Ineffective assistance of counsel; People v Ginther; Failure to request a jury instruction for the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter; People v Yeager

In an order in lieu of granting leave to appeal, the court vacated the Court of Appeals judgment (see eJournal # 81100 in the 3/15/24 edition) and remanded to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing and ruling as to whether defendant was denied the effective assistance of counsel. It noted that it was not intimating any “opinion as to whether there was ineffective assistance.” It concluded “the Court of Appeals should not have decided that issue without a Ginther hearing having been held. Proceedings on remand are limited to whether trial counsel provided the defendant with ineffective assistance by failing to request a voluntary manslaughter instruction.”