Michigan Supreme Court Blog

In this interlocutory application for leave, the Michigan Court of Appeals yesterday published it's previously unpublished opinion in People v Calvin Kelly , Docket No. 331731 , reversing the Kalamazoo Circuit Court's decision to exclude evidence offered by the prosecution pursuant to MRE 404(b). Kelly is charged with kidnapping, three (3) counts of first degree CSC and assault with intent to commit CSC.  The allegations arise from an incident in 2008.  Kelly has readily admitted to having sexual intercourse with the complainant (the prosecution possesses favorable DNA evidence), but asserts that the encounter was consensual because the complainant is a prostitute and is merely upset because Kelly did not pay her. Kelly's DNA, however, has linked him to a total of five (5) CSC complaints, and he has admitted to having intercourse with three (3) others.  In each case, which span a timeframe from 1985 to 2010 and occurred in four (4) different states, Kelly told the s...

Yesterday, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of Devaun Lopez who had previously been convicted following a jury trial in the Saginaw County Circuit Court.  The Court, in a per curiam opinion, concluded in People v Devaun Lopez, Docket No. 327208 , that the prosecution had improperly threatened a prosecution witness prior to testifying.  Dennis Hoskins was a key witness for the prosecution who had testified at the preliminary examination that the defendants had both admitted to him their involvement in the the murder and had openly discussed the details, including the use of a .38 caliber pistol, which matched the evidence from the scene. Just prior to the trial, the prosecutor became concerned that Hoskins was going to change his testimony from what he said at the preliminary examination.  During a colloquy between Hoskins, his attorney, the prosecutor and the two defense attorneys, the defendant's attorney claimed to have heard the prosecution thre...

Yesterday, the Michigan Court of Appeals published an opinion in People of the State of Michigan v Troy Bush, Docket No. 326658 (April 21, 2016) , holding, essentially, that a defendant may not be convicted of home invasion, MCL 750.110a(2), for allegedly breaking into a bedroom inside a home he has previously been granted permission to enter.  An interesting part of this ruling is the fact that the prosecution had moved in the trial court for a special jury instruction prior to the trial and the defense filed an interlocutory application for leave to appeal the trial court's granting of the motion.  The Court of Appeals denied the interlocutory application, but the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the denial and remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for consideration as on leave granted. Troy Bush, a handyman, considered the residence he was charged with breaking into to be his permanent residence until he was arrested for first degree home invasion, felonious assault ...

Yesterday, the Michigan Court of Appeals decided an interesting 4th Amendment issue relating to a popular tactic utilized by police departments across the State of Michigan, "knock and talk." In the consolidated cases of People v Frederick and People v Van Doorne , Kent County Circuit Judge Dennis Leiber had denied each defendant's motion to suppress. Each filed applications for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals that were denied. The Supreme Court, however, remanded the cases as on leave granted to consider whether the "knock and talk" procedure used by the Kent Area Narcotics Enforcement Team  (KANET) violated the 4th Amendment pursuant to the United States Supreme Court's holding in Florida v Jardines ,  ___ US ___; 133 S Ct 1409; 185 L Ed 2d 495 (2013) . In Jardines , Justice Scalia wrote the opinion for the majority, concluding that police officers who approach a house and enter onto the front porch with a drug detection canine, do so in vi...

Yesterday, the Michigan Court of Appeals rendered its published opinion in People v Gilbert Lee Poole, Jr. , Docket No. 315982 , holding that Poole was entitled to DNA testing of blood samples preserved from the scene of a 1988 homicide.  The interesting aspect of the case is the fact that, in Poole's 1989 trial in Oakland County, blood typing of blood found at different areas of the scene had already excluded Poole as the source of the blood, and the jury was informed of that fact. Yet the jury still found him guilty of the murder.  Poole has a fairly rare blood type of AB, which represents only about 3% of the population.  The victim's blood type (O) was found in many areas of the crime scene, and the investigators found no type AB blood.  However, one blood sample, found on a rock in the victim's pants, was type B, matching neither Poole nor the victim. Poole had petitioned the trial court on two separate occasions for DNA testing of the blood samples, and eac...

Last week, the Michigan Supreme Court rendered its decision in People v Thabo Jones , Docket No. 147735 (December 23, 2014) , upholding the constitutionality of MCL 257.626(5) .  That statute mandates that, when the defendant is charged with reckless driving causing death (MCL 257.626(4)), the trial court shall not instruct the jury on the lesser offense of committing a moving violation causing death under MCL 257.601d .  The difference is significant in that the former carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment, where the latter is a one-year misdemeanor. Judge Richard Scutt , ruling on a pretrial request for the lesser included jury instruction, held MCL 257.626(5) was unconstitutional in that it infringed on the judiciary's authority to regulate court practice and procedure.  The prosecution sought interlocutory relief and the Court of Appeals (JJ. Ronayne-Krause and Shapiro, with K. F. Kelly dissenting ) affirmed . The Supreme Court granted leave and held ...

This week, the United States Supreme Court authored its opinion in Heien v North Carolina , holding 8-1 that a police officer's reasonable mistake about the law will justify a seizure and not run afoul of the Fourth Amendment.  Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion for the majority, while Justice Kagan (joined by Justice Ginsburg) wrote a concurring opinion.  Justice Soto-Mayor was alone in her dissent. Heien was traveling on Interstate 77 in North Carolina when Sgt. Matt Darisse of the Surry County Sheriff's Department pulled in behind him because Heien looked "stiff and nervous."  Further down the road, Heien braked for slower traffic, and only his left brake light came on. The deputy, believing that he had observed a traffic infraction (a defective brake light) stopped the vehicle.  He ultimately ended up searching the vehicle and found a baggie of cocaine. Turns out, the North Carolina motor vehicle code only requires one working brake light, though the sta...