Michigan Supreme Court Blog

Today, the United States Supreme Court issued an interesting decision in a 4th Amendment case in Kansas v. Glover , 589 U.S. ____ (2020) (Docket No. 18-556).  The fact scenario centered around a common, yet oft litigated, circumstance.  A sheriff's deputy randomly ran the license plate of a truck he was behind.  The computer showed the truck belonged to Glover and also showed that Glover's license was revoked.  Assuming that Glover was driving, he stopped the truck.  Glover was driving and he was charged. The trial court granted Glover's motion to suppress any evidence discovered after the stop and dismissed the charges.  The Kansas Court of Appeals reversed. The Kansas Supreme Court reversed, finding that the stop violated the Fourth Amendment. The USSC, Justice Thomas writing for the majority, held: When the officer lacks information negating the inference that the owner is driving the vehicle, an investigative stop made after running the vehicle'...

Can a defendant, charged with felony murder, argue duress as an affirmative defense to the crime? Yesterday, the Michigan Supreme Court answered in the affirmative, overruling two Court of Appeals decisions from the 1990's.  In People v Tiffany Reichard , ___ Mich ___ (Docket No 157688) , March 30, 2020, Justice Viviano authored the opinion on behalf of a unanimous court, concluding that the defendant, who wished to present evidence that her boyfriend had physically abused her, could argue in her trial that she committed the underlying felony under duress and, therefore, was not guilty of felony murder. After bindover on the felony murder charge, Reichard moved the lower court to allow her to present the defense.  The trial court, Judge Thomas Wilson from Jackson County, agreed.  The prosecution filed an interlocutory application to the Court of Appeals which reversed the trial court. At common law, courts banned the use of duress as a defense to murder.  When ...

Yesterday, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the conviction of a Saginaw County man whom a jury had convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. In People v Sammons , ____ Mich ____, Decided March 16, 2020 ( Docket No. 156189) , Justice Cavanagh, joined by Chief Justice McCormack and Justices Viviano, Bernstein, and Clement, concluded that a show up of the defendant to a witness was unduly suggestive because it implied that the defendant was a suspect in the murder. The show up was unnecessary, except for police convenience, because the defendant was in custody at the time. The show up was unreliable utilizing the factors identified in Neil v Biggers , 409 US 188 (1972), and, finally, the prosecution's use of evidence of the identification was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. A show up is unlike a corporeal lineup, because in a show up the police show the suspect to the witness singly.   It is interesting to note from the facts that the 16-year-old witness, who saw t...

On February 13, 2020, the Court of Appeals ruled that the smell of marijuana, even in light of a driver's possession of a valid medical marijuana card, can give rise to probable cause to search a lawfully stopped vehicle.  Provided, however, some additional suspicious fact gives rise to reasonably believe that driver may be possessing marijuana outside of the restrictions imposed by the MMMA.   In People v Moorman, Docket No. 349282 (2/13/2020) , the defendant was stopped for speeding in Alger County.  Upon approaching the car, the state trooper smelled the strong odor of "a good quantity" of fresh marijuana.  He asked Moorman if he had any marijuana in the vehicle, and Moorman said that he did not, though he had harvested marijuana earlier that day.  He then produced his caregiver card and told the trooper that he was a caregiver for five patients.  Nonetheless, the trooper searched the vehicle because simply, in his mind, he had noted the "odor of ma...