Ricci Davis v. State of Indiana ( 2019 )


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  •                                                                            FILED
    Dec 19 2019, 9:28 am
    CLERK
    Indiana Supreme Court
    Court of Appeals
    and Tax Court
    ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT                                   ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
    Stephen T. Owens                                          Curtis T. Hill, Jr.
    Public Defender of Indiana                                Attorney General of Indiana
    Jonathan O. Chenoweth                                     Tyler G. Banks
    Deputy Public Defender                                    Supervising Deputy Attorney
    Indianapolis, Indiana                                     General
    Indianapolis, Indiana
    IN THE
    COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
    Ricci Davis,                                              December 19, 2019
    Appellant-Defendant,                                      Court of Appeals Case No.
    19A-PC-984
    v.                                                Appeal from the Huntington
    Superior Court
    State of Indiana,                                         The Honorable Jennifer Newton,
    Appellee-Plaintiff.                                       Judge
    Trial Court Cause No.
    35D01-1511-PC-22
    Brown, Judge.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019                           Page 1 of 32
    [1]   Ricci Davis appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. We
    affirm.
    Facts and Procedural History
    [2]   The relevant facts as discussed in Davis’s direct appeal follow:
    Shortly before 11:00 p.m. on May 19, 2014, a man called the
    Huntington County Sheriff’s Department on its non-emergency
    line and reported that he had a warrant and “was strung out on
    meth and to come get him and take it all out of his house.” (Tr.
    p. 99). In response to the call, the Sheriff’s Department
    dispatched the Huntington Police Department to 533 East
    Franklin Street, Huntington, Indiana, upon verification that the
    occupant thereof, Davis, had an active warrant.
    *****
    Fifteen minutes after the police had first knocked on the door,
    Davis came downstairs, along with Thomas Hale (Hale) and
    Amanda (Casto). The officers escorted him outside, placed him
    in handcuffs, and administered his Miranda warnings. Davis
    indicated that he and Hale had been manufacturing
    methamphetamine on the second floor of the house. Davis
    further stated that when they heard the officers knocking on the
    door, Hale began hiding the supplies. Thus, Davis offered to
    accompany the officers inside to show them where everything
    was. For safety reasons, the officers would not allow Davis back
    into the house, but upon questioning as to whether there was an
    active lab that could pose any danger to the officers, Davis
    assured them that everything was safe.
    As the officers climbed the staircase, they detected the “very
    distinct,” “overwhelming chemical” odor associated with
    manufacturing methamphetamine. (Tr. pp. 247, 262). The odor
    was most potent in the upstairs bathroom, emanating from the
    toilet and the sink in particular. Once they confirmed that there
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019       Page 2 of 32
    was nobody else in the house, the officers went back outside to
    retrieve their protective gear. After obtaining consent to search
    the home from the landlord, several officers trained in
    dismantling methamphetamine labs entered the house to process
    the scene.
    No active methamphetamine lab was discovered, nor did the
    police officers recover any finished methamphetamine product.
    However, spread throughout nearly every room of the house, the
    officers found evidence of all of the ingredients and other
    equipment necessary to manufacture methamphetamine,
    including: numerous empty boxes and blister packs that had
    contained pseudoephedrine pills; empty boxes and the water
    bladders from cold compresses and the ammonium nitrate that
    had been extracted therefrom; lithium batteries and empty
    battery packages; salt; several bottles of drain cleaner (lye);
    Liquid Fire (sulfuric acid); three empty one-gallon containers of
    Coleman fuel (an organic solvent); coffee filters; plastic tubing;
    funnels; Ziploc bags; side cutters (for stripping the lithium out of
    the batteries); gas masks; and latex gloves. The search also
    revealed a plastic bag containing a liquid substance; a bottle that
    had been used as a “one-pot” (first stage of methamphetamine
    manufacturing); at least six bottles that had been used as
    hydrochloric gas (HCL) generators (second stage of
    methamphetamine manufacturing), one of which was located on
    the upstairs toilet lid; a cast iron skillet coated in white powder; a
    pill crusher; several loose syringes; and “partial directions on a
    couple steps of manufacturing methamphetamine.” (Tr. pp. 206,
    211). Testing on the liquid substance indicated the presence of
    methamphetamine, but the sample was too diluted to run a
    confirmatory test.
    Davis v. State, No. 35A02-1411-CR-804, slip op. at 2-5 (Ind. Ct. App. June 2,
    2015) (“Davis I”).
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019         Page 3 of 32
    [3]   The State charged Davis with dealing in methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of
    a youth program center as a class A felony. 
    Id. at 5.
    In October 2014, the court
    held a jury trial. 
    Id. During opening
    argument, Davis’s trial counsel stated:
    And in the end, in the final analysis you will be asked to make a
    decision and the decision will be to convict or is there sufficient
    evidence to convict Ricci Davis of manufacturing
    methamphetamine or in the alternative, is there sufficient
    evidence to convict him of the possession of two (2) or more
    ingredients for methamphetamine and to convict him of
    permitting his house and we call that Maintaining a Common
    Nuisance, permitting his house to be used for the manufacture of
    methamphetamine.
    Ricci Davis isn’t going to leave this trial without a conviction.
    That is clear. It’s clear to me and it’s clear to him. What we are
    going to ask you ladies and gentleman of the jury to determine
    what the conviction or convictions should actually be. And the
    Judge will guide you on that in final instructions.
    Trial Transcript Volume II at 93.
    [4]   During the State’s evidence, Dathen Strine, a GIS / IT Technician for
    Huntington County, testified regarding the creation of maps and buffer zones
    and that on either side of a point of measurement would be a two and one-half
    foot margin of error for a total margin of error of five feet. He testified he
    created a map that measured the distance between Davis’s residence and
    Trinity United Methodist Church. The court admitted the map as State’s
    Exhibit 58, which indicates the distance as 970 feet. He stated that the distance
    could be as little as 965 feet and as great as 975 feet. He testified that he created
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019         Page 4 of 32
    a map that measured the distance between Davis’s residence and the Boys &
    Girls Club as 940 feet with a total margin of error of five feet. The court
    admitted the map as State’s Exhibit 59.
    [5]   Outside the presence of the jury, the parties and the court discussed the
    admission of a disclaimer which states in part:
    By using this site, I agree that I understand and am bound by the
    following conditions.
    General. The information on this Web Site was prepared from a
    Geographic Information System established by Huntington
    County for their internal purposes only, and was not designed or
    intended for general use by members of the public. Huntington
    County, its employees, agents and personnel, makes no
    representation or warranty as to its accuracy, and in particular,
    its accuracy as to labeling, dimensions, contours, property
    boundaries, or placement or location of any map features
    thereon; nor to the accuracy of any other information contained
    thereon.
    Disclaimer. Huntington County Digital Data is the property of
    Huntington County, Indiana © 2000 Huntington County, IN.
    All graphic data supplied by Huntington County has been
    derived from public records that are constantly undergoing
    change and is not warranted for content or accuracy. The county
    does not guarantee the positional or thematic accuracy of the
    data. . . . The data represents an actual reproduction of data
    contained in Huntington County’s computer files. This data may
    be incomplete or inaccurate, and is subject to modifications and
    changes. . . .
    Defendant’s Exhibit A. The court sustained the prosecutor’s objection to the
    disclaimer, stated that it would not allow the disclaimer into evidence, and
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019        Page 5 of 32
    stated: “It is a disclaimer of liability and that’s what it is. It’s not a declaration
    as far as accuracy.” Trial Transcript Volume III at 516.
    [6]   Davis’s counsel tendered an instruction which stated that the jury could
    consider the included crimes of possession of chemical reagents or precursors
    with intent to manufacture controlled substances, possession of
    methamphetamine, or maintaining a common nuisance. The court refused to
    give the jury the instruction.
    [7]   During closing argument, Davis’s counsel stated:
    [T]he elected prosecutor of Huntington County, ultimately gets
    to decide what charges are brought against the defendant . . . .
    And tin [sic] this case, ladies and gentlemen, boy did she reach
    for that brass ring. She went right for the A felony. She went
    right for the crime that has and is in the same category as
    aggravated rape and one spot less than murder. That’s what she
    went for . . . which she’s allowed to do. She has prosecutorial
    discretion. She can bring that charge if she wants but that means
    that she has to prove every element of that crime to you. It’s not
    enough that she proves some other lesser crime. She has to prove
    that crime to you beyond a reasonable doubt. And I will submit
    to you, ladies and gentleman, that she has failed in that task.
    Trial Transcript Volume IV at 587. Davis’s counsel also stated:
    So then they move on to this thousand (1000) feet issue. I don’t
    dispute that those buildings, by the way, are youth program
    centers. Those are good and (INAUDIBLE) programs that they
    have out there. They are a great thing for the community. They
    should be maintained. But what do we have as far as distances.
    Well, we know they didn’t go out there and measure manually.
    It’s what they used to do by the way. They used to go out with
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019          Page 6 of 32
    one of those wheels that has the quickie things on it and every
    time you go a feet (sic), you get a foot. That is what they used to
    do. They don’t do that anymore, apparently. They are content
    to have someone who sits downstairs in the same building to get
    on a computer and not type in addresses. He doesn’t do that. He
    picks. He takes his mouse and clicks one spot and goes down.
    Then he clicks another spot and gets a distance. Now this has a
    margin of error. We know that. He testified that it is a five (5)
    foot margin of error. Of course, that is not verified. He stated
    they haven’t verified that. It could be about anything. So we’ve
    got that margin of error. We’ve got the human margin of error.
    And then and this is the most important part, he has no idea how
    they get those . . . those distances. The head of the GIS website
    sat here and told you, “I don’t know how they get those photos.
    I guess there is a plane or something and they must use a
    camera.” That’s how you are going to convict on an A felony?
    ‘I guess there is a plan [sic] and there might be a camera?’
    
    Id. at 597-598.
    [8]   The jury found Davis guilty as charged. Davis I, slip op. at 5. After the jury
    was released, the court stated:
    This is just for part of the record. I would like the record to
    indicate that neither the State nor the defendant had requested a
    lesser included offense upon the Class B felony, Dealing in
    Methamphetamine. Had it been submitted the Court would have
    given to it . . . neither party requested it.
    Trial Transcript Volume V at 625. The court sentenced him to fifty years in the
    Department of Correction. Davis I, slip op. at 5.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019     Page 7 of 32
    [9]    On direct appeal, Davis argued that the trial court abused its discretion by
    failing to instruct the jury on lesser-included offenses of dealing in
    methamphetamine and excluding evidence regarding the accuracy of the State’s
    measurement of distance between Davis’s house and two youth program
    centers. 
    Id. at 2.
    Davis also argued that his sentence was inappropriate in light
    of the nature of the offense and his character. 
    Id. This Court
    affirmed. 
    Id. [10] On
    November 17, 2015, Davis filed a petition for post-conviction relief and on
    June 6, 2018, counsel amended the petition to include three claims: (1) that the
    subsection under which he had been convicted was unconstitutionally vague;
    (2) that appellate counsel had provided ineffective assistance by not raising a
    vagueness claim; and (3) that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by not
    tendering jury instructions on manufacturing methamphetamine as a class B
    felony and the State’s burden to prove less than 1,000 feet separated each youth
    program center from the exact center where methamphetamine had been made.
    [11]   On January 7, 2019, the court held an evidentiary hearing. Attorney Andrew
    Teel testified that he was Davis’s trial counsel with Attorney Don Swanson as
    co-counsel. He indicated that the general trial strategy was to try to convince
    the jury “if they were going to enter [a] conviction to convict on . . . some ‘D’
    Felonies would have been possession of precursors . . . that sort of thing . . .
    rather than going all way for the . . . ‘A’ Felony.” Post-Conviction Transcript
    Volume II at 7. When asked if he ever thought about tendering a jury
    instruction on a lesser offense of manufacturing as a class B felony, he
    answered:
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019       Page 8 of 32
    I don’t, uh, I-I think that had we been able to get the evidence of
    the disclaimer in, I think the answer would have been yes, um,
    and obviously you’re trying to do anything you can to avoid ‘A’
    felony, um, but given the-the facts that were in-in evidence by the
    time it came around to-to Instruction time, I don’t believe, you
    know, that it was, uh, an option, at least in my mind, any longer.
    
    Id. at 9.
    He indicated it was fair to say that he did not think that an instruction
    on the class B felony was supported by the evidence. He indicated that the
    decision on the lesser included offense was probably Attorney Swanson’s
    decision.
    [12]   Attorney Swanson testified that he represented Davis as lead counsel. When
    asked why he did not consider offering the jury an instruction on the lesser
    included offense of manufacturing as a class B felony, 1 he answered:
    Because, uh, I feel that the Jury were – if you gave the Jury, uh,
    too much options you’re creating excuses. Uh, I think that if, uh,
    if your [sic] delivering on a lesser included, it should be, a lesser
    included. Uh, Judge Heffelfinger appointed me in this case due
    to conflicts and the public defender appeal and, uh, I have about
    as much respect for him and he for me, uh, but, (laughing) that’s,
    uh, he was- he was a very, uh, strict sentencing individual and if
    the Jury convicted of the ‘B’ Felony it would have been twenty
    (20) years, uh, no discussion.
    1
    The Transcript states that Davis’s post-conviction counsel asked Attorney Swanson, “given that – the
    thousand (1,000) foot element was an issue at trial, did you consider, uh, offering the Jury a lesser included
    on Manufacturing as a Class D felony?” Post-Conviction Transcript Volume II at 15. It appears that the
    reference to the class D felony is a scrivener’s error or that Davis’s post-conviction counsel intended to ask
    about an instruction on a class B felony.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019                                Page 9 of 32
    
    Id. at 15-16.
    When asked if he felt that the class B instruction was not
    warranted by the evidence, he answered:
    Oh, no, clearly it would be, um, uh, warranted by the evidence.
    Uh, but I didn’t think that that would be enough of a break, uh,
    you know, I thought it would be better strategically, uh, to go for
    the two (2) Class D Felony (SIC), uh, rather than the ‘B’.
    
    Id. at 16.
    When asked if this was a strategic decision on his part, he answered
    affirmatively. He indicated that he did not recall considering tendering an
    instruction to the jury that the 1,000 feet distance had to be between the youth
    program center and the exact location where the methamphetamine was made
    as opposed to the property line of where it was made. When asked on cross-
    examination whether he had a trial strategy in terms of trying to dispute the
    1,000 foot enhancement, he answered:
    I believe that, uh, it was Andrew Teel that came up with this
    concept mid trial. Uh, he carefully evaluated their evidence and
    how they were doing measurements and there was a disclaimer,
    uh, which I was unaware of, which he discovered during the
    trial, uh, and the disclaimer should have come into evidence as
    far as I’m concerned, uh, but, I wasn’t the Judge.
    
    Id. at 17.
    He indicated he did not consider challenging whether the Boys &
    Girls Club was a youth program center. He testified that he considered
    challenging the preschool at a church as a youth program center but did not
    “feel as though it was going to go anywhere.” 
    Id. at 18.
    He indicated that he
    did not think about submitting any other instructions on lesser included offenses
    besides the two that he did.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019       Page 10 of 32
    [13]   On redirect examination, the following exchange occurred:
    Q Um, I – I took your testimony to mean, when I was
    questioning you, that you did think of other lesser includeds
    (SIC). You just decided not to tender them as a matter of
    strategy, is that correct?
    A Uh, to clarify, I thi- I understood her question to be other than
    the lesser included ‘B’ and the two (2) ‘Ds’. I took it that way. If
    she’s asking me, um, did I consider the ‘B’, I did, and didn’t do
    it.
    
    Id. at 19.
    [14]   After Davis’s post-conviction counsel rested, the State presented the testimony
    of Strine, the GIS Coordinator for Huntington County, who stated that he
    testified at Davis’s trial regarding two maps he created. The court admitted a
    map that had been admitted at trial, and Strine testified that the entire property
    at 533 East Franklin Street was “incased in that thousand (1,000) foot ‘buffer’”
    and that the entire house would be within 1,000 feet of part of the property of
    the Trinity Church. 
    Id. at 24.
    When showed another map he created for
    Davis’s trial, he indicated that the entire structure of the house was inside the
    green buffer zone.
    [15]   On cross-examination, he testified that producing maps was not a normal
    feature that he did on a regular basis. He also testified that the measurements
    had a margin of error of “two and a half (2 1/2 ) feet, so a grand total, from
    point to point, of five (5) foot . . . margin of error, and that’s based off of the
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019        Page 11 of 32
    company that supplied the aerial photography for us.” 
    Id. at 30.
    On redirect
    examination, he indicated that the margin of error was not on the “buffer zone”
    itself and the two and one-half feet did not have anything to do with the buffer
    zone but “just the red line” on the map. 
    Id. at 31.
    [16]   Linda Grossman, the Director at Trinity pre-school, stated that she testified at
    Davis’s trial, that the building or property for the preschool had two signs, one
    which read “Pre-School Trinity United Methodist Church” and another which
    read “Trinity Methodist Pre-school.” 
    Id. at 35.
    Mandy Reber, the Executive
    Director for the Boys & Girls Club in Huntington, stated that she testified at
    Davis’s trial and that the Boys & Girls Club had a sign on the property in early
    2014 which read “Boys and Girls Club of Huntington County.” 
    Id. at 40.
    [17]   Davis’s post-conviction counsel stated that his argument was not that the
    statute was vague as applied to the facts of the case but that it was vague in its
    entirety and was “unconstitutionally vague as a whole.” 
    Id. at 45.
    He stated:
    “And I just want to make clear to the Court that we’re not arguing that it’s
    vague as applied to the facts of this case, I mean it’s probably not vague as
    applied to the facts of this but, the Johnson case from the U.S. Supreme Court
    says it can still be vague overall, even if it’s not vague in this case.” 
    Id. at 46.
    On April 4, 2019, the court denied Davis’s petition.
    Discussion
    [18]   Before discussing Davis’s allegations of error, we note the general standard
    under which we review a post-conviction court’s denial of a petition for post-
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019        Page 12 of 32
    conviction relief. The petitioner in a post-conviction proceeding bears the
    burden of establishing grounds for relief by a preponderance of the evidence.
    Fisher v. State, 
    810 N.E.2d 674
    , 679 (Ind. 2004); Ind. Post-Conviction Rule 1(5).
    When appealing from the denial of post-conviction relief, the petitioner stands
    in the position of one appealing from a negative judgment. 
    Fisher, 810 N.E.2d at 679
    . On review, we will not reverse the judgment unless the evidence as a
    whole unerringly and unmistakably leads to a conclusion opposite that reached
    by the post-conviction court. 
    Id. “A post-conviction
    court’s findings and
    judgment will be reversed only upon a showing of clear error—that which
    leaves us with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.” 
    Id. In this
    review, we accept findings of fact unless clearly erroneous, but we
    accord no deference to conclusions of law. 
    Id. The post-conviction
    court is the
    sole judge of the weight of the evidence and the credibility of witnesses. 
    Id. A. Vagueness
    [19]   We first address whether the statutes governing Davis’s offense are
    unconstitutionally vague as applied to him. On appeal, Davis concedes that the
    relevant statutes are not vague as applied to him and that the statutes are not
    void under a traditional vagueness analysis. However, Davis appears to argue
    that the vagueness doctrine has been transformed and that, under the new
    analysis, “the YPC statute can be – and, in fact, is – void, even though it was
    not vague in all its applications and even though it reached no constitutionally
    protected conduct,” and cites Johnson v. United States, 
    135 S. Ct. 2551
    (2015),
    and Sessions v. Dimaya, 
    138 S. Ct. 1204
    (2019). Appellant’s Brief at 21. He also
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019    Page 13 of 32
    cites Whatley v. Zatecky, 
    833 F.3d 762
    (7th Cir. 2016), and contends that case
    applied the new vagueness analysis to the statutes under which he was
    convicted.
    [20]   The amended charging information cited Ind. Code § 35-48-4-1.1(b)(3)(B)(iv)
    and alleged that, “[s]ometime during the time period of January 1, 2014
    through May 20, 2014, . . . [Davis] knowingly manufactured
    methamphetamine, pure or adulterated, . . . within one thousand (1,000) feet of
    a youth program center.” Appellant’s Direct Appeal Appendix Volume I at 12.
    [21]   At the time of the alleged offense, Ind. Code § 35-48-4-1.1 provided that a
    person who “knowingly or intentionally . . . manufactures . . .
    methamphetamine, pure or adulterated . . . commits dealing in
    methamphetamine, a Class B felony,” and “[t]he offense is a Class A felony if .
    . . the person manufactured . . . the drug . . . in, on, or within one thousand
    (1,000) feet of . . . a youth program center.” 2 Ind. Code § 35-31.5-2-357
    provides:
    (a) “Youth program center” means the following:
    (1) A building or structure that on a regular basis provides
    recreational, vocational, academic, social, or other
    2
    (Subsequently amended by Pub. L. No. 158-2013, § 623 (eff. July 1, 2014); Pub. L. No. 168-2014, § 92 (eff.
    July 1, 2014); Pub. L. No. 226-2014(ts), § 7 (eff. July 1, 2014); Pub. L. No. 44-2016, § 3 (eff. July 1, 2016);
    Pub. L. No. 252-2017, § 22 (eff. July 1, 2017)). “In 2014, as part of Indiana’s comprehensive criminal code
    reform, the legislature made three changes. It deleted the youth program center and family housing complex
    zones, tightened the proximity element to 500 feet, and . . . added the element that a minor’s presence be
    ‘reasonably expected.’” McAlpin v. State, 
    80 N.E.3d 157
    , 162 (Ind. 2017).
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019                              Page 14 of 32
    programs or services for persons less than eighteen (18)
    years of age.
    (2) The real property on which a building or structure
    described in subdivision (1) is located.
    (b) The term does not include school property (as defined in
    section 285 of this chapter).
    [22]   In Johnson v. United States, the United States Supreme Court discussed the
    Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984, which provided that a defendant
    convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm faces more severe
    punishment if he has three or more previous convictions for a “violent felony.”
    
    135 S. Ct. 2551
    , 2555 (2015) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)). The Act
    defined “violent felony” as follows:
    any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one
    year . . . that—
    (i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened
    use of physical force against the person of another; or
    (ii) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of
    explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious
    potential risk of physical injury to another.
    
    Id. at 2555-2556
    (quoting § 924(e)(2)(B)) (emphasis added in opinion). The
    Court indicated that the italicized words had come to be known as the Act’s
    residual clause and addressed whether it survived the Constitution’s prohibition
    of vague criminal laws. 
    Id. at 2556.
    The Court granted certiorari to decide
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019             Page 15 of 32
    whether Minnesota’s offense of unlawful possession of a short-barreled shotgun
    ranked as a violent felony under the residual clause. 
    Id. [23] The
    Court held:
    The Fifth Amendment provides that “[n]o person shall . . . be
    deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
    Our cases establish that the Government violates this guarantee
    by taking away someone’s life, liberty, or property under a
    criminal law so vague that it fails to give ordinary people fair
    notice of the conduct it punishes, or so standardless that it invites
    arbitrary enforcement. Kolender v. Lawson, 
    461 U.S. 352
    , 357-
    358, 
    103 S. Ct. 1855
    , 
    75 L. Ed. 2d 903
    (1983). The prohibition of
    vagueness in criminal statutes “is a well-recognized requirement,
    consonant alike with ordinary notions of fair play and the settled
    rules of law,” and a statute that flouts it “violates the first
    essential of due process.” Connally v. General Constr. Co., 
    269 U.S. 385
    , 391, 
    46 S. Ct. 126
    , 
    70 L. Ed. 322
    (1926). These principles
    apply not only to statutes defining elements of crimes, but also to
    statutes fixing sentences. United States v. Batchelder, 
    442 U.S. 114
    ,
    123, 
    99 S. Ct. 2198
    , 
    60 L. Ed. 2d 755
    (1979).
    In Taylor v. United States, 
    495 U.S. 575
    , 600, 
    110 S. Ct. 2143
    , 
    109 L. Ed. 2d 607
    (1990), this Court held that the Armed Career
    Criminal Act requires courts to use a framework known as the
    categorical approach when deciding whether an offense “is
    burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or
    otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk
    of physical injury to another.” Under the categorical approach, a
    court assesses whether a crime qualifies as a violent felony “in
    terms of how the law defines the offense and not in terms of how
    an individual offender might have committed it on a particular
    occasion.” 
    Begay, supra, at 141
    , 
    128 S. Ct. 1581
    .
    Deciding whether the residual clause covers a crime thus requires
    a court to picture the kind of conduct that the crime involves in
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019       Page 16 of 32
    “the ordinary case,” and to judge whether that abstraction
    presents a serious potential risk of physical injury. 
    James, supra, at 208
    , 
    127 S. Ct. 1586
    . The court’s task goes beyond deciding
    whether creation of risk is an element of the crime. That is so
    because, unlike the part of the definition of a violent felony that
    asks whether the crime “has as an element the use . . . of physical
    force,” the residual clause asks whether the crime “involves
    conduct” that presents too much risk of physical injury. What is
    more, the inclusion of burglary and extortion among the
    enumerated offenses preceding the residual clause confirms that
    the court’s task also goes beyond evaluating the chances that the
    physical acts that make up the crime will injure someone. The
    act of making an extortionate demand or breaking and entering
    into someone’s home does not, in and of itself, normally cause
    physical injury. Rather, risk of injury arises because the
    extortionist might engage in violence after making his demand or
    because the burglar might confront a resident in the home after
    breaking and entering.
    We are convinced that the indeterminacy of the wide-ranging
    inquiry required by the residual clause both denies fair notice to
    defendants and invites arbitrary enforcement by judges.
    Increasing a defendant’s sentence under the clause denies due
    process of law.
    
    Id. at 2556-2557.
    The Court further held that “the residual clause leaves grave
    uncertainty about how to estimate the risk posed by a crime,” “ties the judicial
    assessment of risk to a judicially imagined ‘ordinary case’ of a crime, not to
    real-world facts or statutory elements,” and “leaves uncertainty about how
    much risk it takes for a crime to qualify as a violent felony.” 
    Id. at 2557-2558.
    [24]   In Sessions v. Dimaya, the Court addressed whether a similarly-worded clause in
    a statute’s definition of “crime of violence” suffers from the same constitutional
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019         Page 17 of 32
    defect. 
    138 S. Ct. 1204
    , 1210 (2019). The Immigration and Nationality Act
    (“INA”) renders deportable any alien convicted of an “aggravated felony” after
    entering the United States. 
    Id. (quoting 8
    U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii)). The INA
    defines “aggravating felony” by listing numerous offenses and types of offenses,
    often with cross-references to federal criminal statutes. 
    Id. According to
    one
    item on that list, an aggravated felony includes “a crime of violence (as defined
    in section 16 of title 18 . . .) for which the term of imprisonment [is] at least one
    year.” 
    Id. at 1211
    (quoting § 1101(a)(43)(F)). The specified statute, 18 U.S.C. §
    16, provides the federal criminal code’s definition of “crime of violence.” The
    statute’s two parts, “often known as the elements clause and the residual
    clause,” cover:
    (a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or
    threatened use of physical force against the person or property of
    another, or
    (b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature,
    involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person
    or property of another may be used in the course of committing
    the offense.
    
    Id. Section 16(b),
    the residual clause, was the part of the statute at issue in the
    case. 
    Id. [25] Justice
    Kagan announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion
    with respect to Parts I, III, IV-B, and V, in which Justices Ginsburg, Breyer,
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019         Page 18 of 32
    and Sotomayor joined. 3 Writing for the plurality, she wrote that to decide
    whether a person’s conviction falls within the ambit of the residual clause,
    courts use a distinctive form of what they have called the categorical approach.
    
    Id. at 1211
    . She stated:
    The question, we have explained, is not whether “the particular
    facts” underlying a conviction posed the substantial risk that §
    16(b) demands. [Leocal v. Ashcroft, 
    543 U.S. 1
    , 7, 
    125 S. Ct. 377
            (2004)]. Neither is the question whether the statutory elements of
    a crime require (or entail) the creation of such a risk in each case
    that the crime covers. The § 16(b) inquiry instead turns on the
    “nature of the offense” generally speaking. 
    Ibid. (referring to §
            16(b)’s “by its nature” language). More precisely, § 16(b)
    requires a court to ask whether “the ordinary case” of an offense
    poses the requisite risk. James v. United States, 
    550 U.S. 192
    , 208,
    
    127 S. Ct. 1586
    , 
    167 L. Ed. 2d 532
    (2007); see infra, at 1213-1214.
    
    Id. at 1211
    . She summarized:
    In sum, § 16(b) has the same “[t]wo features” that “conspire[d] to
    make [the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act
    (‘ACCA’)] unconstitutionally vague.” 
    [Johnson, 135 S. Ct. at 2557
    ]. It too “requires a court to picture the kind of conduct that
    the crime involves in ‘the ordinary case,’ and to judge whether
    that abstraction presents” some not-well-specified-yet-sufficiently-
    large degree of risk. 
    Id., at ––––,
    135 S. Ct., at 2556-2557. The
    result is that § 16(b) produces, just as ACCA’s residual clause
    3
    Justice Gorsuch authored a separate opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment and stated
    that he joined Parts I, III, IV-B, and V of the Court’s opinion. See 
    Dimaya, 138 S. Ct. at 1224-1234
    . Chief
    Justice Roberts, Justice Kennedy, Justice Thomas, and Justice Alito dissented. See 
    id. at 1234-1259.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019                           Page 19 of 32
    did, “more unpredictability and arbitrariness than the Due
    Process Clause tolerates.” 
    Id., at ––––,
    135 S. Ct., at 2558.
    
    Id. at 1216.
    She concluded:
    Johnson tells us how to resolve this case. That decision held that
    “[t]wo features of [ACCA’s] residual clause conspire[d] to make
    it unconstitutionally vague.” 576 U.S., at 
    ––––, 135 S. Ct., at 2557
    . Because the clause had both an ordinary-case requirement
    and an ill-defined risk threshold, it necessarily “devolv[ed] into
    guesswork and intuition,” invited arbitrary enforcement, and
    failed to provide fair notice. 
    Id., at ––––,
    135 S. Ct., at 2559.
    Section 16(b) possesses the exact same two features. And none
    of the minor linguistic disparities in the statutes makes any real
    difference. So just like ACCA’s residual clause, § 16(b)
    “produces more unpredictability and arbitrariness than the Due
    Process Clause tolerates.” 
    Id., at ––––,
    135 S. Ct., at 2558.
    
    Id. at 1223.
    [26]   In United States v. Davis, the Supreme Court addressed 18 U.S.C. § 924(c),
    which authorizes heightened criminal penalties for using or carrying a firearm
    “during and in relation to,” or possessing a firearm “in furtherance of,” any
    federal “crime of violence or drug trafficking crime.” 
    139 S. Ct. 2319
    , 2324
    (2019) (quoting § 924(c)(1)(A)). The statute defines “crime of violence” in two
    subparts—the first known as the elements clause, and the second the residual
    clause. 
    Id. According to
    § 924(c)(3), a crime of violence is “an offense that is a
    felony” and
    (A) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of
    physical force against the person or property of another, or
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019    Page 20 of 32
    (B) that by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical
    force against the person or property of another may be used in
    the course of committing the offense.
    
    Id. [27] The
    Court held:
    What do Johnson and Dimaya have to say about the statute before
    us? Those decisions teach that the imposition of criminal
    punishment can’t be made to depend on a judge’s estimation of
    the degree of risk posed by a crime’s imagined “ordinary case.”
    But does § 924(c)(3)(B) require that sort of inquiry? The
    government and lower courts have long thought so. For years,
    almost everyone understood § 924(c)(3)(B) to require exactly the
    same categorical approach that this Court found problematic in
    the residual clauses of the ACCA and § 16. Today, the
    government acknowledges that, if this understanding is correct,
    then § 924(c)(3)(B) must be held unconstitutional too.
    But the government thinks it has now found a way around the
    problem. In the aftermath of our decisions holding the residual
    clauses of the ACCA and § 16(b) unconstitutionally vague, the
    government “abandon[ed] its longstanding position” that §
    924(c)(3)(B) requires a categorical analysis and began urging
    lower courts to “adopt a new ‘case specific’ method” that would
    look to “the ‘defendant’s actual conduct’ in the predicate
    offense.” [United States v. Davis, 
    903 F.3d 483
    , 485 (5th Cir.
    2018)]. Now, the government tries the same strategy in this
    Court, asking us to abandon the traditional categorical approach
    and hold that the statute actually commands the government’s
    new case-specific approach. So, while the consequences in this
    case may be of constitutional dimension, the real question before
    us turns out to be one of pure statutory interpretation.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019        Page 21 of 32
    
    Id. at 2326-2327
    (footnote omitted).
    [28]   The Court held that § 924(c)(3)(B) was unconstitutionally vague and stated:
    The language of the residual clause itself reinforces the
    conclusion that the term “offense” carries the same “generic”
    meaning throughout the statute. Section 924(c)(3)(B), just like §
    16(b), speaks of an offense that, “by its nature,” involves a certain
    type of risk. And that would be an exceedingly strange way of
    referring to the circumstances of a specific offender’s conduct.
    As both sides agree, the “nature” of a thing typically denotes its
    “‘normal and characteristic quality,’” Dimaya, 584 U.S., at 
    ––––, 138 S. Ct., at 1217
    (quoting Webster’s Third New International
    Dictionary 1507 (2002)), or its “‘basic or inherent features,’”
    United States v. Barrett, 
    903 F.3d 166
    , 182 (CA2 2018) (quoting
    Oxford Dictionary of English 1183 (A. Stevenson ed., 3d ed.
    2010)). So in plain English, when we speak of the nature of an
    offense, we’re talking about “what an offense normally—or, as
    we have repeatedly said, ‘ordinarily’—entails, not what
    happened to occur on one occasion.” Dimaya, 584 U.S., at 
    ––––, 138 S. Ct., at 1217
    ; see 
    Leocal, 543 U.S. at 7
    , 
    125 S. Ct. 377
                   (contrasting the “nature of the offense” with “the particular facts
    [of] petitioner’s crime”).
    
    Id. at 2329.
    The Court observed:
    Congress always remains free to adopt a case-specific approach
    to defining crimes of violence for purposes of § 924(c)(3)(B) going
    forward. As Mr. Davis and Mr. Glover point out, one easy way
    of achieving that goal would be to amend the statute so it covers
    any felony that, “based on the facts underlying the offense,
    involved a substantial risk” that physical force against the person
    or property of another would be used in the course of committing
    the offense. Brief for Respondents 46 (quoting H. R. 7113, 115th
    Cong., 2d Sess. (2018); emphasis deleted); see also Tr. of Oral
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019      Page 22 of 32
    Arg. 19 (government’s counsel agreeing that this language would
    offer “clearer” support for the case-specific approach than the
    current version of the statute does). The dissent’s catalog of case-
    specific, risk-based criminal statutes supplies plenty of other
    models Congress could follow. Alternatively still, Congress
    might choose to retain the categorical approach but avoid
    vagueness in other ways, such as by defining crimes of violence
    to include certain enumerated offenses or offenses that carry
    certain minimum penalties. All these options and more are on
    the table. But these are options that belong to Congress to
    consider; no matter how tempting, this Court is not in the
    business of writing new statutes to right every social wrong it
    may perceive.
    
    Id. at 2336.
    4
    [29]   With that background in mind, we turn to Whatley v. Zatecky, 
    833 F.3d 762
    (7th
    Cir. 2016), which was issued after Johnson but prior to Dimaya and Davis. In
    that case, the Seventh Circuit addressed a conviction for possession of cocaine
    within 1,000 feet of a youth program center. The Court held:
    Whatley contends that the statute is impermissibly vague because
    it defines “youth program center” as a facility with “regular”
    youth programs, and “regular” is a word with multiple,
    inconsistent constructions. According to Whatley, no reasonable
    person could have known which facilities the state would deem
    “youth program centers,” or that the state would consider the
    Robinson Community Church to meet the definition. The
    church, he notes, hosted children’s events for a few hours at a
    time, a few days each week. In contrast, facilities such as
    4
    Justices Kavanaugh, Thomas, Alito, and Chief Justice Roberts dissented. See 
    Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 2336
    -
    2355.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019                          Page 23 of 32
    YMCAs or Boys and Girls Clubs provide youth events
    constantly, or at least as a normal part of their programming.
    These types of facilities lie at the core of the “school-zone”
    statute, according to Whatley, and the statute’s use of the word
    “regular” provided no discernable standard for defendants,
    prosecutors, judges or juries to apply to facilities outside that
    
    core. 833 F.3d at 776
    .
    [30]   The Court held that “[i]t is the particular language of the Indiana statute that is
    at issue here, and more importantly the unique circumstances of its application
    to Whatley.” 
    Id. at 782.
    The Court stated:
    [T]he State argues that a person of ordinary intelligence would
    understand that the number of youth programs held at the
    Robinson Community Church were sufficient to render it a youth
    program center. This is essentially an argument that the church
    held so many programs that it would meet any definition of
    “regular,” and that Whatley’s case is in the core of the conduct
    prohibited by the statute. But four or six activities a week at a
    facility that is not otherwise identifiable as a youth program
    center is nowhere near the core of the statute. Had Whatley
    possessed drugs within 1000 feet of a YMCA or a Boys and Girls
    Club, there would be no doubt that his conduct was within the
    core of the law. The State conceded in its argument to the
    Indiana Supreme Court that churches are not inherently places
    where children gather, and a handful of weekly events does
    nothing to provide fair notice or to discourage arbitrary
    enforcement of the statute.
    
    Id. at 783
    (footnote omitted). The Court noted:
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019        Page 24 of 32
    In Johnson, the Supreme Court remarked that “our holdings
    squarely contradict the theory that a vague provision is
    constitutional merely because there is some conduct that clearly
    falls within the provision’s 
    grasp.” 135 S. Ct. at 2561
    . In
    analyzing the vagueness of a federal sentencing statute, the Court
    also noted that “If we hold a statute to be vague, it is vague in all
    its applications[.]” 
    Id. Whatley argued
    to the state courts that
    the law was vague “as applied” to him and so we will
    nevertheless consider the State’s argument that Whatley’s
    conduct fell within some constitutional core of the statute.
    
    Id. at 783
    n.15. The Court concluded:
    In sum, a triad of factors convince us that the state courts were
    not simply wrong but unreasonable in applying federal law on
    vagueness in Whatley’s case: (1) the use of the word “regular” in
    the definition of “youth program center” provides no objective
    standard, and thereby fails to place persons of ordinary
    intelligence on notice of the conduct proscribed and allows for
    arbitrary enforcement; (2) defendants are strictly liable for
    violating the terms of this nebulous sentencing enhancement,
    exacerbating the effect of the subjectivity; and (3) the
    consequences of violating this indeterminate strict liability
    provision are extreme: an increase in the sentencing range from
    2-to-8 years to 20-to-50 years’ imprisonment. The Indiana courts
    failed to narrow the statute by adding an intent element, by
    limiting application to the core cases of facilities such as YMCAs
    or Boys and Girls Clubs, or by providing any objective standard
    to the meaning of “regular.” There was no “reasonable basis for
    the state court to deny relief.” 
    Richter, 562 U.S. at 98
    , 
    131 S. Ct. 770
    . As applied to Whatley, the statute delegated to the police,
    the prosecutor and the jury the task of determining what conduct
    was proscribed. No one in Whatley’s position could have known
    that the Robinson Community Church would fall within the
    definition simply because it hosted a handful of children’s events
    each week and otherwise bore no indicia of the children’s
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019       Page 25 of 32
    activities within. We therefore reverse and remand the judgment,
    with instructions to grant the writ of habeas corpus ordering that,
    within sixty days, Whatley either be released or that he be re-
    sentenced under the Class C felony statute.
    
    Id. at 784.
    [31]   We cannot say that the Seventh Circuit applied the categorical approach
    mentioned in Johnson, Dimaya, and Davis. Rather, it held that “[i]t is the
    particular language of the Indiana statute that is at issue here, and more
    importantly the unique circumstances of its application to Whatley,” and
    concluded that “[a]s applied to Whatley, the statute delegated to the police, the
    prosecutor and the jury the task of determining what conduct was proscribed.”
    
    Id. at 782,
    784 (emphases added). Unlike the statutes discussed in Johnson,
    Dimaya, and Davis, we cannot say that Ind. Code § 35-48-4-1.1, which governs
    dealing in methamphetamine, or Ind. Code § 35-31.5-2-357, which defines a
    youth program center, suffers from the same qualities as those statutes
    warranting a categorical approach. Rather, we note that the Court in Davis
    observed that a way of adopting a case-specific approach is to create a statute
    that covers any felony that, based on the facts underlying the offense, involved a
    substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another
    would be used in the course of committing the offense. 
    Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 2336
    . Ind. Code §§ 35-48-4-1.1 and 35-31.5-2-357 adopt a case-specific
    approach by focusing on the facts underlying the offense. We conclude that
    reversal is not warranted on this basis.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019      Page 26 of 32
    B. Effective Assistance of Counsel
    [32]   The next issue is whether Davis was denied the effective assistance of trial
    counsel and appellate counsel. Generally, to prevail on a claim of ineffective
    assistance of counsel a petitioner must demonstrate both that his counsel’s
    performance was deficient and that the petitioner was prejudiced by the
    deficient performance. French v. State, 
    778 N.E.2d 816
    , 824 (Ind. 2002) (citing
    Strickland v. Washington, 
    466 U.S. 668
    , 
    104 S. Ct. 2052
    (1984), reh’g denied). A
    counsel’s performance is deficient if it falls below an objective standard of
    reasonableness based on prevailing professional norms. 
    Id. To meet
    the
    appropriate test for prejudice, the petitioner must show that there is a
    reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of
    the proceeding would have been different. 
    Id. A reasonable
    probability is a
    probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome. Perez v. State,
    
    748 N.E.2d 853
    , 854 (Ind. 2001). Failure to satisfy either prong will cause the
    claim to fail. 
    French, 778 N.E.2d at 824
    . Most ineffective assistance of counsel
    claims can be resolved by a prejudice inquiry alone. 
    Id. [33] When
    considering a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a “strong
    presumption arises that counsel rendered adequate assistance and made all
    significant decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment.”
    Morgan v. State, 
    755 N.E.2d 1070
    , 1072 (Ind. 2001). “[C]ounsel’s performance
    is presumed effective, and a defendant must offer strong and convincing
    evidence to overcome this presumption.” Williams v. State, 
    771 N.E.2d 70
    , 73
    (Ind. 2002). Evidence of isolated poor strategy, inexperience, or bad tactics will
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019       Page 27 of 32
    not support a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Clark v. State, 
    668 N.E.2d 1206
    , 1211 (Ind. 1996), reh’g denied, cert. denied, 
    520 U.S. 1171
    , 117 S.
    Ct. 1438 (1997). “Reasonable strategy is not subject to judicial second
    guesses.” Burr v. State, 
    492 N.E.2d 306
    , 309 (Ind. 1986). We “will not lightly
    speculate as to what may or may not have been an advantageous trial strategy
    as counsel should be given deference in choosing a trial strategy which, at the
    time and under the circumstances, seems best.” Whitener v. State, 
    696 N.E.2d 40
    , 42 (Ind. 1998).
    [34]   We apply the same standard of review to claims of ineffective assistance of
    appellate counsel as we apply to claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel.
    Williams v. State, 
    724 N.E.2d 1070
    , 1078 (Ind. 2000), reh’g denied, cert. denied,
    
    531 U.S. 1128
    , 
    121 S. Ct. 886
    (2001). Ineffective assistance of appellate counsel
    claims fall into three categories: (1) denial of access to an appeal; (2) waiver of
    issues; and (3) failure to present issues well. Garrett v. State, 
    992 N.E.2d 710
    ,
    724 (Ind. 2013). To show that counsel was ineffective for failing to raise an
    issue on appeal thus resulting in waiver for collateral review, the defendant
    must overcome the strongest presumption of adequate assistance, and judicial
    scrutiny is highly deferential. 
    Id. To evaluate
    the performance prong when
    counsel waived issues upon appeal, we apply the following test: (1) whether the
    unraised issues are significant and obvious from the face of the record and (2)
    whether the unraised issues are clearly stronger than the raised issues. 
    Id. If the
    analysis under this test demonstrates deficient performance, then we evaluate
    the prejudice prong which requires an examination of whether the issues which
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019      Page 28 of 32
    appellate counsel failed to raise would have been clearly more likely to result in
    reversal or an order for a new trial. 
    Id. 1. Appellate
    Counsel
    [35]   Davis argues that “a vagueness claim based on Johnson was unavailable at the
    time of Davis’s direct appeal, which means that appellate counsel cannot be
    faulted for not having raised it.” Appellant’s Brief at 40. He also asserts that,
    “[i]f this Court finds that the claim was available, however, then appellate
    counsel provided ineffective assistance by not raising it.” 
    Id. In light
    of our
    earlier discussion, we cannot say that Davis’s appellate counsel was ineffective
    for failing to raise a vagueness claim under Johnson.
    2. Trial Counsel
    [36]   Davis argues that his trial counsel were ineffective for failing to tender a lesser
    included instruction on dealing in methamphetamine as a class B felony. He
    asserts that he was prejudiced because both youth program centers were over
    900 feet from his residence and the State made no effort to measure to the
    upstairs bedroom. (Br. 44) He also asserts that “though [his] house was within
    the green shaded areas on Exhibits 58 and 59, those areas, like the red lines,
    presumably included a margin of error.” Appellant’s Brief at 44.
    [37]   To prevail on this claim, Davis has the burden to show that counsel
    unreasonably failed to request a proper instruction and that he was prejudiced
    by the failure. See Potter v. State, 
    684 N.E.2d 1127
    , 1134 (Ind. 1997). The
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019      Page 29 of 32
    Indiana Supreme Court has held that “a tactical decision not to tender a lesser
    included offense does not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel, even
    where the lesser included offense is inherently included in the greater offense.”
    Autrey v. State, 
    700 N.E.2d 1140
    , 1141 (Ind. 1998). In Autrey, the Court held
    that trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to request lesser-included offense
    instructions on a charge of murder because it represented a reasonable “all or
    nothing” tactical choice by defense counsel to obtain a full acquittal for the
    defendant by placing the blame for the victim’s death on another person and
    highlighting the “discordant” testimony of the witnesses. 
    Id. at 1141-1142.
    See
    also Sarwacinski v. State, 
    564 N.E.2d 950
    , 951 (Ind. Ct. App. 1991) (holding that
    it was not ineffective assistance not to request voluntary manslaughter
    instruction on a murder charge because it might have undermined defense of
    self-defense and/or lessened chance of the defendant’s acquittal).
    [38]   In deciding whether counsel was ineffective for failure to tender an instruction
    on dealing in methamphetamine as a class B felony, we must determine
    whether Davis could have been convicted of it as a lesser offense. See Sanchez v.
    State, 
    675 N.E.2d 306
    , 311 (Ind. 1996). We look first to whether the offense of
    dealing in methamphetamine as a class B felony is included within the charged
    crime of dealing in methamphetamine as a class A felony, and second to
    whether an instruction on dealing in methamphetamine as a class B felony
    would have conformed to the evidence presented at trial. See 
    id. To justify
    a
    lesser included instruction, “there must exist ‘evidence before the jury such that
    it could conclude the lesser included offense was committed while the greater
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019      Page 30 of 32
    one was not.’” 
    Id. (quoting Pedrick
    v. State, 
    593 N.E.2d 1213
    , 1216 (Ind. Ct.
    App. 1992), reh’g denied).
    [39]   During closing argument, Davis’s trial counsel argued for an all-or-nothing
    approach and asserted that the prosecutor reached for “that brass ring,” “went
    right for the A felony,” and “[h]er reach has exceeded her grasp.” Trial
    Transcript Volume IV at 587, 599. At the post-conviction hearing, Attorney
    Teel testified that given the evidence he did not believe a class B felony was an
    option when the instructions were being discussed. Attorney Swanson stated
    that a class B felony instruction was warranted by the evidence but later testified
    that the disclaimer should have been admitted into evidence. He also stated
    that he considered offering an instruction on the class B felony and decided
    against it as a matter of strategy.
    [40]   To the extent Davis points to the trial exhibits, State’s Exhibit 58 states that the
    distance from the Trinity UMC Structure to Davis’s residence was 970 feet, and
    State’s Exhibit 59 states that the distance between the Boys & Girls Club and
    his residence was 940 feet. At the post-conviction hearing, Strine, the GIS
    Coordinator for Huntington County, testified that the entire property at 533
    East Franklin Street was “incased in that thousand (1,000) foot ‘buffer’” and
    that the entire house would be within 1,000 feet of part of the property of the
    Trinity Church. Post-Conviction Transcript Volume II at 24. When presented
    with another map he created for Davis’s trial, he indicated that the entire
    structure of the house was inside the green buffer zone. He also testified that
    the margin of error was not on the buffer zone itself and the two and one-half
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019      Page 31 of 32
    feet did not have anything to do with the buffer zone but just the red line on the
    map. We cannot say that the evidence as a whole unerringly and unmistakably
    leads to a conclusion opposite that reached by the post-conviction court.
    [41]   For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the denial of Davis’s petition for post-
    conviction relief.
    [42]   Affirmed.
    Baker, J., concurs.
    Riley, J., concurs in result without opinion.
    Court of Appeals of Indiana | Opinion 19A-PC-984 | December 19, 2019    Page 32 of 32