This
appeal stems from a bench trial held in Wayne County Circuit Court. The
prosecutor alleged that defendant Ashly Smith broke into the victim’s home and
robbed him at gunpoint. After hearing the evidence, the judge found Smith guilty
of armed robbery, first-degree home invasion, larceny in a building, possession
of a firearm by a felon, and felony-firearm. Smith was sentenced to 13 to 20
years for armed robbery, 13-20 years for first-degree home invasion, two to
four years for larceny in a building, and three to five years for
felon-in-possession. He was also sentenced to the mandatory two-year term for
felony-firearm, to run consecutively to the other sentences.
Smith appealed, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. For a defendant to establish a claim that he was
denied his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel, he must
show that his attorney’s representation fell below an objective standard of
reasonableness and that this was so prejudicial that he was denied a fair
trial. Strickland v Washington, 466 US 668, 687 (1984). In this case, Smith
alleged that his trial counsel failed to present an alibi defense, and failed
to call several alibi witnesses who would have testified that he could not have
committed the robbery. The Court of Appeals remanded the case to the trial
court for an evidentiary hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial
judge ruled that Smith’s attorney made a reasonable strategic decision not to
call the witnesses, and that their testimony would not have made a difference
in the outcome of the trial. In a split, unpublished opinion, the Court of
Appeals agreed that Smith’s attorney did not provide ineffective assistance,
and it upheld Smith's convictions. The dissent concluded that counsel performed
ineffectively by failing to properly investigate Smith's alibi defense.
Smith
appealed. On October 3, 2014, the Supreme Court ordered
oral argument on whether to grant the application or take other action. The
parties were instructed to address whether the defendant was deprived of his
right to the effective assistance of trial counsel.