Case Name: PEOPLE v. BURNS
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1981-10-21
Citations: 110 Mich. App. 680
Docket Number: Docket No. 54450
Parties: PEOPLE v BURNS
Judges: Before: Bashara, P.J., and J. H. Gillis and V. J. Brennan, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 110
Pages: 680–683

Head Matter:
PEOPLE v BURNS
Docket No. 54450.
Submitted September 16, 1981, at Detroit.
Decided October 21, 1981.
Michael Burns pled guilty in Detroit Recorder’s Court to several charges including a charge of violating the felony-firearm statute. The plea was accepted and defendant was sentenced, Edward M. Thomas, J. Defendant appeals, contending that there was an insufficient factual basis presented at the guilty-plea proceeding to support the felony-firearm conviction. The prosecutor concedes that error was committed. Held:
The record does not show that defendant assisted the accomplice to obtain or retain possession of the firearm which the accomplice possessed during the commission of the felony. The matter is remanded for further proceedings on the felony-firearm charge.
Remanded.
V. J. Brennan, J., dissented. He would hold that the guilty plea transcript provides a sufficient factual basis from which an inculpatory inference could reasonably be drawn to sustain defendant’s voluntary plea of guilty to the felony-firearm charge as an aider and abettor and that remand is unnecessary. He would affirm defendant’s conviction.
Opinion of the Court
1. Criminal Law — Guilty Pleas — Court Rules.
A trial court, before accepting a defendant’s guilty plea, must establish by questioning the defendant that there is support for a finding that he is guilty of the offense charged or the offense to which he is pleading (GCR 1963, 785.7[3][a]).
2. Criminal Law — Felony-Firearm — Aiding and Abetting — Statutes.
A conviction for aiding and abetting the commission of a sepa rately charged crime of carrying or having a firearm in one’s possession during the commission of a felony requires that it be established that the defendant procured, counselled, aided, or abetted and so assisted in obtaining the proscribed possession, or in retaining such possession otherwise obtained (MCL 750.227b, 767.39; MSA 28.424[2], 28.979).
References for Points in Headnotes
21 Am Jur 2d, Criminal Law § 489.
21 Am Jur 2d, Criminal Law § 167.
79 Am Jur 2d, Weapons and Firearms § 15.
Validity and construction of gun control laws. 28 ALR3d 845.
Dissent by V. J. Brennan, J.
3. Criminal Law — Felony-Firearm — Guilty Pleas — Sufficient Factual Basis.
It is unnecessary to remand a case for further proceedings on a felony-ñrearm charge where the defendant voluntarily pled guilty to the charge and the guilty plea transcript provides a sufficient factual basis from which an inculpatory inference can reasonably be drawn to sustain the plea.
Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Robert A. Derengoski, Solicitor General, William L. Cabalan, Prosecuting Attorney, Edward Reilly Wilson, Principal Attorney, Appeals, and Robert J. Sheiko, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.
Arthur R. Spears, Jr., for defendant on appeal.
Before: Bashara, P.J., and J. H. Gillis and V. J. Brennan, JJ.

Opinion:
Bashara, P.J.
Defendant appeals his plea-based conviction for violation of the felony-firearm statute, MCL 750.227b; MSA 28.424(2). He contends that there was an insufficient factual basis presented at the guilty-plea proceeding to support the conviction. GCR 1963, 785.7(3)(a). The prosecutor concedes error.
We have reviewed the transcript in light of People v Johnson, 411 Mich 50; 303 NW2d 442 (1981). In that case, the Court stated:
"To convict one of aiding and abetting the commission of a separately charged crime of carrying or having a firearm in one's possession during the commission of a felony, it must be established that the defendant procured, counselled, aided, or abetted and so assisted in obtaining the proscribed possession, or in retaining such possession otherwise obtained. See People v Doemer, 35 Mich App 149; 192 NW2d 330 (1971); People v Francis, 71 Cal 2d 66; 450 P2d 591; 75 Cal Rptr 199 (1969).
"In neither of the instant cases does the record show that the defendant assisted the accomplice to obtain or retain possession of the firearm which the accomplice possessed during the commission of the felony." Johnson, supra, 54.
The facts in the present case do not appear to be distinguishable from those presented in Johnson. Accordingly, the matter is remanded for further proceedings on the felony-firearm charge. Although the defendant has raised no issue with regard to the other convictions, our review of the transcript reveals no other reversible error. We do not retain jurisdiction.
J. H. Gillis, J., concurred.