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STATE OF MICHIGAN COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v GARY LAVERNE KAUFMAN, Defendant-Appellant.

UNPUBLISHED January 13, 2011

No. 295366 St. Clair Circuit Court LC No. 08-001985-FH

Before: FORT HOOD, P.J., and MURRAY and SERVITTO, JJ. PER CURIAM. Defendant Gary Laverne Kaufman appeals as of right his jury trial convictions of felonious assault, MCL 750.82, against Ana Brown, and misdemeanor assault and battery, MCL 750.81, against Tim Brown. Because none of the issues raised by defendant warrants reversal of his convictions and sentences, we affirm. This case arises out of a violent altercation between neighbors resulting from a relatively long "property dispute" between defendant and his immediately adjacent neighbors, Tim and Josephina Brown. Fourteen witnesses were presented to the jury in the St. Clair Circuit Court over the course of this three-day trial. The witnesses all testified about a July 4, 2008, altercation between defendant and his girlfriend, Andrea Smith (who was the landowner), and neighbors Tim and Josephina Brown and their adult children, Ana and Cary Brown. No one disputed that the altercation occurred, so the focus at trial was over who instigated the fight and the extent of the fight. Given the verdict, it appears that the jury believed the Browns' version of the events that day. On appeal defendant raises two arguments, both of which include challenges to the admission of testimony under the rules of evidence, and which are also couched as claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. We now turn to those arguments. Defendant's first argument is that he was denied a fair trial when the trial court "allowed the prosecutor to improperly introduce evidence that Mr. Kaufman and his partner paid restitution to the victim's spouse from injuries stemming from the assault." The trial testimony of Tim Brown on direct examination by the prosecutor that defendant objects to is as follows: Q: In regards to what happened on July 4, did you see your wife being assaulted that day? -1-

A: Absolutely. Q: Okay. And after that assault was done and the police arrived, did you see any injury to her

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