Clanton v. State

Summary

The Supreme Court of Delaware affirmed the denial of Herbert Clanton’s postconviction motion. It held that counsel’s failure to request lesser-included-offense instructions for strangulation and second-degree kidnapping did not prejudice Clanton because the evidence provided no reasonable probability that the jury would have acquitted him of the greater offenses and convicted him of the lesser offenses. The court therefore did not reach whether counsel’s performance was deficient.