Court Opinion

ID: 9670966
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:29:00.179678+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:07.477601
License: Public Domain

R. M. Maher, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent.
In the instant case, the prosecution must share with defense counsel the responsibility for defendant’s impeachment by evidence of prior unspecified felony convictions. Although I would not impose a duty upon the prosecution to prevent defense counsel from impeaching his client with evidence of prior unspecified convictions, the record shows that the prosecution was an active participant in the improper attack on defendant’s credibility. The prosecutor did not remain silent after defense counsel had finished impeaching his own client; rather, the prosecutor pointed out to the jury that defendant had previously been convicted of two felonies. Thus, reversal is required. People v McBride, 413 Mich 341; 319 NW2d 535 (1982).
It may be true, as the majority states, that if defense counsel had sought to suppress evidence of his client’s prior convictions, and that if the trial court had refused this request, this would not have constituted an abuse of discretion. This argument, however, misses the point. The crucial factor is not what the trial court might have done if it had been asked to exercise its discretion but, rather that, through his incompetence, defense counsel *505denied his client an opportunity to benefit from a favorable exercise of the trial court’s discretion. Defense counsel’s inexplicable failure to file a motion in limine to suppress evidence of his client’s prior convictions cannot be fairly characterized as "trial strategy”. This failure, compounded by defense counsel’s inept attempt to "defuse” the prosecution’s impeachment of his client, and coupled with his failure to impeach defendant’s wife with evidence of her prior inconsistent statements, denied defendant the effective assistance of counsel.
I must respectfully disagree with the majority’s implicit holding that defense counsel performed "at least as well as a lawyer with ordinary training and skill in the criminal law”, see People v Garcia, 398 Mich 250; 247 NW2d 547 (1976). Defendant is entitled to a new trial with the assistance of a competent attorney.
I would reverse.