People v. Holtschlag

684 N.W.2d 730, 471 Mich. 1
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 23, 2004
DocketDocket 123553-123556
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 684 N.W.2d 730 (People v. Holtschlag) 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. Holtschlag, 684 N.W.2d 730, 471 Mich. 1 (Mich. 2004).

Opinions

Markman, J.

We granted leave to determine if a defendant may be convicted of involuntary manslaughter for a homicide that occurred during the commission of a felony and for which the prosecutor proceeded under a “gross negligence” mens rea theory. We hold in the affirmative and, accordingly, we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstate defendant Limmer’s conviction of accessory after the fact to involuntary manslaughter and the remaining defendants’ involuntary manslaughter convictions.

[4]*4I. FACTS

On January 16, 1999, a get-together took place at the home of defendant Erick Limmer. Along with Limmer, the other defendants, Joshua Cole, Daniel Brayman, and Nicholas Holtschlag, were watching television, drinking alcohol, and smoking marijuana with three fourteen-year-old girls. At least one of the defendants put gamma hydroxybutrate or gamma hydroxybutyric acid (both known as GHB) in the girls’ drinks.1 Two of the girls became sick and, after several hours, were taken to the hospital. One of the girls, Samantha Reid, died. The other slipped into a coma but eventually recovered.

Defendants Brayman, Holtschlag, and Cole were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and two counts each of mixing a harmful substance in a drink, which is a felony. Defendant Limmer was convicted of accessory after the fact to manslaughter, mixing a harmful substance in a drink, delivery or manufacture of marijuana, and possession of GHB.

Defendants appealed, the appeals were consolidated, and the Court of Appeals stated that to support an involuntary manslaughter conviction under a gross negligence theory, the prosecutor had to establish that defendants performed a lawful act in a grossly negligent manner.2 Because mixing a harmful substance in the girls’ drinks was an unlawful act that is a felony, the Court vacated the involuntary manslaughter convictions and accessory after the fact conviction.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Determining the elements of common-law involuntary manslaughter is a question of law. We review [5]*5questions of law de novo. People v Riddle, 467 Mich 116, 124; 649 NW2d 30 (2002).

III. ANALYSIS

There are primarily two issues to address in this case. The first concerns the defendants’ contention that they cannot be convicted of involuntary manslaughter because the homicide at issue occurred during the commission of a felony and involuntary manslaughter, defendants argue, is, in part, defined by this Court as the killing of another during the commission of an unlawful act that is not a felony. The second issue concerns defendants’ contention that to be convicted of involuntary manslaughter under a gross negligence theory, which was the theory under which the prosecutor proceeded at trial, the homicide must have occurred during the commission of a lawful act, and in this case it occurred during the commission of an unlawful (felonious) act.

A. IS MANSLAUGHTER PRECLUDED BECAUSE OF A “FELONY”?

Regarding the first issue, some insight into the early common-law history of the crime of manslaughter and, particularly, its development alongside the felony-murder doctrine, is necessary. Under Lord Coke’s traditional “felony-murder” doctrine, a homicide that occurred during the commission of an unlawful act was “murder” punishable by death. See People v Aaron, 409 Mich 672, 692; 299 NW2d 304 (1980), in which this Court thoroughly articulated the elusive history of the felony-murder doctrine. The premise behind the traditional felony-murder doctrine was the idea that the intention to perpetrate the unlawful act sufficiently showed the existence of malice aforethought — the req[6]*6uisite mens rea for murder.3 Id. at 717. This was considered true whatever the nature of the underlying crime may have been. Id. at 692. Lord Coke’s traditional doctrine was heavily criticized for the harsh results it engendered, and it was severely limited even in early common-law history. Id. at 693-699. One of the earliest limitations on the traditional doctrine was limiting its application to those homicides that occurred during the commission of a felony or during the commission of an act that was intended to inflict great bodily injury. Id. at 696-697.

Additionally, in the early days of the English common law, the crime of “manslaughter” was developed. The crime of manslaughter in Michigan is adopted from that early common-law crime. See People v Datema, 448 Mich 585, 594; 533 NW2d 272 (1995): “ ‘The law of manslaughter as it exists today has been adopted from the old English common law.’ ” (Citation omitted.) Whereas, as noted above, malice is the mens rea required for murder, manslaughter requires a less culpable mens rea. “ ‘Manslaughter is the unlawful and felonious killing of another without malice, either express or implied.’ ” People v Austin, 221 Mich 635, 643; 192 NW 590 (1923) (citation omitted). Involuntary manslaughter has, first and foremost, always been [7]*7considered the “catch-all” homicide crime. Thus, in Datema, supra at 594-595, we explained, quoting Perkins & Boyce, Criminal Law (3d ed), p 105, that “[i]nvoluntary manslaughter is a catch-all concept including all manslaughter not characterized as voluntary: ‘Every unintentional killing of a human being is involuntary manslaughter if it is neither murder nor voluntary manslaughter nor within the scope of some recognized justification or excuse.’ ” Thus, the catch-all crime of involuntary manslaughter is typically characterized in terms of what it is not, and ascertaining whether a homicide is involuntary manslaughter requires essentially questioning first whether it is murder, voluntary manslaughter, or a justified or excused homicide. If it is none of those, then the homicide, generally, is involuntary manslaughter.

In attempting to describe the catch-all crime of involuntary manslaughter in terms of what it is, as opposed to what it is not, it made sense, starting in the days of early common law, to refer to those homicides that occurred during the commission of an unlawful act that was not intended to cause great bodily injury. This is because, as already explained, under traditional common law, a homicide that occurred during the commission of an unlawful act that was intended to cause great bodily injury constituted murder. Thus, as early as 1886, this Court elucidated the difference between murder and manslaughter in the following manner:

If an act is unlawful, or is such as duty does not demand, and of a tendency directly dangerous to life, however unintended, it will be murder. But if the act, though dangerous, is not directly so [i.e., is not directly dangerous to life], yet sufficiently dangerous to come under condemnation of the law [i.e., yet it is unlawful], and death unintended results from it, the offense is manslaughter; or if it is one of a nature to be lawful properly performed, and [8]*8it is performed improperly, and death comes from it unexpectedly, the offense still is manslaughter. [People v Stubenvoll, 62 Mich 329, 340; 28 NW 883 (1886) (quoting 2 Bishop, Criminal Law, § 689).][4]

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Bluebook (online)
684 N.W.2d 730, 471 Mich. 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-holtschlag-mich-2004.