People v. Mutchie

650 N.W.2d 733, 251 Mich. App. 273
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 23, 2002
DocketDocket 231777
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 650 N.W.2d 733 (People v. Mutchie) 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. Mutchie, 650 N.W.2d 733, 251 Mich. App. 273 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Defendant pleaded guilty of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) (sexual penetration by an assailant armed with a weapon), MCL 750.520b(l)(e), and one count of kidnapping, MCL 750.349. He was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of forty to one hundred years each for the first-degree CSC convictions and fifteen to twenty-five years for the kidnapping conviction. He appeals by delayed leave granted. We affirm.

This Court granted defendant’s application for leave to appeal limited to the issue of the trial court’s interpretation of Offense Variable (ov) 11 of the legislative sentencing guidelines, MCL 777.41. After reviewing the record, we conclude that the scoring issue is moot because, even if there were error, resentencing is not warranted given the trial court’s remarks that it would have imposed the same sentences regardless of the scoring of ov 11.

Resentencing requires an invalid sentence. In re Dana Jenkins, 438 Mich 364, 369, n 3; 475 NW2d 279 (1991). As an example, a sentence based on a miscon *275 ception of the law is invalid. People v Miles, 454 Mich 90, 96; 559 NW2d 299 (1997).

More generally, there must be some “legal flaw” in a sentence, People v Mapp, 224 Mich App 431, 434; 569 NW2d 523 (1997), or a “tangible legal or procedural error” leading to a sentence, People v Wybrecht, 222 Mich App 160, 167; 564 NW2d 903 (1997), in order to consider it “invalid” and justify resentencing. [People v Thenghkam, 240 Mich App 29, 70-71, 610 NW2d 571 (2000).]

Because it is clear from the trial court’s remarks at the hearing on defendant’s motion to withdraw his plea or for resentencing that it would have found substantial and compelling reasons to depart from the sentencing guidelines recommended range, even if ov 11 were improperly scored, and because MCL 769.34(3) authorizes such departures, People v Hegwood, 465 Mich 432, 439-440; 636 NW2d 127 (2001); People v Babcock, 244 Mich App 64, 72; 624 NW2d 479 (2000), we conclude that any error in the scoring of ov 11 was harmless.

In any event, we are satisfied that ov 11 was properly scored in this case. We note that each of defendant’s three esc convictions was subject to the legislative sentencing guidelines, MCL 777.21(2), and that ov 11, MCL 777.41, was applicable to each offense because first-degree esc is categorized as a crime against a person. MCL 777.16y and MCL 777.22(1). Ov 11 unambiguously provides that each of the three instructions set forth in MCL 777.41(2) apply to the scoring of ov 11.

In construing these instructions in the context of defendant’s first-degree esc sentencing offenses, we must initially consider the meaning of the language found in MCL 777.41(2)(a), to wit; “all sexual penetra *276 tions of the victim by the offender arising out of the sentencing offense.” Words in a statute should be given a meaning, by context or setting, according to the common usage of language. Macomb Co Prosecutor v Murphy, 464 Mich 149, 158-159; 627 NW2d 247 (2001). Thus, while the phrase “arising out of” is not statutorily defined, relying on the common dictionary definition of “arise” to ascertain its generally accepted meaning, we note that Random House Webster’s College Dictionary (1992), provides:

1. to get up from sitting, lying, or kneeling, rise .... 2. to awaken; wake up. 3. to move upward; ascend .... 4. to appear; spring up .... 5. to result; spring or issue (sometimes fol. by from) ....

We find the fifth definition most consistent with a contextual analysis of the phrase “arising out of the sentencing offense.” Hence, MCL 777.41(2)(a) suggests that sexual penetration of the victim must result or spring from the sentencing offense. We further note that “arising out of” has been interpreted by this Court in other contexts as requiring a connection between the injury and the underlying matter. Specifically, in construing a pollution exclusion clause in an insurance policy, this Court observed:

Next, plaintiffs argue that neither the pollutant nor their injuries arose out of Hi-Tech’s product as required by the pollution exclusion clause. First, plaintiffs contend that their injuries did not arise out of Hi-Tech’s product because their injuries occurred when they were attempting to clean up the TDI spill, not during the initial spill. Second, plaintiffs contend that the pollution did not arise out of Hi-Tech’s product because plaintiffs were injured by the TDI. We reject both arguments. A count cannot create ambiguity where none exists. [Auto-Owners Ins Co v] Churchman, *277 [440 Mich 560; 489 NW2d 431 (1992)]. While the term “arising out of” does not appear to have been defined in the context of a CGL policy, it has been interpreted in the areas of worker’s compensation and automobile insurance law. To establish that an injury arose out of employment, the employee must illustrate that the. injury occurred “as a circumstance of or incident to the employment relationship.” MacDonald v Michigan Bell, Telephone Co, 132 Mich App 688, 692; 348 NW2d 12 (1984). To establish that an injury arose out of an automobile accident, the claimant must illustrate a causal connection that is more than incidental, fortuitous, or remote between the use of the motor vehicle and the injury. Jones v Tronex Chemical Corp, 129 Mich App 188, 192; 341 NW2d 469 (1983), quoting DAIIE v Higginbotham, 95 Mich App 213, 222; 290 NW2d 414 (1980). In this case, both the chemical release and plaintiffs’ injuries have significantly more than a remote connection to Hi-Tech’s defective product. [McKusick v Travelers Indemnity Co, 246 Mich App 329, 340-341; 632 NW2d 525 (2001), lv pending.]

Regardless of which definition of “arising out of” we apply in the case at bar, we conclude that the result would be the same. Because all three sexual penetrations perpetrated by defendant against the victim occurred at the same place, under the same set of circumstances, and during the same course of conduct, regardless of which first-degree esc conviction one deems the “sentencing offense” for purposes of ov 11, the other two sexual penetrations unambiguously fall within the scope of “sexual penetrations of the victim by the offender arising out of the sentencing offense.” 1 Indeed, relying on MCL 777.41(2)(a) *278 alone, the one penetration that forms the basis of the sentencing offense itself would also be included because “all” sexual penetrations arising out of the sentencing offense are to be scored. 2

With this construction and application of MCL 777.41(2)(a) in place, we must determine if either MCL 777.41(2)(b) or (c) bars the use of any of the sexual penetrations for purposes of scoring. MCL 777.41(2)(b) states only that “[m]ultiple sexual penetrations of the victim by the offender extending beyond the sentencing offense may

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Bluebook (online)
650 N.W.2d 733, 251 Mich. App. 273, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-mutchie-michctapp-2002.