People v. Herron

628 N.W.2d 528, 464 Mich. 593
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 3, 2001
DocketDocket 114858
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 628 N.W.2d 528 (People v. Herron) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Herron, 628 N.W.2d 528, 464 Mich. 593 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

Markman, J.

This case requires that we determine whether defendant’s right to be free from double jeopardy was violated. The issues presented are (1) whether defendant’s retrial for second-degree murder, after a jury in the first trial deadlocked on that count, was a constitutionally impermissible successive prosecution; (2) whether defendant’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter on retrial resulted in an unconstitutionally impermissible multiple punishment because he had previously been convicted of negligent homicide under prosecution for a separate count; and (3) whether defendant is entitled to a conviction of the lesser offense when multiple punishments have resulted from a retrial.

*596 We hold that defendant’s retrial for second-degree murder was permissible and did not violate the constitutional protection against successive prosecutions. However, the retrial of the defendant resulted in multiple punishments for the same offense. Therefore, the defendant is entitled to a remedy for the multiple punishments violation. We hold that the constitutional violation should have been remedied by affirming defendant’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter and vacating his conviction of negligent homicide.

Additionally, we address whether the defendant’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter at the second trial, following his previous conviction of negligent homicide, was precluded by application of MCL 768.33, as proposed by Judge White. We conclude that MCL 768.33 does not apply to defendant because he was not subjected to a subsequent trial for different degrees of the same offense for which he was originally acquitted or convicted upon an indictment.

Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals, reinstate defendant’s conviction and sentence for involuntary manslaughter, and vacate his conviction and sentence for negligent homicide.

i

The facts relevant to our decision in this case were sufficiently set forth in the unpublished decision of the Court of Appeals:

On October 17, 1995, after drinking alcohol and ingesting a controlled substance, phencyclidine (pcp), defendant drove a U-Haul truck at an immoderate rate of speed and in an erratic manner on the streets of Grosse Pointe Woods. He struck one car, causing it to spin around, then drove on, striking another vehicle head-on, lolling the driver, Christina *597 Comito. These events occurred on a clear fall day at approximately 3:30 P.M., just as a nearby middle school was dismissing students for the day and traffic on the roads was heavy. Blood tests performed later on defendant revealed the presence of pcp, but no alcohol.
The prosecutor charged defendant with second-degree murder, MCL 750.317; MSA 28.549 [count I], operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of a combination of alcohol and a controlled substance thereby causing death (OUI causing death), MCL 257.625(4); MSA 9.2325(4) [count n], and driving on a suspended or revoked license [count in]. The jury was permitted to consider, on count I, the lesser offenses of involuntary manslaughter involving a motor vehicle, MCL 750.321; MSA 28.553, and negligent homicide, MCL 750.324; MSA 28.556, and on count n, negligent homicide was again given as a lesser included offense of oui causing death. . . . Ultimately, the jury convicted defendant on count n of negligent homicide and on count in of operating a motor vehicle while his license was suspended or revoked)[ 1 ] but was unable to reach a verdict on count i. The trial court ordered a mistrial on that count. The prosecutor retried defendant on the second-degree murder charge, with the jury being instructed on the lesser offenses of involuntary manslaughter involving a motor vehicle and negligent homicide. The jury convicted defendant of involuntary manslaughter. [Issued April 6, 1999 (Docket No. 198353), slip op at 1-2.]

On appeal to the Court of Appeals, defendant argued that his retrial on the charge of second-degree murder, after being convicted of negligent homicide in his first trial, violated his constitutional protections against double jeopardy. Stating that “a fundamental error in the proceedings below . . . resulted in a violation of defendant’s constitutional right to be free from double jeopardy,” the Court of Appeals first *598 determined that where the facts of a case support separate charges for murder, involuntary manslaughter, or oui causing death, the charges must be brought in the alternative, and presented to the jury in that manner. Id. at 2. The Court then concluded that because “the defendant’s drunken driving ha[d] caused the death of one person, he [could] be convicted of only one of these offenses.” Id. (emphasis in the original). The Court of Appeals further concluded that defendant’s conviction of both negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter constituted multiple punishments for the same offense, given the statutorily created link between these two crimes, 2 with negligent homicide being a necessarily included lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter. Id.

Although the Court of Appeals recognized that, when a defendant is convicted of both a greater and lesser offense of the same category, the general rule is to vacate the conviction of the lesser offense and affirm the conviction of the greater, 3 it determined that, because the charges were improperly presented to the jury in the first trial, defendant’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter in the second trial was “tainted and cannot stand.” Id. at 3. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals vacated defendant’s conviction for involuntary manslaughter and affirmed his conviction for negligent homicide. Id 4

In concurring with the Court of Appeals majority, Judge White relied on a statutory rather than consti *599 tutional ground, 5 essentially stating that because negligent homicide was a “different degree” of involuntary manslaughter, defendant’s conviction of negligent homicide precluded his subsequent conviction of involuntary manslaughter arising from the same vehicular death. Id. at 1.

n

This appeal involves challenges based on constitutional double jeopardy principles. A double jeopardy challenge presents a question of law that we review de novo. See, e.g., People v Sierb, 456 Mich 519, 520-521; 581 NW2d 219 (1998).

US Const, Am V provides, in pertinent part

[n]o person . . . shall ... be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ....

This provision is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Benton v Maryland, 395 US 784, 794; 89 S Ct 2056; 23 L Ed 2d 707 (1969). Further, Michigan Const 1963, art 1, § 15 provides:

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Bluebook (online)
628 N.W.2d 528, 464 Mich. 593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-herron-mich-2001.