People v. Urban

908 N.W.2d 564, 321 Mich. App. 198
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 18, 2017
DocketNo. 332734
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 908 N.W.2d 564 (People v. Urban) 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. Urban, 908 N.W.2d 564, 321 Mich. App. 198 (Mich. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Boonstra, J.

*201Defendant appeals by right his convictions, following a jury trial, of unlawful *569imprisonment, MCL 750.349b, assault with a dangerous weapon, MCL 750.82, and domestic violence, MCL 750.81(2), as a lesser included offense of aggravated domestic violence, MCL 750.81a(2). Defendant was acquitted of an additional charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and a charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (felony-firearm), MCL 750.227b. The trial court sentenced defendant to concurrent prison terms of 7 to 15 years for the unlawful-imprisonment conviction, 2 to 4 years for the conviction of assault with a dangerous weapon, and 93 days for the domestic-violence conviction. We affirm.

I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Defendant's convictions relate to the extended confinement and assault of his girlfriend, MH, in his *202home. During the period of confinement, defendant choked and kicked MH, attempted to force her to drink alcohol, threatened to rape and kill her, hit her with a handgun and liquor bottle, and held the handgun to her face and chest, and put the handgun in her mouth. MH testified that defendant was armed with both a handgun and a sawed-off shotgun during the incident. She further testified that defendant forced her to unload and reload the magazine of the handgun several times. At some point, defendant tripped while taking off his pants and underwear, and MH was able to grab the handgun and escape to a neighbor's house. Eaton County Sheriff's Deputies arrested defendant and recovered a loaded handgun but could not locate a shotgun.

At trial, a forensic scientist testified that DNA taken from saliva found on the handgun contained a mix of donors and could not be conclusively matched. However, DNA taken from blood on a tank top and from blood on a door in defendant's home matched that of MH, and DNA taken from blood on a pillowcase matched that of defendant. MH testified that at times during the incident, defendant spoke in Arabic and made statements related to the Islamic religion. Defendant argued that MH was exaggerating; he described the incident as a "brawl" between defendant and MH that had resulted in injuries to both parties. Outside the view of the jury, defense counsel had MH load the magazine of the handgun that had been found in defendant's home. MH first put the magazine in backwards but eventually succeeded in loading the gun. The trial court instructed the jury that MH had demonstrated that she had the physical strength to load the magazine of the handgun.

The jury convicted defendant as described. At sentencing, the trial court scored Offense Variables (OVs)

*2034 (psychological injury to a victim) and 7 (aggravated physical abuse) at 10 and 50 points respectively. This appeal followed.

II. ADMISSION OF DNA EVIDENCE

Defendant argues on appeal that the trial court improperly admitted DNA evidence because the prosecution failed to present the required statistical analysis. We disagree. Defendant did not object to the admission of this evidence at trial; we therefore review defendant's challenge to its admission for plain error affecting substantial rights. People v. Carines , 460 Mich. 750, 763, 597 N.W.2d 130 (1999). Reversal is warranted only if the plain error resulted in the conviction of an innocent defendant or if the error "seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings independent of the defendant's innocence." Id . (quotation marks, citation, and alteration omitted).

In People v. Coy , 243 Mich. App. 283, 294, 620 N.W.2d 888 (2000), this Court *570concluded that evidence of a potential match between a subject's DNA sample and DNA found on evidence was "inadmissible absent some accompanying interpretive evidence regarding the likelihood of the potential match." That is, "some qualitative or quantitative interpretation must accompany evidence of [a] potential [DNA] match." Id . at 302, 620 N.W.2d 888. The Coy Court reasoned that the scientific evidence of a possible DNA match between a defendant's DNA and DNA found on evidence would not assist the jury, as MRE 702 generally requires, without "some analytic or interpretive evidence concerning the likelihood or significance of a DNA profile match...." Id . at 301, 620 N.W.2d 888.1 Alternatively, *204the Court held that evidence of a potential DNA match had "minimal probative value absent accompanying interpretive statistical analysis evidence," id. at 302, 620 N.W.2d 888, and should be excluded in accordance with MRE 403 when weighed against the danger of unfair prejudice, which would result if the jury were to give the DNA evidence undue weight. Id . at 303, 620 N.W.2d 888.2

In this case, a forensic scientist testified that the DNA profiles on the tank top, and the bedroom door matched MH's DNA profile and excluded defendant as the donor. The forensic scientist further testified that the DNA profile on a pillowcase matched defendant's DNA and excluded MH as a donor. The forensic scientist was not asked at trial to provide any empirical data to define the statistical parameters of a DNA "match." However, her report was admitted into evidence, and it contained the testing methodology used, as well as her conclusions and interpretations of the data.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
908 N.W.2d 564, 321 Mich. App. 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-urban-michctapp-2017.