Case Name: PEOPLE v. GAINES
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1997-04-25
Citations: 223 Mich. App. 230
Docket Number: Docket No. 185006
Parties: PEOPLE v GAINES
Judges: Before: Sawyer, P.J., and Marilyn Kelly and D. A. Burress , JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 223
Pages: 230–240

Head Matter:
PEOPLE v GAINES
Docket No. 185006.
Submitted October 15, 1996, at Detroit.
Decided April 25, 1997, at 9:20 A.M.
Leave to appeal sought.
Alphonso D. Gaines was convicted by a jury in the Ionia Circuit Court, James K. Nichols, J., of assault of a prison employee by an inmate and of being an habitual offender, third offense. At the trial regarding the assault charge, the prosecutor offered no evidence establishing that the defendant was lawfully imprisoned at the time he committed the assault on the prison guard that led to the assault charge, but rather chose to argue that lawful imprisonment could be inferred from the fact that the defendant was an inmate at a maximum security facility and it would be unlikely that a person so confined would not be imprisoned in a lawful manner. The defendant argued that there was no evidence that he was lawfully imprisoned. The trial court instructed the jury that lawful imprisonment was a necessary element of the assault charge. Following conviction on the assault charge, the habitual offender charge was tried before the same jury. The defendant appealed, raising the issue of the sufficiency of the evidence with respect to the lawful imprisonment element of the assault charge.
The Court of Appeals held:
1. MCL 750.197c; MSA 28.394(3) makes it a felony for any person who is “lawfully imprisoned” in a jail or other place of confinement to assault any employee of that place of confinement. The statute is clear and unambiguous in evidencing an intent by the Legislature that the prosecution must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant was imprisoned lawfully at the time the assault occurred.
2. Although it would have been a simple matter for the prosecution to submit evidence that the defendant was lawfully imprisoned — the judgment of sentence would have sufficed' — lawful imprisonment cannot be inferred from the mere fact that the defendant was imprisoned. Accordingly, no evidence sufficient to sustain a finding of the necessary element of lawful imprisonment was produced at trial, and the defendant’s conviction of assault, and his conviction of the derivative charge of being an habitual offender, third offense, must be reversed. Further, the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits retrial of these charges.
Reversed.
D. A. Burress, J., concurring, stated that the statute clearly requires that the prosecution establish that the defendant was lawfully imprisoned at the time of the assault, that the mere showing of imprisonment at a correctional facility is insufficient to raise an inference that the imprisonment was lawful, and that the prosecution presented no other evidence sufficient to establish lawful imprisonment.
Sawyer, P.J., dissenting, stated that the defendant’s conviction of the assault charge should be affirmed because, while lawful imprisonment must be established in order to sustain a conviction under the inmate assault statute, proof of that element could be properly inferred by the jury in this case from the fact that the defendant was imprisoned, inasmuch as unlawful imprisonment is a rare occurrence and there was a total absence of any suggestion that the defendant’s imprisonment was unlawful.
Assault — Inmates — Lawful Imprisonment.
The statute malring an assault by an inmate in a place of confinement on an employee of the place of confinement a felony requires as a necessary element of proof the establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that the inmate was lawfully imprisoned at the time of the assault; mere proof that a person was imprisoned in a state correctional facility is not sufficient to permit a trier of fact to infer that the imprisonment was lawful (MCL 750.197c; MSA 28.394[3]).
Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Raymond Voet, Prosecuting Attorney, and Michael E. Moody, Assistant Attorney General, for the people.
State Appellate Defender (by Rolf E. Berg), for the defendant.
Before: Sawyer, P.J., and Marilyn Kelly and D. A. Burress , JJ.
Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.

Opinion:
Marilyn Kelly, J.
A jury convicted defendant of inmate assault on a prison employee and habitual offender, third offense. MCL 750.197c; MSA 28.394(3), MCL 769.11; MSA 28.1083. The trial court sentenced him to five to eight years' imprisonment, to run consecutive to the sentence he was serving when he committed the assault. Defendant appeals as of right, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his assault conviction. Reluctantly, we agree and reverse.
Defendant was incarcerated at Ionia Maximum Facility. Sergeant Phil Waldron worked there as the supervisor of a response team responsible for controlling prisoners not cooperating with other corrections personnel. On June 13, 1994, the team was dispatched to restrain defendant. Defendant had thrust his arm through the cell's food slot and refused to withdraw it. The recommended course of action was to place defendant into soft restraints and close the cell's food slot.
As the team approached defendant's cell, defendant was yelling for a new paper gown. When Sergeant Waldron arrived, defendant threw a cup of liquefied feces at him, striking him in the face and eyes.
On appeal, defendant argues that the prosecution provided evidence only that he was in prison at the time of the assault. He asserts that it neglected to prove that his imprisonment was lawful. As a consequence, defendant argues, there was insufficient evidence to sustain the conviction.
The statute which defendant was charged with violating, MCL 750.197c; MSA 28.394(3), provides:
A person lawfully imprisoned in a jail, other place of confinement established by law for any term, or lawfully imprisoned for any purpose at any other place, including but not limited to hospitals and other health care facilities or awaiting examination, trial, arraignment, sentence, or after sentence or awaiting or during transfer to or from a prison, for a crime or offense, or charged with a crime or offense who, without being discharged from the place of confinement, or other lawful imprisonment by due process of law, through the use of violence, threats of violence or dangerous weapons, assaults an employee of the place of confinement or other custodian knowing the person to be an employee or custodian or breaks the place of confinement and escapes, or breaks the place of confinement although an escape is not actually made, is guilty of a felony.
The primary goal of judicial interpretation of statutes is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the Legislature. People v Stanaway, 446 Mich 643; 521 NW2d 557 (1994). The first criterion in determining intent is the specific language of the statute. People v Hammons, 210 Mich App 554, 557; 534 NW2d 183 (1995); People v Hawkins, 181 Mich App 393, 396; 448 NW2d 858 (1989). Where the Legislature makes its intent known through clear and explicit language, this Court must enforce that intent. People v Bellafant, 105 Mich App 788, 790-791; 307 NW2d 422 (1981).
Here, we find that the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous. The Legislature specifically chose to use the word "lawfully" in determining to whom it applied. In construing the statute, we presume that every word has some meaning, and we will avoid any construction that would render it, or any part of it, surplusage or nugatory. People v Weiss, 191 Mich App 553, 559; 479 NW2d 30 (1991).
The prosecution had the burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was imprisoned lawfully when the assault occurred. While the prosecutor did establish that defendant was imprisoned at the Ionia Maximum Facility, at no point did it show that defendant was there lawfully. During closing argument, the prosecutor argued that the lawfulness of the imprisonment could be inferred from the imprisonment itself. However, no evidence was presented at trial to support the claim. A statement by the prosecutor during closing argument does not remedy the omission. Counsel's arguments are not evidence. Zantop Int'l Airlines, Inc v Eastern Airlines, 200 Mich App 344, 364; 503 NW2d 915 (1993). Nothing exists in the record to enable a rational trier of fact to conclude that an essential element of the crime was proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
It would have been a simple matter for the prosecution to submit evidence that defendant was lawfully imprisoned. The judgment of sentence would have sufficed. However, here we have no choice but to conclude that there was insufficient evidence to sustain defendant's conviction. Moreover, the Double Jeopardy Clause precludes a retrial, the convictions and sentences being vacated due to an insufficiency of the evidence. People v Setzler, 210 Mich App 138, 140; 533 NW2d 18 (1995).
Reversed.