The state Court of Appeals upheld the first-degree felony murder and child-abuse convictions of a Roseville man in the death of his live-in girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter.

A three-judge panel of the court rejected arguments from an appellate attorney and ruled Thursday the conviction of Jonathan Jones, 32, for the 2017 death of Ivy Yurkus from a severed vein in her stomach will stand. Jones is serving life without parole.

The opinion is precedent-setting likely because the judges rejected the claim that the trial attorney, Nicole Castka, should have attempted to blame Jones’ girlfriend, Amanda, or Ivy’s sibling for the slaying in defiance of Jones’ wishes to not pursue that defense. Castka is now a Wayne County Circuit judge.

The court cites a “well-reasoned” prior case that “respects a defendant’s right to set his own goals and priorities.”

“If a properly-informed defendant rejects a potentially beneficial strategy against counsel’s advice, we can see no sound reason for granting him relief for trial counsel’s failure to override his priorities, even if, in her professional judgment, the defendant is acting contrary to his or her own best interests,” the panel wrote.

Blaming Amanda “would have risked losing Yurkus’s support for” Jones, the judges say. Also, defense expert Dr. Ljubisa Dragovic’s testimony that Ivy suffered the fatal injuries several days before she was brought to a hospital already “suggested the possibility that Yurkus was the perpetrator, without the risks of directly focusing on her,” they say.

The defendant’s appellate attorney fails to show that Jones would have been acquitted if he had gone along with his trial attorney’s plan, they say.

Other family members also supported Jones.

Macomb prosecutors alleged Jones punched Ivy in the stomach in the laundry room their home on Galloway Street near 12 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue in retaliation for Ivy complaining to her mother about Jones abusing her.

Jones brought an unresponsive Ivy to Amanda Yurkus’ job at a Roseville restaurant shortly before 6 p.m. May 3. Ivy was taken to Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit, where she died 14 hours later from blunt-force trauma to her abdomen. Multiple doctors testified a major vein in Ivy’s stomach was severed, and a Wayne County medical examiner testified Ivy suffered many abdominal injuries.

Ivy also showed signs of other abuse. Her back and buttocks were severely bruised, and she had three bruises on the left side of her face.

Prosecutors presented evidence of prior abuse suffered by Ivy, who hospitalized for a mysterious ailment 11 months before her death, although there was no evidence of Jones contributing to that health issue.

The trial was delayed many times primarily due to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel was composed of judge Allie Greenleaf Maldonado, Mark T. Boonstra and Randy J. Wallace.