People of Michigan v. Darvin D Cole

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 25, 2024
Docket362252
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Darvin D Cole (People of Michigan v. Darvin D Cole) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People of Michigan v. Darvin D Cole, (Mich. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED April 25, 2024 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 362252 Jackson Circuit Court DARVIN D. COLE, LC No. 21-002377-FC

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: M. J. KELLY, P.J., and JANSEN and MURRAY, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant, Darvin Cole, appeals by right his convictions of voluntary manslaughter, MCL 750.321; and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (felony-firearm), MCL 750.227b. For the reasons stated in this opinion, we affirm.

I. BASIC FACTS

On August 6, 2021, Cole shot Scotty Charles dead. The day before the shooting, Charles, with the aid of his girlfriend, took Cole’s truck without permission. After locating his truck, Cole coerced a friend to drive him to Charles’s home so that he could confront him. Cole’s friend testified that Cole convinced her to drive him by putting a gun wrapped in a hooded sweatshirt to her head. He put the gun in the backseat on the drive to Charles’s home. When they arrived, Cole took the gun from the backseat, banged on the door, and demanded the return of his truck keys. Charles shouted something from inside. In response, Cole walked over to his truck and placed the gun in his truck after removing the sweatshirt. He stayed near to the truck as Charles exited his home, breaking the glass on the storm door in the process. While Charles was coming toward him holding a candlestick, Cole shot Charles with the gun he had brought. Charles fell to the ground and said that he was sorry. Cole responded by closing the distance between himself and Charles and kicking Charles in the head. Subsequently, after trying unsuccessfully to retrieve his truck keys from Charles’s girlfriend, Cole got in his friend’s vehicle and they left together. At Cole’s request, his friend pulled over so that he could dispose of the gun and they both changed their telephone numbers. Eventually, the police located both Cole and his friend.

-1- According to Cole, he was acting in self-defense when he shot Charles. In support of this claim, he presented testimony showing that Charles, who was much larger than him, had approached him with a candlestick. Further, he presented testimony showing that he was aware that Charles had a reputation for being a man of violence and detailing specific instances that he was aware of. Charles’s ex-wife, however, testified that before the shooting, Charles had told her that he was afraid that Cole was going to kill him. He told her that Cole had chased him around town in another vehicle, had rammed his vehicle, and had thrown a crowbar out of a window of a vehicle. He also told her that Cole had previously shot someone. Finally, at trial, the prosecution presented other-acts testimony from Jeffery Loftis, who testified that Cole had shot him in the leg after he had had a dispute with Cole’s sister over missing property.

II. OTHER-ACTS EVIDENCE

A. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Cole argues that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence that he shot Loftis in the leg. “We review for an abuse of discretion a trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence.” People v Herndon, 246 Mich App 371, 406; 633 NW2d 376 (2001). “An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court’s decision falls outside the range of principled outcomes.” People v Olney, 327 Mich App 319, 325; 933 NW2d 744 (2019) (quotation marks and citation omitted).

B. ANALYSIS

At the time relevant to this case, MRE 404(b)1 provided:

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, scheme, plan, or system in doing an act, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident when the same is material, whether such other crimes, wrongs, or acts are contemporaneous with, or prior or subsequent to the conduct at issue in the case.

Evidence is admissible under MRE 404(b) if (1) it is offered for a proper purpose, (2) it is relevant, and (3) its probative value is not substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice. People v VanderVliet, 444 Mich 52, 74; 508 NW2d 114 (1993), mod 445 Mich 1205 (1994). Moreover, upon request, the trial court should provide a limiting instruction. Id.

“Under the first prong of the VanderVliet test, the question is whether the prosecution has articulated a proper noncharacter purpose for the admission of the other-acts evidence.” People v Denson, 500 Mich 385, 398; 902 NW2d 306 (2017). Here, Cole argued that he shot Charles in

1 The Michigan Rules of Evidence were amended on September 20, 2023, effective January 1, 2024. See ADM File No. 2021-10, 512 Mich lxiii (2023). References to the rules of evidence in this opinion are to the version in effect at the time the court made its evidentiary decisions.

-2- self-defense. The prosecution proffered the other-acts evidence to rebut that claim by showing that Cole intended to kill Charles when he shot him and that he was not acting in self-defense. Additionally, the prosecution argued that the evidence was relevant to show that Cole had a common scheme, plan, or system. It is permissible to admit other-acts evidence to disprove self- defense or to show that the defendant was acting pursuant to a common scheme, plan, or system.

On appeal, Cole argues that the prosecution merely recited a proper purpose for the other- acts evidence without explaining how the evidence related to the proper purpose. As explained in Denson, the mere articulation of a proper purpose is insufficient to justify admission under MRE 404(b). Denson, 500 Mich at 400. Rather, there must be an explanation as to “how the evidence relates to the recited purpose.” Id. We disagree.

In evaluating whether the prosecution has provided an intermediate inference other than an impermissible character inference, this Court examines the similarity between a defendant’s other act and the charged offense. Id. at 402. “The degree of similarity that is required between a defendant’s other act and the charged offense depends on the manner in which the prosecution intends to use the other-acts evidence.” Id. at 402-403. Here, one proffered purpose for the other- acts evidence was to prove that Cole acted pursuant to a common scheme, plan, or system.

Evidence of misconduct similar to that charged is logically relevant to show that the charged act occurred if the uncharged misconduct and the charged offense are sufficiently similar to support an inference that they were manifestations of a common plan, scheme, or system. People v Sabin (After Remand), 463 Mich 43, 63; 614 NW2d 888 (2000). A “general similarity between the charged and uncharged acts does not, however, by itself, establish a plan, scheme, or system used to commit the acts,” but “logical relevance is not limited to circumstances in which the charged and uncharged acts are part of a single continuing conception or plot . . . .” People v Dobek, 274 Mich App 58, 90; 732 NW2d 546 (2007) (quotation marks, citation, and alterations omitted). “There must be such a concurrence of common features that the charged acts and the other acts are logically seen as part of a general plan, scheme, or design.” People v Steele, 283 Mich App 472, 479; 769 NW2d 256 (2009).

On appeal, Cole argues that the other-acts evidence was not strikingly similar to the charged offense because the other act involved a victim of a different type and because the similarities did not satisfy the strikingly similar threshold.

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People of Michigan v. Darvin D Cole, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-darvin-d-cole-michctapp-2024.