People v. Jones

476 N.W.2d 646, 190 Mich. App. 509
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 5, 1991
DocketDocket 123571
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 476 N.W.2d 646 (People v. Jones) 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. Jones, 476 N.W.2d 646, 190 Mich. App. 509 (Mich. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

Fitzgerald, J.

Pursuant to a plea agreement in which a charge of retail fraud was dismissed, *510 defendant pleaded guilty of jail escape, MCL 750.197(2); MSA 28.394(2). At the time of the plea, defendant was awaiting sentencing in another case for a conviction of attempted larceny over $100. Defendant was sentenced for the larceny conviction to 1 Vi to 2 Vi years’ imprisonment, and was subsequently sentenced to a consecutive term of two to four years for the escape conviction. In this appeal as of right, defendant seeks vacation of her plea-based conviction or resentencing, arguing that there was an inadequate factual basis for her plea. We agree and reverse.

i

Defendant was charged with the four-year felony of jail escape, MCL 750.197(2); MSA 28.349(2), on the basis of the following allegations in the information:

[Defendant] did, being a person lawfully imprisoned in jail or place of confinement established by law, to-wit: the Genesee County Jail, leave said jaU or place of confinement without being discharged from same by due process of law while awaiting sentencing on a felony.

On December 19, 1988, defendant pleaded guilty to the charge in exchange for the dismissal of a pending retail fraud charge. At the time of the plea, defendant was awaiting sentencing in another case for a conviction of attempted larceny over $100. The factual basis of the plea was defendant’s admission that on October 4, 1988, she was in jail while awaiting sentencing in the attempted larceny case. Defendant explained that the escape charge was based on her failure to report to the jail after being conditionally released in accor *511 dance with an overcrowded-jail program. 1 The terms of defendant’s release permitted her to leave the jail with the requirement of reporting to the jail every evening. Defendant was taken into custody pursuant to a bench warrant on November 26, and subsequently pleaded guilty to the escape charge.

Defendant filed a motion to withdraw her guilty plea on the ground that the factual basis of the plea was inadequate. Defendant argued that she had been released from jail under the "Conditional Release Program,” that a condition of her release required that she report to the sheriff’s department daily, and that her failure to report was not an escape as contemplated by the statute.

Following a hearing on defendant’s motion on September 25, 1989, the trial judge found the statute applicable to defendant and denied defendant’s motion to withdraw her plea:

I consider that the conditional release is not a release from jail. It is an allowance by the person to be gone from the confines of the jail at certain times, mostly during the evening, during when they have need of the bed space, frankly.
When she violates a rule, the same as the Department of Corrections uses when a placement at the ymca here in Flint, for instance, any failure to comply with the terms or a failure to report as required, it is considered an escape.

II

A factual basis to support a plea exists if an inculpatory inference can be drawn from what the defendant has admitted. Guilty Plea Cases, 395 Mich 96, 128-132; 235 NW2d 132 (1975). This holds *512 true even if an exculpatory inference could also be drawn and the defendant asserts that the latter is the correct inference. Id., p 130. Even if the defendant denies an element of the crime, the court may properly accept the plea if an inculpatory inference can still be drawn from what the defendant says. People v Haack, 396 Mich 367, 374-375; 240 NW2d 704 (1976).

There is no absolute right to withdrawal of a guilty plea. When first made after sentencing, a motion to withdraw a guilty plea addresses itself to the sound discretion of the trial court, and the trial court’s decision will not be disturbed unless there is a clear abuse of discretion resulting in a miscarriage of justice. People v Rettelle, 173 Mich App 196, 200; 433 NW2d 401 (1988).

There is no dispute that defendant was conditionally released from jail before sentencing pursuant to the jail-overcrowding statute, MCL 801.55(a); MSA 28.1748(5)(a), which authorizes conditional releases from jail, along with possible bail reductions and releases on recognizance, as means of remedying jail overcrowding. There also appears to be no dispute that defendant knowingly and intentionally violated the condition of her release from jail pending sentencing. The sole issue, therefore, is a statutory one; namely, whether defendant’s failure to report is a violation of MCL 750.197(2); MSA 28.394(2), which provides in pertinent part:

A person lawfully imprisoned in a jail . . . awaiting . . . sentence for a felony . . . who leaves the jail without being discharged from the jail . . . by due process of law ... is guilty of a felony.

Where a statute is clear and unambiguous, judicial construction or interpretation is precluded. *513 Wills v Iron Co Bd of Canvassers, 183 Mich App 797, 801; 455 NW2d 405 (1990). If construction is warranted, this Court is obliged to determine and give effect to the intention of the Legislature and assign words their ordinary, normally accepted meaning. Joy Management Co v Detroit, 176 Mich App 722, 730; 440 NW2d 654 (1989). When determining legislative intent, statutory language should be given a reasonable construction considering its purpose and the object sought to be accomplished. An act must be read in its entirety, giving due consideration to all sections so as to produce, if possible, an harmonious and consistent enactment of the whole. Wills, supra at 801. The Legislature is presumed to be familiar with the rules of statutory construction. Victorson v Dep’t of Treasury, 183 Mich App 318, 323; 454 NW2d 256 (1990).

The felony provision at issue here specifically deals with jails. The provision was amended by 1987 PA 212 to add that a person who leaves jail pursuant to a day parole, and fails to return, does not violate the statute unless there is an intent to escape from imprisonment. However, the day-parole provision does not apply in this case. The day-parole provision provides for nighttime imprisonment, and failure to return to the jail with an intent to escape constitutes a violation of the statute. Because in the instant case defendant’s conditional release provided for a reporting requirement rather than imprisonment, it is illogical to say that defendant’s failure to report constitutes an escape from imprisonment under the terms of the statute.

The Legislature has failed to specifically address non-day-parole releases such as a conditional release under an overcrowded-jail program. The statute merely prohibits a person from leaving the jail *514 without being discharged from the jail by due process of law.

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

Related

People of Michigan v. James Franklin Cook
Michigan Court of Appeals, 2018
People of Michigan v. Matthew James Trojanek
Michigan Court of Appeals, 2016
People v. Fonville
804 N.W.2d 878 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2011)
People v. Williams
620 N.W.2d 906 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2001)
Rhode v. Department of Corrections
578 N.W.2d 320 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1998)
People v. Ovalle
564 N.W.2d 147 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1997)
People v. Armstrong
536 N.W.2d 789 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1995)
People v. Effinger
536 N.W.2d 809 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1995)
Smeester v. Pub-N-Grub, Inc.
527 N.W.2d 5 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1995)
People v. Thew
506 N.W.2d 547 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1993)
People v. Sledge
503 N.W.2d 672 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1993)
People v. Todd
492 N.W.2d 521 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
476 N.W.2d 646, 190 Mich. App. 509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-jones-michctapp-1991.