People v. Krim

559 N.W.2d 366, 220 Mich. App. 314
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 25, 1997
DocketDocket 169682
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 559 N.W.2d 366 (People v. Krim) 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. Krim, 559 N.W.2d 366, 220 Mich. App. 314 (Mich. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Defendant pleaded guilty of unarmed robbery, MCL 750.530; MSA 28.798, and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, MCL 750.84; MSA 28.279. He was sentenced to the respective terms of three to fifteen years’ and two to ten years’ imprisonment. Defendant originally filed a claim of appeal as of right while the prosecution filed an application for a delayed cross appeal. This Court granted the prosecution’s application for leave to appeal. Defendant’s claim of appeal was eventually dismissed by stipulation of the parties. Therefore, the only issue to resolve involves the prosecution’s challenge to defendant’s sentences. We affirm.

Defendant was originally charged with assault with intent to commit murder, MCL 750.83; MSA 28.278, and unarmed robbery. He agreed to plead guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and of unarmed robbery in exchange for dismissal of the charge of assault with intent to commit murder.

At the plea hearing, defendant admitted that on February 7, 1993, he was involved in an assault on the victim in a parking lot in Madison Heights. Defendant admitted slapping the victim around and injuring her when he struck her in the face two or three times. When he left the scene of the crime, he believed that the victim was unable to move. Defendant also admitted that he aided and abetted his codefendant in rob *316 bing the victim of her purse. The victim’s purse was later found in a garage at the house where defendant was then living.

The victim gave the court her version of the offense. The victim could not recall much of the crime, but remembered that she had been at a bar with a girlfriend and that she thought that she had had five or six drinks. The next thing that she could recall was two white males kicking and hitting her in the head and legs. She could not identify the men. She also recalled someone lying on top of her. She remembered waking up in a dumpster and she did not have any clothing on below her waist. She thought she was in the dumpster for hours. The victim found help at a nearby business.

The victim had bruises on her legs and the entire left side of her face was swollen. One of the bruises resembled a shoe heel. Her left eye was swollen shut. She was hospitalized for three days and, at the time of the plea hearing, she still had some bruising and swelling from the attack. She feared that the men involved in the attack would still come after her because they had taken her purse.

The trial court sentenced defendant to a term of three to fifteen years’ imprisonment for the unarmed robbery conviction and two to ten years’ imprisonment for the assault conviction. On the record at the time of sentencing, the trial court ruled that “You [defendant] will be scheduled for the prisoner sai [Special Alternative Incarceration] program” as part of its sentencing decision. The trial court also noted in the judgment that defendant was eligible to participate in the SAI program.

*317 Defendant’s codefendant pleaded guilty of the same crimes and he was sentenced at the same hearing as defendant. The codefendant received sentences of six to fifteen years’ imprisonment and one to ten years’ imprisonment.

The prosecution filed a postjudgment motion asking the court to modify its sentencing decision regarding defendant’s eligibility for the SAI program (or boot camp). However, the trial court denied the motion for the following reasons:

The Court: The question here is whether or not the Court may revoke a sentence providing the S.A.I. Alternative Boot Camp if it’s otherwise been validly imposed and it was not objected to by the People. Under the circumstances, the Court does believe after reviewing both sentences itself— the Friday morning, I believe it was July 9th that it occurred, that there was more than adequate time on behalf of the People to object to any facet of this sentence that was being recommended by Probation. The Court painstakingly went through the Sentence Guidelines as to both Defendants and asked for each and every objection to accuracy or relevancy both by the People and the Defendant and as it relates to any other things they wish to say on behalf of their respective clients.
At no point did this Court observe, in reviewing the tape, that the S.A.I. Alternative Boot Camp was ever objected to and the Court believes under the circumstances that this Court is without authority' to modify the sentence as requested by the People. For those reasons, the Court denies the People’s request.

On appeal, the prosecution argues that defendant’s sentences violate the principle of proportionality because the trial court’s sentencing decision allowed defendant to serve the sentences in boot camp. The prosecution argues that the sentences are disproportionate because defendant actually served only a total *318 of nine months (approximately five months in the county jail, one month in intake, and three months in boot camp). We need not reach the merits of the prosecution’s argument for the reason that the prosecution failed to object below to the sai placement alternative.

The trial court specifically provided at sentencing that defendant was eligible to serve time in boot camp pursuant to the Special Alternative Incarceration Act, MCL 798.11 et seq.; MSA 28.2356(1) et seq. This relatively new statute allows for certain offenders sentenced to prison to serve alternative sentences in boot camps if they meet the statutory eligibility requirements. MCL 798.13(2); MSA 28.2356(3)(2). Placement in a boot camp was formerly limited to defendants sentenced to probation, MCL 798.13(1); MSA 28.2356(3)(1).

An offender may be placed in an sai unit for not less than 90 days or more than 120 days, MCL 791.234a(6); MSA 28.2304(1)(6). Upon completion of the sai program, the prisoner is placed on parole for not less than eighteen months or the balance of the minimum sentence, whichever is greater. MCL 791.234a(7); MSA 28.2304(1)(7).

The SAI Act includes certain procedures and eligibility requirements. MCL 791.234a; MSA 28.2304(1) provides in relevant part as follows: 1

(1) A prisoner sentenced either before, on, or after the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section to an indeterminate term of imprisonment under the juris *319 diction of the department shall be considered by the department for placement in a special alternative incarceration unit established under section 3 of the special alternative incarceration act, Act No. 287 of the Public Acts of 1988, being section 798.13 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, if the prisoner meets the eligibility requirements of subsections (2) and (3). For a prisoner committed to the jurisdiction of the department on or after March 19, 1992, the department shall determine before the prisoner leaves the reception center whether the prisoner is eligible for placement in a special alternative incarceration unit, although actual placement may take place at a later date. A determination of eligibility does not guarantee placement in a unit.

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Bluebook (online)
559 N.W.2d 366, 220 Mich. App. 314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-krim-michctapp-1997.