Ineffective assistance of counsel; People v. LeBlanc; People v. Jordan; U.S. Const. amend. VI; Const. 1963, art. 1, § 20; United States v. Cronic; People v. Swain; Failure to object after the prosecutor asked the codefendant if the witness was "mistaken" or "wrong"; People v. Buckey; People v. Ackerman; People v. Fike; Allowing the trial court to ask a juror's question to a police officer about why he concluded that defendant was involved in the plot to rob the victim; People v. Fomby; Motion for a change of venue based on the pretrial publicity of the case; People v. Jendrzejewski; People v. Unger

The court held that defendant was not denied the effective assistance of counsel. His convictions (first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, armed robbery, and first-degree home invasion) stemmed from the death of the victim, M. Defendant claimed that his trial counsel was ineffective for eliciting testimony from two witnesses, S and a police officer, from which the jury could conclude that defendant was a thief. While defense counsel elicited such testimony, she did so as part of an acceptable trial strategy. Defense counsel established that defendant often stole items and later attempted to sell them at a garage sale. She even sought testimony that he had been suspected in an earlier burglary at a home in M's neighborhood. In closing, defense counsel used this information in an attempt to portray defendant as a mere thief interested in material goods, not a man interested in stealing money or committing murder. Decisions as to what evidence to present and how to cross-examine witnesses involve matters of trial strategy, and the court will not second-guess counsel on matters of trial strategy, nor will it assess counsel's competence with the benefit of hindsight. Thus, despite the fact that counsel's strategy ultimately failed to secure a not guilty verdict, defendant failed to overcome the presumption that counsel's cross-examination of the two witnesses was sound trial strategy and, accordingly, failed to show that her performance fell below objective standards of reasonableness. Affirmed.