Opinion
No. 104162.
October 7, 1998
December 8, 1998.
Summary Dispositions December 8, 1998.
The cause having been briefed and orally argued, the judgments of the Court of Appeals and the Recorder's Court are reversed, and the case is remanded to the Wayne Circuit Court for a new trial. On the facts of this case, the Supreme Court finds the defendant was denied the effective assistance of counsel.
At oral argument in the Supreme Court, the assistant prosecutor acknowledged that although defendant's trial attorney had been informed before trial by the defendant of the existence of Mr. Blackwell, that Mr. Blackwell was available to testify as a witness if subpoenaed, and of what would be the substance of Mr. Blackwell's testimony if called, defendant's trial attorney declined to do so for reasons of trial strategy. However, we find the reasons proffered by defendant's trial attorney at the Ginther hearing for not interviewing or calling Mr. Blackwell as a witness to be unpersuasive. The only evidence connecting defendant to the murder was the deceased's dying declaration. At trial, a police officer testified that when asked who shot him the victim replied "Lamar, please help me." When asked "Lamar who," the victim said Lamar Beard. Shortly thereafter, in the ambulance, the victim told the emergency team that he did not know who had shot him. There was a gun found at the scene, but the police did not know if it was the weapon that killed the victim, and no fingerprints were found on it.
People v. Ginther, 390 Mich. 436 (1973).
In light of the scant evidence against defendant, and the nature of counsel's error, we conclude that defendant has met the burden of showing that counsel's performance was not within the range of constitutionally competent representation, and that there is a reasonable probability that but for counsel's error, the result would have been different. People v. Pickens, 446 Mich. 298 (1994); People v. Johnson, 451 Mich. 115 (1996). We would caution, however, that today's order does not impose on defense counsel the unconditional obligation to call or interview every possible witness suggested by a defendant. As Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 690-691 (1984), itself notes, "strategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on investigation." Court of Appeals No. 180010 (on remand).