-1-

S T A T E O F M I C H I G A N

C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

UNPUBLISHED

August 16, 2018

v No. 338986

Wayne Circuit Court

MICHAEL EDWARD JARRETT, LC No. 93-008770-01-FC

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: SWARTZLE, P.J., and CAVANAGH and M. J. KELLY, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant appeals as of right the trial court’s order denying his motion to apply earned 

disciplinary credits to his new term-of-years sentence imposed on resentencing pursuant to

Miller v Alabama, 567 US 460; 132 S Ct 2455; 183 L Ed 2d 407 (2012), and MCL 769.25a. 

Defendant contends that MCL 769.25a(6) unconstitutionally deprives him of the application of 

earned disciplinary credits to his term-of-years sentence. In accordance with this Court’s recent 

decision in People v Wiley, ___ Mich App ___, ___; ___ NW2d ___ (2018) (Docket No. 

336898), we affirm defendant’s term-of-years sentence, but hold that MCL 769.25a(6) is 

unconstitutional.

In 1993, a jury convicted defendant, then a juvenile, of first-degree premeditated murder, 

MCL 750.316(1)(a), and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, MCL 

750.227b. In 1994, the trial court sentenced defendant to life imprisonment without the 

possibility of parole for the murder conviction, and a consecutive two-year term of imprisonment 

for the felony-firearm conviction. Defendant later obtained resentencing pursuant to the United 

States Supreme Court’s decision in Miller, 567 US 460, and the Michigan Legislature’s 

enactment of MCL 769.25a, which provides sentencing procedures for juvenile offenders who 

had been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and had exhausted their appeals. On 

appeal, defendant challenges the constitutionality of MCL 769.25a(6), which proscribes the 

deduction of accumulated good time and disciplinary credits upon resentencing of a juvenile 

offender, stating:

A defendant who is resentenced under subsection (4) shall be given credit for time 

already served, but shall not receive any good time credits, special good time 

credits, disciplinary credits, or any other credits that reduce the defendant’s 

minimum or maximum sentence.
-2-

I. EX POST FACTO CLAUSE

Defendant argues that MCL 769.25a(6) deprives him of disciplinary credits in violation 

of the Ex Post Facto Clauses of the United States and Michigan Constitutions, US Const, art 1, § 

10; Const 1963, art 1, § 10, because it is a retroactive statute that increases his punishment. We 

agree.

As this Court noted in People v Callon, 256 Mich App 312, 317-318; 662 NW2d 501 

(2003), laws that violate ex post facto protections change the legal consequences of acts 

completed or crimes committed before the effective date of the law to the disadvantage of the 

defendant. So, for example, a statute enacted after a criminal act was committed which increases 

the punishment for that crime violates the Ex Post Facto Clauses. Riley v Parole Bd, 216 Mich 

App 242, 244; 548 NW2d 686 (1996). Defendant argues that MCL 769.25a(6), which was 

enacted after he committed his crimes, increases his punishment.

After defendant filed his claim of appeal, the United States District Court for the Eastern 

District of Michigan issued an opinion in Hill v Snyder, ___ F Supp 3d ___ (ED Mich, 2018)

(Case No. 10-cv-14568), concluding that MCL 769.25a(6) violates the Ex Post Facto Clause of 

the United States Constitution because it retroactively removed the plaintiffs’ (the juvenile 

offenders’) previously earned credits, thereby increasing their punishments.

Soon thereafter, in Wiley, this Court adopted the district court’s reasoning in Hill and held 

that MCL 769.25a(6) unconstitutionally deprives juvenile offenders of the application of earned 

disciplinary credits to their term-of-years sentences in violation of the Ex Post Facto Clauses of 

both the United States and Michigan Constitutions. Wiley, ___ Mich App at ___; slip op at 23. 

In Wiley, the defendants, who are similarly situated to defendant in this case, were convicted of 

first-degree murder as juveniles and originally sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. 

Id. at 5, 7. Pursuant to MCL 769.25a, each defendant was resentenced to a term-of-years 

sentence. The defendants appealed, arguing that MCL 769.25a(6) violates the Ex Post Facto 

Clauses of the United States and Michigan Constitutions, because it precluded them from 

receiving disciplinary credits on their term-of-years sentences, and thus is a statute that 

retroactively increased their punishments. Id. at 6-8. The Wiley Court agreed with the reasoning 

in Hill, which noted:

Good time and disciplinary credits are applied to a prisoner’s 

minimum and/or maximum sentence in order to determine his or 

her parole eligibility dates. Thus, if Michigan’s statutory scheme 

permitted any Plaintiff to earn good time or disciplinary credits at 

the time the Plaintiff’s crime was committed, the removal of such 

credits increases the Plaintiff’s punishment and violates the Ex 

Post Facto Clause. [Wiley, __ Mich App at ___; slip op at 14, 

quoting Hill, ___ F Supp 3d ___; slip op at 16 (footnote omitted).]

The Wiley Court ultimately concluded, consistent with the Hill decision, that the elimination of 

good time and disciplinary credits by MCL 769.25a(6) violated the Ex Post Facto Clauses and 

that the credits must be applied in calculating parole eligibility dates for prisoners resentenced 
-3-

under MCL 769.25a. Wiley, ___ Mich App at ___; slip op at 19-20, quoting Hill, ___ F Supp 3d 

at ___; slip op at 24.

In light of this Court’s decision in Wiley, we hold that MCL 769.25a(6) 

unconstitutionally deprives defendant of the application of earned disciplinary credits to his 

term-of-years sentence in violation of Ex Post Facto Clauses of the United States and Michigan 

Constitutions. Not only do we agree with the analysis in Wiley, but the decision is binding under 

MCR 7.215(J)(1). Accordingly, MCL 769.25a(6) may not be used to prevent defendant from 

having his accumulated disciplinary credits deducted from his minimum and maximum 

sentences in order to determine his parole eligibility.

II. DEFENDANT’S ADDITIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES

Because MCL 769.25a(6) is unconstitutional as a violation of the Ex Post Facto Clauses

of the United States and Michigan Constitutions, we need not address defendant’s additional 

arguments that MCL 769.25a(6) violates the Title-Object Clause of the Michigan Constitution

and the Equal Protection Clause of the United States and Michigan Constitutions, as well as 

deprives him of due process. Defendant has received the relief he requests—a declaration that 

MCL 769.25a(6) cannot be used to prevent the application of earned disciplinary credits in 

calculating his parole eligibility.

We affirm defendant’s term-of-years sentence, but hold that MCL 769.25a(6) is

unconstitutional.

/s/ Mark J. Cavanagh

/s/ Michael J. Kelly