People of Michigan v. Marcia Ann Brilinski

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 15, 2021
Docket352126
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Marcia Ann Brilinski (People of Michigan v. Marcia Ann Brilinski) 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. Marcia Ann Brilinski, (Mich. Ct. App. 2021).

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PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED April 15, 2021 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v Nos. 352124; 352126 Alcona Circuit Court MARCIA ANN BRILINSKI, LC Nos. 19-003208-FH; 19- 003209-FH Defendant-Appellant.

Before: SHAPIRO, P.J., and CAVANAGH and REDFORD, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

In these consolidated appeals,1 defendant appeals as of right her jury-trial convictions of two counts of resisting and obstructing a police officer, MCL 750.81d(1), and one count of public intoxication and being a disorderly person, MCL 750.167(1)(e). We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

These cases arise from defendant’s conduct while patronizing the Mountain Inn Bar and Grill. Defendant was drinking a beer at the bar, seated next to Eric Protiva. Protiva testified that defendant was complaining about a worker at the bar who was causing her daughter problems at school. Protiva said that defendant was angry, using expletives and getting louder. Multiple witnesses testified that defendant was calling workers “bitches” and other vulgarities and that everyone at the bar could hear her. One of the workers eventually obtained permission from the manager to ask defendant to leave. Defendant initially complied and Mountain Inn’s part-owner James Derocher spoke to her in the parking lot. Derocher testified that he told defendant that she needed to leave or the police would be called and that he offered her a ride home. Defendant eventually went back into the bar and was asked to leave again. This time the manager, Carol Butler, went outside to speak with defendant in the parking lot. Carol explained to defendant that her behavior toward the staff was unacceptable and that she needed to leave. Carol’s son, David

1 People v Brilinksi, unpublished order of the Court of Appeals, entered February 11, 2020 (Docket Nos. 352124; 352126).

-1- Butler, accompanied his mother and testified that he became involved when defendant stepped toward his mother, clenched her fists, “and started angrily getting loud.” When defendant refused to leave, David called the police and asked his mother to go back inside.

Michigan State Police Trooper Justin Strong was dispatched to the scene. Strong testified that when he arrived defendant approach him and that she smelled of alcohol and had watery eyes and slurred speech. Strong instructed defendant to stay by her vehicle while he spoke with David, but defendant approached and tried to speak over the officer’s interview. Strong testified that when he began speaking with defendant he did not intend to arrest her and was trying to find a way for her to peacefully leave the premises. Defendant declined to undergo a “breath test,” so Strong could not allow her to drive given her condition. Defendant called her daughter, but received no answer.

Strong testified that defendant became “increasingly more agitated,” and was yelling. Strong eventually decided to arrest and handcuffed defendant, but she declined to enter his patrol car, calling him an expletive. At some point, two Alcona County Sheriff Deputies arrive. One of the deputies offered to transport defendant in his vehicle, which had a “cage partition” separating the front and back seats. Deputy Robert Clink rode in the backseat with defendant because the two front seats were taken. Clink testified that at one point defendant attempted to slip off her handcuffs, and also grabbed the door handle. Clink believed defendant was trying to escape the moving vehicle and held defendant by her handcuffs. Clink testified that defendant then kicked him about three or four times. Once at the county jail, defendant initially refused to get out of the vehicle. Defendant was charged with resisting and obstructing Strong and Clink.

Over the course of a two-day trial, the jury heard testimony by individuals who were present in the bar, the bar’s employees, and the responding law enforcement officers. Several audio and video files were admitted into evidence and played for the jury. Defendant testified in her own defense.

II. SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Defendant first argues that insufficient evidence was presented to support the jury’s guilty verdicts. We disagree.2

The elements of resisting or obstructing a police officer require the prosecution to prove: “(1) the defendant assaulted, battered, wounded, resisted, obstructed, opposed, or endangered a police officer, and (2) the defendant knew or had reason to know that the person that the defendant assaulted, battered, wounded, resisted, obstructed, opposed, or endangered was a police officer

2 We review de novo a defendant’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. People v Perry, 317 Mich App 589, 599; 895 NW2d 216 (2016). The evidence is reviewed in a light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether any trier of fact could find the essential elements of the crime were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. “Circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences arising from that evidence can constitute satisfactory proof of the elements of a crime.” People v Carines, 460 Mich 750, 757; 597 NW2d 130 (1999) (quotation marks and citation omitted).

-2- performing his or her duties.” People v Vandenberg, 307 Mich App 57, 68; 859 NW2d 229 (2014) (quotation marks and citation omitted). “In addition, ‘the prosecution must establish that the officers’ actions were lawful.’ ” Id., quoting People v Moreno, 491 Mich 38, 51-52; 814 NW2d 624 (2012). Thus, “the lawfulness of the arrest was an element of the offense, and it presented a factual question for the jury.” Vandenberg, 307 Mich App at 68-69.

Defendant argues that the prosecution failed to prove that she was lawfully arrested.

For an arrest to be lawful, the police officer making the arrest must have probable cause, either that a felony or misdemeanor was committed by the individual in the officer’s presence, or that a felony or specified misdemeanor (i.e., a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for more than 92 days) occurred outside the officer’s presence and that the individual in question committed the offense. [Id. at 69. See also MCL 764.15.]

In this case, the trial court instructed the jury that “[a] warrantless arrest is legal if the police officer had enough information to lead an ordinarily careful person to believe that the defendant committed a crime and an offense was committed in the peace officer’s presence.” This instruction accurately defines “reasonable cause,” see People v Freeman, 240 Mich App 235, 236; 612 NW2d 824 (2000), and is consistent with MCL 764.15(1)(a), which provides that an officer may arrest a person without a warrant if “[a] felony, misdemeanor, or ordinance violation is committed in the peace officer’s presence.”

However, the instruction did not inform the jury that a warrantless arrest is lawful if the officer had reasonable cause “to believe a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for more than 92 days or a felony has been committed and reasonable cause to believe the person committed it.” MCL 764.15(1)(d). Presumably, this instruction was not given because it would have required the jury to consider the punishment of defendant’s crimes. In any event, defendant did not object to the jury not being instructed on MCL 764.15(1)(d), and she does not properly raise that challenge on appeal.3 Nonetheless, defendant’s argument focuses on MCL 764.15(1)(d). That is, she argues that her arrest was unlawful because Strong told her that she was being arrested for “drunk and disorderly,” i.e., MCL 750.167(1)(e), which is only a 90-day misdemeanor.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Moreno
814 N.W.2d 624 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Kowalski
803 N.W.2d 200 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Miller
759 N.W.2d 850 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2008)
People v. Gillis
712 N.W.2d 419 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2006)
People v. Carines
597 N.W.2d 130 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1999)
People v. Gagnon
341 N.W.2d 867 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1983)
People v. Freeman
612 N.W.2d 824 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2000)
People v. Watson
629 N.W.2d 411 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2001)
People v. McGhee
709 N.W.2d 595 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2006)
People v. Roupe
389 N.W.2d 449 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1986)
People v. Kurr
654 N.W.2d 651 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2002)
People v. Jackson
296 N.W.2d 135 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1980)
People v. Vandenberg
859 N.W.2d 229 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2014)
People v. Lane
862 N.W.2d 446 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2014)
People v. Bosca
871 N.W.2d 307 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2015)
People v. Stevens
869 N.W.2d 233 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Perry
895 N.W.2d 216 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2016)
People of Michigan v. Robert Lee Rosa
913 N.W.2d 392 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2018)
People v. Schaw
791 N.W.2d 743 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People of Michigan v. Marcia Ann Brilinski, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-marcia-ann-brilinski-michctapp-2021.