.1992). For example, a defendant has the ultimate…