First-degree premeditated murder; Aiding & abetting; MCL 767.39; Conspiracy to commit first-degree premeditated murder; MCL 750.157a(a); Ineffective assistance of counsel; Unavailable codefendant testimony; MRE 804(b)(1); Right to testify; Sufficiency of the evidence; Great weight of the evidence; Mandatory life without parole; Cruel or unusual punishment; People v Fernandez

The court held that defendant was not denied the effective assistance of counsel, that sufficient evidence supported her first-degree murder and conspiracy convictions, and that she was not entitled to sentencing relief. She was convicted on the theory that she remotely disarmed the home security system so her boyfriend could enter the house and kill her husband with an ax. The court first rejected her claim that counsel should have introduced the boyfriend’s prior testimony because, although some of it was favorable, it “potentially inculpated defendant in several respects,” including by showing she turned off the alarm for him and knew he had purchased an ax. The court also held that she failed to show prejudice from counsel’s alleged failure to communicate the defense strategy because her proposed testimony would have “effectively conceded” that her boyfriend killed the victim and that she took affirmative steps to let him enter the home. The court next held that sufficient evidence supported aiding and abetting where messages showed the boyfriend threatened to harm or kill the victim, defendant disabled the alarm, delayed returning home with her children, and researched deletion of phone data shortly before the murder. It reasoned that “while any single piece of evidence might have an innocent explanation on its own,” the evidence as a whole supported reasonable inferences of guilt. The conspiracy conviction was also supported because defendant’s conduct allowed the jury to infer she worked with her boyfriend to plan the murder. The court further rejected her great-weight challenge, and held that Fernandez foreclosed her cruel-or-unusual-punishment argument as to her mandatory life without parole sentence. Affirmed.