Muhammad Lutharius Young, Appellant v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the Court of Appeals' decision and held that the appellant was not entitled to a jury instruction on the defense of necessity because he did not raise that defense at trial, and therefore counsel's failure to request the instruction was not deficient under the first prong of Strickland. The court affirmed the conviction and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. A dissent argued the instruction was required and would have affirmed the appellate reversal, while a concurrence agreed with the majority but noted the result would likely be the same even if necessity had been raised.