Joshua Wayne Carr

ALPENA — The Michigan Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld the 2021 drug conviction of an Alpena man who claimed his constitutional rights were violated at trial and that his defense attorney had failed him.

Police arrested Joshua Carr, now 38, in January 2021 after police said Carr returned to Alpena from Waterford with 10 grams of methamphetamine he intended to sell. A jury convicted Carr in July 2021 of possession and attempted delivery of methamphetamine and Judge Ed Black in August 2021 sentenced Carr to six years in prison.

Police, tipped off by associates of Carr’s whom police had also arrested on drug charges, obtained a warrant to track Carr’s cell phone and were waiting when Carr arrived in Alpena by bus and then got into the back seat of another associate’s vehicle, according to court records. Police immediately pulled over and searched that vehicle and found two cell phones, a digital scale with a white substance on it, a plastic baggy of crystallized meth, and more meth hidden inside a children’s book.

At trial, Black, over the objection of Carr’s attorney, Rick Steiger, allowed Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski to tell jurors about Carr’s 2011 conviction for possession and delivery of controlled substances. Black would not let Muszynski tell jurors about similar convictions in 2008 and 2018.

One of the the associates of Carr’s whom police had arrested, Nikolas Niezgoda, testified against Carr at trial as part of a plea deal with prosecutors that lessened Niezgoda’s sentence. Steiger wanted the jury to hear the full audio recording of police’s interview with Niezgoda, but Muszynski would not stipulate to that, so Steiger decided only to rely on cross-examination of Niezgoda.

In his appeal, Carr argued Black should not have allowed Muszynski to tell jurors about his 2011 conviction, in part because he couldn’t cross-examine witnesses related to that evidence, denying him his constitutional right to do so.

Carr also argued in his appeal that Steiger ineffectively represented him because he failed to suppress evidence obtained through the search warrant that allowed police to track’s Carr’s phone, because Steiger failed to object when Muszynski allegedly mischaracterized the terms of Niezgoda’s plea deal, and because Steiger failed to use the audio recording of police’s interview of Niezgoda.

The appellate judges denied all of Carr’s claims and affirmed his conviction.

Alpena County Criminal Opinion by JustinHinkley on Scribd