People of Michigan v. Aaron Charles Davis Jr, 333147

Defendant Aaron Davis was convicted after a jury trial of first-degree home invasion, multiple counts of assault with intent to commit armed robbery, multiple felony-firearm counts, and resisting/obstructing police.
On the morning of trial, Davis requested a continuance to retain private counsel (Levine & Levine) and asked the court to appoint interim counsel; the trial court denied the adjournment after the firm disclaimed knowledge of representation and the case had been pending for months.
Defense counsel remained appointed and tried the case; counsel declined to present an alleged alibi witness, saying investigation showed the defense lacked merit or was ethically untenable.
Davis later filed a Standard 4 brief alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and other trial errors, and sought a remand for a Ginther hearing (which this Court denied).
Davis did not contemporaneously object at trial to the jury composition or several prosecutor comments argued on appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Denial of adjournment/substitution of counsel	Court balanced defendant’s choice right against docket and public interest; no good cause shown	Davis argued trial court arbitrarily denied his constitutional right to retain counsel of choice and to have interim appointed counsel	Denial was not an abuse of discretion; no good cause for substitution; court properly balanced interests
Ineffective assistance of counsel	Counsel investigated alibi, concluded it was meritless/unethical to present; counsel’s tactical choices reasonable	Counsel failed to investigate/present alibi, object enough, cross-examine effectively, or file motions; combining cases prejudiced defense	No manifest record error; performance not shown deficient and prejudice not proven; counsel effective
Jury composition / voir dire	Prosecutor’s excusals reduced jury diversity, denying impartial jury	Davis claimed jury lacked diversity and prosecutor struck jurors of same ethnic background	Waived by Davis (expressed satisfaction at selection); challenge forfeited
Prosecutorial misconduct in closing	Prosecutor argued permissible inferences, properly explained plea agreement and flight evidence	Remarks improperly vouched, used plea deal to imply special knowledge, and called flight "consciousness of guilt" in a prejudicial way	No prosecutorial misconduct warranting reversal; statements were reasonable inferences or supported by record and curable by instructions

People v. Aceval, 282 Mich. App. 379 (defendant’s right to counsel of choice balanced against court calendar)
People v. Jackson, 483 Mich. 271 (state must provide counsel to indigent defendants)
United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140 (trial court’s discretion in balancing choice-of-counsel rights with docket concerns)
People v. Ginther, 390 Mich. 436 (standard for hearing on ineffective assistance)
People v. Russell, 471 Mich. 182 (indigent defendants entitled to appointed counsel but not choice of appointed counsel)
People v. Strickland, 293 Mich. App. 393 (good-cause standard for substitution of appointed counsel)
People v. Carbin, 463 Mich. 590 (prejudice requirement for ineffective assistance claims)
People v. Dobek, 274 Mich. App. 58 (limits on prosecutor factual misstatements; prosecutor may argue reasonable inferences)
People v. Bahoda, 448 Mich. 261 (prosecutor vouching and impermissible special-knowledge implications)
People v. Coleman, 210 Mich. App. 1 (flight evidence admissible as consciousness of guilt)