Conviction in Tecumseh murder case upheld by Michigan Court of Appeals

ADRIAN — A former Tecumseh man's conviction for murdering his wife at their home in 2018 has been affirmed by a Michigan Court of Appeals panel.

James David Allan, 41, was convicted in September 2021 of second-degree murder in the death of Amy Allan. He was arrested in November 2020 after a two-year investigation by the Michigan State Police. Allan told police and emergency medical personnel who responded to their home on the evening of Sept. 14, 2018, that Amy had hung herself using an electrical extension cord tied to a hook affixed to a joist in the basement's ceiling. Because the knots were not as tight as expected from a hanging, the ceiling seemed too low to allow Amy Allan to hang herself, there was little to no obvious trauma to her neck and James Allan’s demeanor seemed unusual, first responders and personnel at ProMedica Herrick Hospital in Tecumseh and the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor raised concerns with police, who opened an investigation.

Paramedics were able to establish a pulse in Amy before taking her to Herrick Hospital. She was then flown to the U-M hospital where she died on Sept. 17, 2018, at the age of 34.

The prosecution’s hypothesis was that the Allans continued an argument that started earlier in the evening and, while in the basement of their home on North Maumee Street in Tecumseh, James put Amy in a chokehold with an arm around her neck, causing her to lose consciousness, then strangled her with an extension cord to make it look like a hanging.

Allan and his and Amy's teenage daughter moved back to Ocala, Florida, about a week after Amy's death at the urging of his parents. They had lived in Tecumseh about a year after Allan took a job in video production for an auto parts supplier in Ann Arbor. Police arrested Allan in Ocala.

Allan was sentenced to 20 to 45 years in prison. He is incarcerated at Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.

Allan's appeal argued that he received ineffective assistance of counsel from his trial attorneys, that he should have been granted a new trial and that evidence of past acts of domestic violence should not have been allowed to be presented at the trial. Court of Appeal Judges Michael J. Riordan, Colleen A. O’Brien and Allie Greenleaf Maldonado rejected his arguments.

The claims of ineffective counsel and that a new trial should have been granted were mostly based on how Allan's trial attorneys and Lenawee County Circuit Judge Michael R. Olsaver addressed the medical emergency experienced by one of the defense's expert witnesses, Dr. Francisco Diaz, the day before he was to testify. Diaz is a forensic pathologist and chief medical examiner in Washington, D.C., and he was expected to testify in support of the defense's claim that Amy Allan died by suicide.

After the trial and conviction, the defense sought a new trial. At a hearing in November 2022 regarding the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the appellate panel's opinion states, Allan's defense counsel testified about the options they considered for dealing with Diaz's medical emergency: requesting an adjournment, requesting a mistrial, investigating the possibility of having Diaz testify remotely, or stipulating to the admission of Diaz’s Jan. 7, 2021, letter in which he offered his opinion that a review of all available evidence indicated that Amy Allan’s death was likely the result of a low-suspension hanging. Allan's attorney chose to have the letter entered into the record, to which the prosecution agreed.

"We disagree with defendant that counsel’s choice of response was not objectively reasonable under the circumstances," the opinion says.

Allan was represented during the trial by Daniel Geherin of Ann Arbor with co-counsel Brian Montoye. His appellate attorney was Carole Stanyar of Ann Arbor.

Regarding the options to delay Diaz's in-person testimony or have him testify remotely, the opinion says, Allan's attorneys spoke to Diaz's wife, who also was a physician, who told them he was heavily medicated, could not speak and may require surgery. She did not know if he would be available for a week or longer.

Subscribe Now: For all the latest local developments, breaking news, and high school and college sports content.

"Counsel was additionally aware that the prosecution was unwilling to agree to any extended or indefinite adjournment because there had already been problems with jurors due to the length of the trial and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the loss of two jurors already, and there were concerns about completing the trial with enough jurors," the opinion says.

There also were scheduling concerns with defense witnesses, including a Michigan State Police Crime Lab expert who would testify about his examination of the extension cord that Amy Allan was alleged to have used to hang herself.

The appeals court disagreed with Allan's suggestion that Diaz's letter was not useful in supporting the suicide claim. The jury was presented with Diaz's background as a forensic pathologist and medical examiner, and the letter explained that in forming his opinion he reviewed much of the evidence that was presented during the trial.

"The letter served the purpose of informing the jury that the defense theory of a suicidal hanging was supported by the opinion of another qualified expert," the opinion says.

The evidence of past domestic violence was an incident between Allan and Amy Allan's teenage son when they lived in Florida in which Allan put his stepson in a wrestling-like chokehold during an argument. The appeals judges found that allowing testimony about the incident was "relevant in this case because it was the prosecution’s theory that defendant killed Amy by placing her in a chokehold during a domestic dispute. The prior incident was probative of how defendant responded to domestic conflict in the family home and to show his knowledge of and propensity to use a chokehold maneuver against family members, which was central to the prosecution’s theory of how Amy was killed."

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: 2018 murder conviction upheld by Michigan Court of Appeals