Title: People v. Guy Taylor

State: michigan

Issuer: Michigan Supreme Court

Document:

Decided September 17, 1985.
Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Louis J. Caruso, Solicitor General, John D. O'Hair, Prosecuting Attorney, Edward Reilly Wilson, Deputy Chief, Civil and Appeals, and Timothy A. Baughman, Principal Attorney, Research, Training and Appeals, for the people in Guy Taylor and Johnson, and Rosemary A. Gordon, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people in Ronald Taylor.
Alan L. Kaufman for defendant Guy Taylor.
State Appellate Defender (by Peter Jon Van *556 Hoek) for defendant Johnson and (by Gail Rodwan) for defendant Ronald Taylor.
PER CURIAM:
The issue in these cases is whether an actual intent to kill is an element of the crime of assault with intent to commit murder. MCL 750.83; MSA 28.278. The prosecution concedes that it is, and we therefore address the question whether to reduce these assault convictions.
I
On October 22, 1977, defendant Guy D. Taylor shot a man named Billy Fuller. The shooting occurred during a confrontation that appears to have been the result of some earlier gang-related animosity. At a bench trial in December of 1977, the defendant was found guilty, as charged, of assault with intent to murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a pistol with the intent to use it unlawfully. MCL 750.83, 750.227b, 750.226; MSA 28.278, 28.424(2), 28.423. In finding the defendant guilty, the trial court made the following findings:
The defendant was sentenced to a term of from fifteen to twenty-five years in prison for assault with intent to murder, two years in prison for felony-firearm, and from two to five years in prison for possession of a pistol with the intent to use it unlawfully.
*559 The Court of Appeals affirmed.[1] The defendant then filed a letter request for review pursuant to Administrative Order No. 1977-4, 400 Mich lxvii (1977).[2] This Court directed that counsel be appointed for the defendant. After he filed a delayed application for leave to appeal, we granted leave to appeal.[3]People v Guy Taylor, 419 Mich 879 (1984).
II
On May 19, 1978, Andre Witcher was shot, receiving injuries that have since confined him to a wheelchair. Defendant Marvin Johnson was part of a group of people involved in the melee in which Witcher was shot. Johnson was charged with assault with intent to murder.[4] MCL 750.83; MSA 28.278. The defendant was tried before a jury in June of 1979, and was found guilty as charged. The jury was given the following instructions concerning *560 the intent needed to commit the crime of assault with intent to murder:[5]
The defendant was sentenced to a term of from twenty to forty years in prison.
The Court of Appeals affirmed. People v Johnson, 116 Mich App 452; 323 NW2d 439 (1982). We then granted leave to appeal.[6]People v Johnson, 419 Mich 879 (1984).
III
On January 1, 1982, defendant Ronald G. Taylor fired a large number of shots at the home of a Romulus family named Webb. A daughter was killed, and the mother and two other children were wounded. The father and a fourth child were present at the time of the attack, but were not wounded. The defendant was charged with first-degree murder, five counts of assault with intent to murder, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of the murder and assaults. MCL 750.316, 750.83, 750.227b; MSA 28.548, 28.278, 28.424(2).
A bench trial took place in July of 1982. At the conclusion of trial, the defendant was found guilty of second-degree murder and was otherwise convicted as charged. MCL 750.317; MSA 28.549. The trial court explained:
Do you have any questions, gentlemen?
The Court: I'm sorry, yes, that is correct.
The defendant was sentenced to a term of from twenty to forty years in prison for murder, five terms of from fifteen to forty years in prison for assault, and two years in prison for felony-firearm.
The Court of Appeals affirmed. People v Ronald Taylor, 133 Mich App 762; 350 NW2d 318 (1984). The same day, the Court of Appeals certified a conflict[7] with People v Davis, 126 Mich App 66; 337 NW2d 315 (1983), a case discussing adequacy of findings at a bench trial. This Court granted leave to appeal. People v Ronald Taylor, 419 Mich 879 (1984).
*567 IV
We explained in People v Aaron, 409 Mich 672, 722; 299 NW2d 304 (1980), that there are several intents which can support a murder conviction. There can be an intent to kill, an intent to inflict great bodily harm, or a wanton and wilful disregard of the likelihood that the natural tendency of the actor's behavior is to cause death or great bodily harm.
However, the issue before us concerns assault with intent to murder. The prosecution correctly concedes in all three of these cases that, in order to find a defendant guilty of this crime, it is necessary to find that there was an actual intent to kill. Maher v People, 10 Mich 212, 217-218 (1862), Roberts v People, 19 Mich 401, 415-416 (1870).
As we explained in this passage from Roberts, one may, of course, draw reasonable inferences to assist in making the finding of an actual intention to kill.
V
Guy Taylor and Ronald Taylor were convicted following bench trials. In neither case did the trial court find that the defendant intended to kill. Likewise, the jury that convicted Johnson was not instructed that it needed to find an intent to kill. In Guy Taylor and Ronald Taylor, the prosecution argues that the trial judge did, in effect, find an actual intent to kill. Likewise, the prosecution argues in Johnson that the jury instructions were such that a guilty verdict was necessarily grounded on a finding of an actual intent to kill. We disagree, since we can locate in neither the findings nor the instructions the requisite language concerning an intent to kill. In none of these cases can the error be said to be harmless, *569 since each arose under circumstances equally suggestive of a lesser intent.
In Johnson and Ronald Taylor, we remand the case to the trial court for entry of a judgment of guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, and for resentencing. MCL 750.84; MSA 28.279. If, however, the prosecuting attorney is persuaded that the ends of justice would be better served, on notification of the trial court before resentencing, the trial court shall vacate the judgment of conviction and grant a new trial on the charge that the defendant committed the crime of assault with intent to murder.
Because the findings in Guy Taylor are unclear as to exactly what was intended by the defendant, we remand that case to the trial court for clarification of its findings of fact. Within twenty-one days of the date this opinion is filed, the Recorder's Court of the City of Detroit shall file with the clerk of this Court supplemental findings of fact stating whether Guy Taylor had an actual intent to kill, and the basis for that finding. If the trial court finds that Guy Taylor was without an actual intent to kill, it shall find what intent he did possess, and shall state the basis for that finding.
As to defendants' remaining issues, we are no longer persuaded that those questions should be reviewed by this Court. We retain jurisdiction in Guy Taylor. We do not retain jurisdiction in Johnson or Ronald Taylor.
WILLIAMS, C.J., and LEVIN, RYAN, BRICKLEY, CAVANAGH, and BOYLE, JJ., concurred.
RILEY, J., concurred in Ronald Taylor only, and took no part in the decision of Guy Taylor or Johnson.
[1]  "The defendant was convicted in a bench trial of assault with intent to murder, MCL 750.83; MSA 28.278, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, MCL 750.227b; MSA 28.424(2), and carrying a firearm with unlawful intent, MCL 750.226; MSA 28.423. Defendant was sentenced to 15 to 25 years imprisonment on the first count, 2 to 5 years imprisonment on the second count, and 2 years imprisonment on the third count; defendant appeals as of right.

"A review of the record and briefs and the issues raised therein discloses no prejudicial error. See, Wayne County Prosecutor v Recorder's Court Judge, [406 Mich 374; 280 NW2d 793 (1979)], People v Eisenberg, 72 Mich App 106, 113-115; 249 NW2d 313 (1976), and People v Johnson, 54 Mich App 303; 220 NW2d 705 (1974).
"Affirmed." Unpublished memorandum opinion of the Court of Appeals, decided November 1, 1979 (Docket No. 78-650).
[2]  Cf. Administrative Order No. 1983-4, 417 Mich cxxii (1983); MCR 7.303.
[3]  We had earlier held the case in abeyance, pending our decision in People v Dykhouse, 418 Mich 488; 345 NW2d 150 (1984). People v Taylor, 414 Mich 877 (1982).
[4]  He was also charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of the assault, but that charge was later dismissed. MCL 750.227b; MSA 28.424(2).
[5]  Supplemental instructions, given at the jury's request, were similar:

"You ask about the intent. Let me once again tell you that, under the law, two of the crimes that I have charged you on, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, are specific intent crimes. Meaning that they have to be specific intent crimes. Meaning that they have to be specifically intended, the results, in order to find that the defendant is guilty.
"In felonious assault, which I also defined for you, it is what we call a general intent crime. It is not any specific intent. But in the other two there has to be specific intent.
"I will, once again, read to you the charge relative to specific intent. Beginning:
"When a certain intent is a necessary element in a crime, the crime cannot have been committed when the intent did not exist.
"Intent is a decision of the mind to knowingly do an act with a conscious, fully formed objective of accomplishing a certain specific result.
"Therefore, there can be no crime of assault with intent to commit murder or  nor can there be any crime of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, under our law where there is no intent, in the case of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, where there is no intent to do great bodily harm, and the burden rests upon the prosecution to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant at the time of doing the alleged act had that wrongful intent.
"The wrongful intent; that is, the intent to murder or  the intent to do great bodily harm; that is the wrongful intent we're speaking of.
"The intent with which a person does an act is known by the way in which he expresses it to others or indicates it by his conduct. The intent with which a person does an act can sometimes be determined from the manner in which it is done, the method used and all other facts and circumstances, but only if that intent is established by the evidence.
"Therefore, if you find that the defendant, for any reason whatsoever, did not consciously and knowingly act with the intent, first, to murder, then the crime cannot have been committed and you must find the defendant not guilty of the crime of assault with intent to murder.
* * *
"Now, if from all of the evidence you have a reasonable doubt as to whether or not the defendant knowingly and consciously acted with the intent, first, to murder, then you must find the defendant not guilty of the crime of assault with intent to commit murder."
[6]  This case too had been held in abeyance for Dykhouse. People v Johnson, unreported order entered March 21, 1983.
[7]  Administrative Order No. 1984-2, 418 Mich lxxxii (1984).