People v. Bouknight

308 N.W.2d 703, 106 Mich. App. 798
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 4, 1981
DocketDocket 48817
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 308 N.W.2d 703 (People v. Bouknight) 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 v. Bouknight, 308 N.W.2d 703, 106 Mich. App. 798 (Mich. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

M. F. Cavanagh, J.

Defendant was convicted by a jury of two counts of armed robbery, MCL 750.529; MSA 28.797, one count of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, MCL 750.520(b); MSA 28.788(2), and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, MCL 750.227b; MSA 28.424(2). He was sentenced to a term of from 8 to 30 years in prison on both armed robberies, from 8 to 30 years on the criminal sexual conduct conviction, and to an additional two years on the felony-firearm conviction. Defendant was given credit for 27 days incarceration. Defendant appeals as of right.

The charges against defendant arose from an incident which occurred at approximately 2 a.m. on June 9, 1979. The female complainant and her boyfriend were lying on a hill near the townhouse in which she lived located near the John C. Lodge *801 freeway in the City of Detroit. The man and woman noticed a man lying near the bottom of the hill who began walking toward them. The woman later identified that man as the defendant. The defendant pulled a gun and ordered the woman and man to lie down. He then took three rings and two chains from the woman and a watch from the man. The defendant told the woman to keep her eyes closed or he would shoot her; the woman kept opening and closing her eyes. The defendant then raped the woman, told the man and woman not to move, and then walked down the hill toward the townhouses.

The man and woman gave descriptions of the assailant to the police. He was described as being about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches tall, with a small mustache, light brown skin and as wearing a baseball cap turned backwards.

Later on the day of June 9, the male victim saw the defendant in the area of the townhouse. He saw the defendant again the next day. The police were called, and the defendant was identified as the man who committed the robbery and rape. Two lineups were held prior to trial. The female victim did not see defendant in the first lineup; he was not present in that lineup. She later identified the defendant in the second lineup. A Gilbert-Wade 1 hearing was conducted to determine whether the lineup procedures were overly suggestive. The trial court determined that the lineup was not impermissibly suggestive and conducive to irreparable mistaken identification so as to deny the defendant due process of law, Stovall v Denno, 388 US 293; 87 S Ct 1967; 18 L Ed 2d 1199 (1967). Defendant was represented by counsel at the *802 lineup. We are not persuaded that defendant met the burden of proving that the lineup was impermissibly suggestive. People v Rivera, 61 Mich App 427, 433; 232 NW2d 727 (1975), People v Horton, 98 Mich App 62, 67-68; 296 NW2d 184 (1980).

The defendant contends that his convictions of criminal sexual conduct in the perpetration of a felony and armed robbery violate his right to be free of being placed twice in jeopardy. The courts of this state have employed two tests in considering whether the guarantee against double jeopardy has been violated because of "double punishment”. The first test, commonly known as the Blockburger test, concentrates on the statutory elements of each crime. If, legally, each statutory provision requires proof of a fact which the other provision does not, there is no double jeopardy. Blockburger v United States, 284 US 299; 52 S Ct 180; 76 L Ed 2d 306 (1932), Wayne County Prosecutor v Recorder’s Court Judge, 406 Mich 374; 280 NW2d 793 (1979). The second test looks to the factual proofs involved in the particular case. People v Martin, 398 Mich 303; 247 NW2d 303 (1976), People v Stewart (On Rehearing), 400 Mich 540; 256 NW2d 31 (1977). Under the second test, if the facts developed during trial indicate that the violation of one provision is not severable from a violation of the second provision, then the former blends into the latter so as to constitute one single wrongful act. This second test has been modified by the Supreme Court to provide that if the Legislature has manifested an intent to make the two offenses separate and distinct and has provided separate penalties there is no violation of double jeopardy. Wayne County Prosecutor, supra.

The challenged criminal sexual conduct statute states:

*803 "A person is guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree if he or she engages in sexual penetration with another person and if any of the following circumstances exists:
"(c) Sexual penetration occurs under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony.
"(2) Criminal sexual conduct in the first degree is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years.” MCL 750.520b; MSA 28.788(2).

The statute under which defendant was convicted of armed robbery provides:

"Any person who shall assault another, and shall feloniously rob, steal and take from his person, or in his presence, any money or other property, which may be the subject of larceny, such robber being armed with a dangerous weapon, or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead the person so assaulted to reasonably believe it to be a dangerous weapon, shall be guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years.” MCL 750.529; MSA 28.797.

Under the rationale of Blockburger as applied in Wayne County Prosecutor, we find that in the instant action the provision challenged is constitutional. To convict a defendant of criminal sexual conduct, the prosecution is required to prove sexual penetration, as defined by the statute, with another person, under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony. None of these elements legally are required to find an armed robbery. To convict a defendant of armed robbery, the prosecution must prove an assault on another, a taking of property with an intent to perma *804 nently deprive its owner of the property while the defendant is armed with a dangerous weapon or an article used or fashioned in a manner so as to lead the person so assaulted to believe that it is a dangerous weapon. None of those elements legally are necessary to convict a defendant of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Under Wayne County Prosecutor, supra, the fact that in the instant action the armed robbery is the underlying felony would not render the statutory provision unconstitutional.

Under the test enunciated in Stewart and Martin, the challenged statutory provision fails to pass constitutional muster unless, as the Supreme Court found in Wayne County Prosecutor, we are able to find a clear legislative intent to authorize separate convictions and cumulative punishments based upon the one occurrence. If the statute evinces this clear legislative intent, Stewart and Martin are inapplicable and separate convictions are constitutional.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
308 N.W.2d 703, 106 Mich. App. 798, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bouknight-michctapp-1981.