People of Michigan v. Hayes Bacall, 369227

Defendant Hayes Bacall was convicted of first-degree murder and felony firearm following a 2010 shooting at a gas station, where both direct eyewitness and corroborating testimony indicated he killed the victim after a dispute over money.
Bacall's defense at trial was self-defense, arguing he was threatened by the victim, who had a history of weapons use.
The prosecutor made improper statements at trial, including falsely claiming Bacall had not previously asserted self-defense and raising an excluded concealed-carry permit issue in closing argument.
Two key prosecution witnesses (Slieman Bashi and Samir Bacall) later recanted their trial testimony, with Bashi altering his account of the shooting and Samir admitting he had fabricated threats by the defendant due to grief.
The Oakland County Conviction Integrity Unit recommended vacating Bacall's conviction based on these recantations, but the trial court denied relief, and a joint motion for reconsideration by Bacall and the prosecutor was also denied.
On appeal, the Michigan Court of Appeals reviewed whether denial of a new trial was error in light of the recantations and previous prosecutorial misconduct.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
New trial based on recanted testimony	Recantations undermine original conviction; recommend new trial or reduction to second-degree murder	Recantations credible; prior testimony undermined; no fair trial previously	New trial is warranted; denial abused discretion
Effect of prosecutorial misconduct at trial	Prosecutor agrees prior errors tainted original verdict	Prosecutor's statements prejudiced fairness; impacted jury	Misconduct must be considered with new evidence; increases probability of different outcome
Proper remedy upon reversal	Stipulate to conviction of second-degree murder	Seek relief from first-degree murder conviction	Remedy is retrial, not direct entry of lesser conviction
Trial court's assessment of witness credibility	Trial court discounted Bashi's recantation, found Samir credible but outcome unchanged	Both recantations undermine evidence of premeditation	Both witnesses' recantations must be considered for cumulative effect

People v. Cress, 468 Mich 678 (Mich. 2003) (sets forth the standard for granting a new trial based on newly discovered evidence)
People v. Johnson, 502 Mich 541 (Mich. 2018) (explains trial court's role in evaluating credibility of new evidence on post-conviction relief)
People v. Swain, 288 Mich App 609 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010) (standards for appellate review of denial of motion for relief from judgment)
People v. Williams, 475 Mich 101 (Mich. 2006) (addresses when entry of a lesser offense is proper on reversal of greater offense)