People of Michigan v. Richard Glen Smith Jr

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 24, 2021
Docket352327
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Richard Glen Smith Jr (People of Michigan v. Richard Glen Smith Jr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People of Michigan v. Richard Glen Smith Jr, (Mich. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED June 24, 2021 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 352327 Oakland Circuit Court RICHARD GLEN SMITH, JR., LC No. 2018-269136-FC

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: GLEICHER, P.J., and CAVANAGH and LETICA, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant appeals as of right his jury trial conviction of assault by strangulation, MCL 750.84(1)(b).1 The trial court sentenced defendant, as a fourth-offense habitual offender, MCL 769.12, to 4½ to 40 years’ imprisonment for assault by strangulation. On appeal, defendant argues that his trial counsel failed to provide effective assistance of counsel and that the trial court erred by denying defendant’s attempts to introduce impeachment evidence. We affirm.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On October 29, 2018, defendant drove the victim, his former stepdaughter, to his motorhome. According to the victim, defendant accused her of selling her daughter for drugs several years ago and of being involved in another matter that led to defendant’s money and cellphone being taken. The victim denied defendant’s accusations, but defendant physically assaulted her by slapping and punching her. Defendant then dragged her by her hair into his bed,

1 The jury acquitted defendant of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-I), MCL 750.520b(1) (multiple variables). In the felony information, the prosecutor charged defendant with CSC-I under the following circumstances: “[D]efendant was armed with a weapon or any article use [sic] or fashioned in a manner to lead the victim to reasonably believe it to be a weapon and/or defendant effected [sic] sexual penetration through force or coercion and the victim sustained personal injury.” The trial court instructed the jury consistently with the felony information.

-1- where he pushed her face into the pillows with his hand on the back of her neck three times. In the pauses between those acts, defendant continued to punch and strangle her with his hands.

Once defendant finished his physical attack, he instructed the victim to perform fellatio on him, but she refused. Defendant waved a firearm at the victim and forced himself upon her.2 Defendant engaged in penile-vaginal penetration without a condom for several minutes before ejaculating on the victim’s abdomen. Defendant was not holding the firearm while he penetrated the victim, but she could see the firearm next to her. Defendant used tissue to clean the victim’s abdomen.

Afterward, the victim was able to get to the bathroom, where she wiped off additional semen with toilet paper that she disposed of near the shower. She also contacted her boyfriend with either her phone or defendant’s phone, told her boyfriend what had happened, and instructed him to meet her at a gas station. While it was unclear from the victim’s testimony, either before or after she contacted her boyfriend, defendant decided the victim would blame the assault on the victim’s boyfriend or ex-boyfriend. The victim agreed with this plan in order to get away from defendant.

Defendant kept apologizing and eventually took the victim to a gas station to buy her cigarettes to calm her. While defendant was inside, the victim got into her waiting boyfriend’s vehicle.

The victim then went to the hospital for a physical (but not sexual) examination and provided a statement to the police. The victim’s medical records reflect bruising to her eye and right forearm as well as redness on her upper right arm and neck. She also had “a lot of swelling of the soft tissue” on her face and head. And the responding police officer described her voice as “very hoarse,” “low,” and “raspy.”

Thereafter, the victim went to another facility for a sexual assault examination. The nurse who performed the sexual assault examination testified that the victim had multiple injuries to her head, neck, shoulders, and upper arms, and that the victim’s voice was “[a] bit raspy.” Certain of those injuries were consistent with strangulation, including petechiae on her upper chest and mouth as well as three petechiae in her right eye. Numerous photographs depicting these various injuries were admitted.

A forensic scientist also testified at trial. She opined that it was 100 sextillion times more likely that the victim, defendant, and an unknown third individual contributed DNA to a sample taken from the victim’s abdomen3 than that the victim and two unknown individuals contributed to the sample.

2 Although defendant was previously convicted of sexually assaulting the victim, People v Smith, unpublished per curiam opinion, issued June 8, 2001 (Docket No. 221173), the trial court excluded evidence regarding those acts in the prosecution’s case-in-chief, but permitted them in rebuttal if defendant opened the door. 3 The victim had a prior recent consensual encounter.

-2- Although defendant did not testify at trial, Detective Brian Martin testified that he interviewed defendant twice and defendant admitted to hitting the victim because he became enraged. Defendant also told Detective Martin that it was “very possible” he strangled the victim, but, because defendant was so enraged, he could not remember doing so. Defendant asserted that he and the victim had consensual sex, but, again due to his rage, he could not remember whether it was before or after he hit her. After obtaining a search warrant, Detective Martin searched defendant’s motorhome and found wadded up tissue next to the shower; however, he did not locate a firearm. The police also took photographs. Along with the photographs depicting the victim’s injuries, the victim identified two photographs of the toilet in defendant’s motorhome that contained blood she spat out as a result of defendant’s assault.

At trial, defense counsel suggested that the victim was a liar for numerous reasons—the victim’s recent felony retail-fraud conviction, the lack of documented bodily injury below the victim’s waist, the DNA evidence excluding defendant as a contributor to the victim’s vaginal swab, the failure of the police to locate the firearm, the victim’s lack of eye contact with the jurors, and the victim’s alcohol and drug use. At best, defendant committed an assault and battery and the victim’s more serious injuries were inflicted by the victim’s boyfriend.

The jury found defendant guilty of assault by strangulation, but acquitted defendant of CSC-I. Defendant now appeals.

II. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

Defendant argues his trial counsel performed deficiently by failing to lay the foundation to impeach the victim with a prior inconsistent statement about who strangled her and failing to articulate to the trial court the proper rule of evidence under which this evidence was admissible. On appeal, defendant contends that the victim’s credibility was of great importance to his case as her testimony provided the sole basis for finding that he strangled her. That being so, defendant asserts that there is a reasonable probability that, but for trial counsel’s deficient performance, the result of the trial would have been different. Because defendant has failed to establish the factual basis for his claim, we disagree.

A. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel generally presents a mixed question of fact and law, with findings of fact, if any, being reviewed for clear error and constitutional questions being reviewed de novo. People v Hoang, 328 Mich App 45, 63; 935 NW2d 396 (2019).

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Bluebook (online)
People of Michigan v. Richard Glen Smith Jr, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-richard-glen-smith-jr-michctapp-2021.