People of Michigan v. Adrain Taylor Wayne, 329678

Defendant Adrain Wayne was convicted by a jury of assault with intent to commit murder (AWIM), felon in possession of a firearm, and two felony-firearm counts; sentence included 25–50 years for AWIM.
Victim and defendant were longtime acquaintances; they had an earlier altercation about 40–50 days before the shooting.
On the day in question defendant approached in a white pickup, exited, ran toward the victim in a crouched position, and two shots were fired while the victim fled and fell; victim never saw a gun but believed he was shot at.
A neighbor across the street observed the incident, identified defendant from a photo, and testified that defendant fired two shots at the victim and then returned to his truck.
Defense challenged sufficiency of intent for AWIM, the pretrial photographic identification, admission of the victim’s statement to his uncle as an excited utterance, and trial counsel’s failure to strike a juror acquainted with the victim’s uncle.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of intent for AWIM	Evidence showed defendant fired a gun twice toward victim, used a dangerous weapon, and fled — supports intent to kill	Insufficient proof of intent to kill; victim never saw a gun	Affirmed — circumstantial evidence and inferences support intent to kill
Pretrial photographic ID (neighbor)	Neighbor had adequate opportunity to observe; independent basis for in-court ID	Photo ID was impermissibly suggestive and tainted neighbor’s ID	No plain error; even if suggestive, no prejudice and independent basis existed
Admission of victim’s statement to uncle as excited utterance	Statement corroborated events and was admissible; alternatively harmless	Statement should have been excluded as not an excited utterance	Assuming error, admission was harmless given testimony from victim and neighbor
Ineffective assistance for failing to remove juror acquainted with victim’s uncle	Counsel’s performance was not deficient; juror denied knowing uncle	Failure to strike deprived defendant of effective counsel	No deficient performance or prejudice; claim fails

People v Lipps, 167 Mich. App. 99 (1988) (AWIM is a specific-intent crime)
People v Brown, 267 Mich. App. 141 (2005) (elements of AWIM and factors bearing on intent to kill)
People v Unger, 278 Mich. App. 210 (2008) (intent may be inferred from circumstantial evidence)
People v Reese, 491 Mich. 127 (2012) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence)
People v Hardiman, 466 Mich. 417 (2002) (reviewing evidence in light most favorable to prosecution)
People v Carines, 460 Mich. 750 (1999) (standard for plain-error review)
People v Kanaan, 278 Mich. App. 594 (2008) (resolving conflicts in evidence for prosecution on appeal)
People v Wolfe, 440 Mich. 508 (1989) (deference to jury credibility assessments)
People v DeLisle, 202 Mich. App. 658 (1993) (factors for inferring intent from conduct)
People v Gray, 457 Mich. 107 (1998) (independent basis for in-court identification following photo ID)
People v Lukity, 460 Mich. 484 (1999) (harmless-error analysis)
People v Carbin, 463 Mich. 590 (2001) (standards for ineffective-assistance claims)