State of Arizona v. William Craig Miller

Summary

The Arizona Supreme Court reversed the order granting William Miller a new penalty-phase trial. It held that Miller failed to establish that trial or appellate counsel performed deficiently by not challenging the commonly used jury instruction, and, in any event, failed to show a reasonable probability that the instruction affected the penalty-phase result or appeal. The court required the prejudice analysis to consider the totality of the aggravating and mitigating evidence.