People of Michigan v. Thomas Howard Confere

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 17, 2020
Docket345141
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Thomas Howard Confere (People of Michigan v. Thomas Howard Confere) 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. Thomas Howard Confere, (Mich. Ct. App. 2020).

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PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED March 17, 2020 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 345141 Macomb Circuit Court THOMAS HOWARD CONFERE, LC No. 2018-000190-FH

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: TUKEL, P.J., and MARKEY and SWARTZLE, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

On appeal from multiple convictions of assaultive crimes, defendant argues that he would have been acquitted of all charges if the trial court had excluded several pieces of evidence that it admitted at trial. In addition, defendant argues that the within-guidelines sentences imposed by the trial court for his convictions were unreasonable because they were not specifically designed to address his mental-health issues. Because defendant’s arguments are without merit, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

A. THE DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE INCIDENT ON DECEMBER 31, 2017

This case arises from a domestic-violence incident involving defendant, his wife Amber Casali, and Casali’s 14-year-old son, MK. On December 31, 2017, Macomb County Sherriff’s deputies received a call reporting domestic violence at the home of Sheila and Art Green, defendant’s mother and stepfather. When the deputies arrived, they observed that Casali had lacerations on her face, a swollen eye, a bloody nose, bruising on her left arm, and a laceration on her neck. MK had “a lot of blood all over his face,” seeping from a “large laceration” on the left side of his head. He had a scratch above his eye, marks on his neck, a bloody nose, and the hair on the back of his head was blood-soaked. Defendant also “had blood on him.” A deputy found “blood splatter” throughout the house, including on the stairs leading to the basement. Casali and MK handwrote statements for the deputies that identified defendant as the aggressor in a domestic- violence incident.

-1- At trial, MK testified regarding the incident. MK testified that he was in his bedroom when he heard Casali screaming in pain. Casali also screamed MK’s name, which she had never done during any previous argument with defendant. MK did not immediately respond to the screams because he thought he would get hurt if he attempted to help Casali. But, after a moment, MK grabbed a small, plastic guitar and ran to the bedroom that belonged to defendant and Casali. MK found defendant on top of Casali. Although she had been screaming for several minutes, Casali was now silent, and MK thought that defendant was strangling her. MK swung the guitar as hard as he could, and hit defendant three times in the area of his upper back and neck. Defendant then grabbed the guitar and broke it over MK’s head.

MK testified that he fled to the basement and hid, but defendant followed him to the basement and threw him against a metal bed frame. Defendant then lifted MK off his feet, pushed him against some storage items, and punched him in the face more than five times. Defendant began choking MK and punched him in the face several more times. Defendant’s stepfather eventually intervened and took MK upstairs shortly before the deputies arrived.

Defendant’s mother, Sheila, testified to a contrasting version of events, and claimed that defendant never hit either MK or Casali. According to Sheila, MK sustained his injuries when he assaulted defendant without provocation. She testified that when MK struck defendant with the guitar, a piece of plastic broke off and hit MK in the head.

Casali, who was not initially expected to testify, appeared on the third day of trial. She testified that she was too high on drugs to remember the incident that led to this case. The jury did, however, see photographs of Casali’s injuries.

After providing their statements to deputies, MK and Casali were transported to the hospital in the same ambulance. Five staples were required to close MK’s head wound. He was transferred to Detroit Children’s Hospital, where he stayed overnight, because he was suffering from light-headedness. Casali was also hospitalized overnight. At trial, MK could not recall Casali’s precise injuries, but he did remember that something was wrong with her eye and nose. The prosecutor asked MK, “What was wrong with her eye?” MK started to respond, “I don’t remember exactly what, but she said she—”; defense counsel then objected on hearsay grounds. The trial court ruled that the testimony was admissible under MRE 803(3), governing statements regarding a declarant’s then-existing mental, emotional, or physical condition. The prosecutor then asked MK, “Did she tell you whether she had any fractures on her face?” MK responded, “Around her eye” and “[h]er nose.” The trial court interrupted the prosecutor’s line of questioning, stating that the hearsay statement was admissible regarding Casali’s description of her existing physical sensations, but that Casali was not qualified to determine that she had suffered a fracture. MK then testified that Casali complained of pain in her face when she picked him up from the hospital.

B. MEDICAL RECORDS

Before MK testified, the prosecutor moved to admit medical records related to both MK’s and Casali’s treatment resulting from the December 31, 2017 incident. The prosecutor reported that defense counsel had received the records during discovery, but had not received a certification

-2- page or written notice that the prosecutor intended to seek admission of the medical records at trial. The trial court initially excluded the records from evidence based on MRE 902(11).

After MK’s testimony, the prosecutor revisited the issue regarding the medical records, arguing that providing defense counsel with the medical records months before trial was sufficient notice that the prosecutor intended to use those records at trial. The trial court noted that MCR 6.201 merely required a description and opportunity to inspect physical evidence as a mandatory disclosure. Therefore, the trial court reasoned, turning over the medical records to defense counsel without a request from him could constitute written notice. Further, the trial court agreed with the prosecutor that law enforcement always retained a certified copy of any medical records they turned over to the prosecutor’s office. Therefore, the trial court ruled that the prosecutor had met the requirements of MRE 902(11)(C) and admitted the records into evidence as business records under MRE 803(6).

Casali’s medical records contained, in quotation marks, the following statement: “My husband assaulted me and hit me several times in my face with a fist, and also hit me over the back with a fan.” The trial court ruled that this statement was admissible. In addition, the prosecutor read for the jury the following contents of Casali’s medical records:

Alleged assault by husband. Assault two days prior. History of present illness: 31-year-old female, approximately three hours after being assaulted by her husband, her husband was there, he was evaluated, assaulted by the same, choked for several seconds, hit . . . over her back with a fan, she did not experience loss of consciousness, she has a safe place to go, she went to urgent care a few days before because of another assault . . . but told urgent care that she fell down the stairs.

The trial court ruled that “[a]ll statements apart from how the specific injury was sustained should be stricken because it really has no bearing as to the medical diagnosis and treatment.” Nevertheless, the prosecutor was permitted to impeach Casali with that portion of her medical records.

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Related

People v. Lee
622 N.W.2d 71 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2000)
People v. Carines
597 N.W.2d 130 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1999)
People v. Unger
749 N.W.2d 272 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2008)
People v. Lukity
596 N.W.2d 607 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1999)
People v. Schrauben
886 N.W.2d 173 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2016)

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People of Michigan v. Thomas Howard Confere, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-thomas-howard-confere-michctapp-2020.