MSC Overrules 25 Year Old Decision in Felony Firearm Case
The Michigan Supreme Court, in the past few days, has issued a number of opinions related to crimes, criminal procedure and sentencing. Significantly, the Court overruled a 25-year-old decision regarding the interpretation of the felony firearm statute, when, in People v Dwayne Wilson , Docket No. 154039 (July 25, 2017) , the Court held that a defendant may be sentenced as a third offender (mandatory minimum 10 years imprisonment, consecutive to any sentence for the underlying offense) even though his two (2) prior convictions arose out of the same occurrence. Justice Joan Larsen wrote the unanimous opinion that overruled People v Stewart , 441 Mich 89 (1992). The trial court, Macomb County Circuit Judge James Biernat, Jr., had ruled that Wilson's two prior convictions for felony firearm from one prior case amounted to two (2) prior convictions for felony firearm and that the Supreme Court's decision in Stewart was no longer good law because it had relied on ca...