Case Name: PEOPLE v. MELTON
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 2006-07-20
Citations: 271 Mich. App. 590
Docket Number: Docket No. 257036
Parties: PEOPLE v MELTON
Judges: Before: DAVIS, P.J., and NEFF, FITZGERALD, SAAD, BANDSTRA, MARKEY, and MURRAY, JJ.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 271
Pages: 590–603

Head Matter:
PEOPLE v MELTON
Docket No. 257036.
Submitted April 12, 2006, at Lansing.
Decided July 20, 2006, at 9:05 a.m.
Leave to appeal sought.
Corinne M. Melton was convicted by a jury in the Tuscola Circuit Court on six counts of larceny of a firearm and one count each of first-degree home invasion, larceny in a building, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The court, Patrick R. Joslyn, J., denied the defendant’s motion for a new trial and sentenced the defendant as a fourth-offense habitual offender. Under MCL 777.39 of the sentencing guidelines, the court scored offense variable (OV) 9 (number of victims) at ten points. The defendant appealed, claiming that there was insufficient evidence to support her convictions, that her convictions were against the great weight of the evidence, and that OV 9 should have been scored at zero points because OV 9 relates only to victims of physical injuries and not to victims of financial injuries. The Court of Appeals, Cavanagh, EJ., and Cooper and Donofrio, JJ., affirmed the defendant’s convictions, concluding that the prosecution presented sufficient evidence. Because it was required to follow the holding in People v Knowles, 256 Mich App 53 (2003), the Court also affirmed the defendant’s sentences. Had it not been obligated to follow Knowles, however, the Court would have held that the Legislature only intended OV 9 to apply when a victim is placed in actual danger or is placed within the zone of danger and would have remanded for correction of the judgment of sentence or resentencing. 269 Mich App 542 (2006). The Court of Appeals convened a special panel to resolve the conflict between this case and Knowles and vacated part III of its prior opinion in this case. 269 Mich App 801 (2006).
After consideration by the special panel, the Court of Appeals held:
A trial court must not score OV 9 for financial injuries. Knowles is overruled. While the defendant’s sentences would be within the appropriate guidelines range even if OV 9 had not been scored, rescoring is nonetheless necessary because a scoring error may affect such things as the calculation of the defendant’s parole eligibility, for example.
Guidelines scoring reversed and case remanded for correction of guidelines score.
Davis, EJ., would conclude that the trial court erred by scoring OV 9 at ten points because no one was placed in danger of a physical injury. While the Legislature did not explicitly restrict the types of injuries covered by OV 9 by inserting the word “physical” anywhere in MCL 777.39, it also did not direct scoring for financial injuries or other nonphysical injuries. The remainder of the statute, examined in its grammatical and structural context, clearly indicates that only physical injuries to the person of a victim were contemplated.
Neff, J., concurring, agreed with Judge Davis’s opinion with respect to the interpretation of OV 9, which concludes that OV 9 does not encompass the danger of financial injury, but wrote separately because the case raised the additional question whether the trial court correctly scored OV 9 on the basis that the defendant’s criminal conduct nevertheless placed two victims in danger of injury. These two individuals were residents of the occupied dwelling that the defendant entered, and the trial court concluded that they should be counted as victims because there was a possibility that they would come home during the home invasion, placing them in danger of injury or loss of life. This basis for scoring OV 9 warrants consideration.
Murray, J., dissenting, would hold that the plain language of MCL 777.39 requires the scoring of OV 9 if a victim is placed in danger of a physical or nonphysical injury, including a financial injury. This same result occurs when the statute is read in the context of the sentencing guidelines statutes, particularly MCL 777.22. Knowles should not be overruled, and the trial court’s ruling in this case should be affirmed.
Sentences — Sentencing Guidelines — Offense Variables — Victims.
A sentencing court must not score offense variable 9 of the sentencing guidelines, which concerns the number of victims of the crime, for a financial injury (MCL 777.39).
Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Mark E. Reene, Prosecuting Attorney, and David Tanay and Brian O. Neill, Assistant Attorneys General, for the people.
Nieuwenhuis Law Offices, EC. (by Helen C. Nieuwenhuis), for the defendant.
Before: DAVIS, P.J., and NEFF, FITZGERALD, SAAD, BANDSTRA, MARKEY, and MURRAY, JJ.

Opinion:
DAVIS, EJ.
Pursuant to MCR 7.215(J), this Court convened a special panel to resolve a conflict between the prior, partially vacated opinion in this case, People v Melton, 269 Mich App 542; 711 NW2d 430 (2006), and People v Knowles, 256 Mich App 53; 662 NW2d 824 (2003). The relevant issue in both cases was the interpretation and application of MCL 777.39, which governs a sentencing court's scoring of offense variable (OV) 9. In accordance with MCR 7.215(J)(1), the prior Melton panel was required to follow the precedent set by Knowles. Absent this requirement, the prior panel would have reversed the sentencing decision of the trial court. We now overrule Knowles.
Under MCL 777.39(2)(a), the sentencing court must score points for "each person who was placed in danger of injury or loss of life as a victim." Specifically at issue here is whether OV 9 can only be scored when the victim is placed in danger of physical injury. The trial court scored OV 9 at ten points on the basis of a danger of financial injury. The prior Melton panel affirmed on the basis of Knowles and People v Dewald, 267 Mich App 365; 705 NW2d 167 (2005), both of which held that OV 9 should be scored for financial injuries. However, the panel opined that it would not do so if it was not required to do so by Knowles and Dewald. We now hold that a plain reading of MCL 777.39 requires OV 9 to be scored only when there is a danger of physical injury.
The facts are set forth with particularity in the prior case. Melton, supra at 544-545. In summary, defendant broke into the home of Mary Ann Elbers and her son, Jeffrey Elbers, while neither one was at home. Defendant stole six guns, money, and some other items belonging to each of the Elbers. A jury convicted defendant on six counts of larceny of a firearm and one count each of first-degree home invasion, larceny in a building, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. At sentencing, defendant argued that OV 9 should not be scored because no one was physically injured or even at home when she committed the crimes. The trial court scored ten points for OV 9, resulting in an overall OV score of 30, which placed defendant in OV level III of the sentencing grid. Melton, supra at 548-549. If OV 9 had not been scored, defendant would have been in OV level II. The trial court sentenced defendant to concurrent terms of ten to 25 years' imprisonment for the larceny of a firearm and home invasion convictions and ten to 15 years' imprisonment for the larceny in a building conviction, and to a consecutive two-year term for the felony-firearm conviction. Even if OV 9 had not been scored, defendant's sentences would still be within the appropriate guidelines range, but, as the prior Melton panel noted, a scoring error may still affect a defendant through such things as its effect on the calculation of parole eligibility. Melton, supra at 549-550.
We review de novo the interpretation of a statute, with the goal of giving effect to the intent of the Legislature. People v Spann, 250 Mich App 527, 529-530; 655 NW2d 251 (2002), aff'd 469 Mich 904 (2003). Clearly written language must be enforced, and "[n]othing will be read into a statute that is not within the manifest intention of the Legislature as gathered from the act itself." Id. at 530, 532. We may not engage in construction of clear statutory language, nor may we "speculate regarding the probable intent of the Legislature beyond the language expressed in the statute." People v Hock Shop, Inc, 261 Mich App 521, 524, 528; 681 NW2d 669 (2004). Judicial interpretation is only appropriate when a statute is susceptible to more than one interpretation, in which case "courts must consider the object of the statute, the harm it is designed to remedy, and apply a reasonable construction that best accomplishes the statute's purpose." People v Fennell, 260 Mich App 261, 265; 677 NW2d 66 (2004). We perceive no such ambiguity here.
MCL 777.39 provides in full:
(1) Offense variable 9 is number of victims. Score offense variable 9 by determining which of the following apply and by assigning the number of points attributable to the one that has the highest number of points:
(a) Multiple deaths occurred........................ 100 points
(b) There were 10 or more victims................25 points
(c) There were 2 to 9 victims....................... 10 points
(d) There were fewer than 2 victims............. 0 points
(2) All of the following apply to scoring offense variable 9:
(a) Count each person who was placed in danger of injury or loss of life as a victim.
(b) Score 100 points only in homicide cases.
The Legislature did not explicitly restrict the types of injuries by inserting the word "physical" anywhere in the statute. It is therefore superficially logical to conclude that no such restriction was intended, in which case OV 9 could be scored for financial injuries.
However, such an interpretation would also result in a conclusion that OV 9 should be scored for any sort of injury. We note there is no direction to score for "financial" injuries. Nor is there a direction to include "psychological" injuries or, perhaps, "social" injuries. Indeed, there is a veritable cornucopia of possible types of injuries one could conceivably suffer as a result of a criminal act. Concluding that OV 9 is not limited to physical injuries effectively mandates that a trial court score points whenever a purported victim is placed in danger of anything that could be considered harmful, whether to the victim's person, pocketbook, reputation, self-esteem, or dignity.
We do not believe that the Legislature intended such an open-ended application, especially when the word "injury" is viewed in the context of the rest of the statute. Our Supreme Court has explained that, in the absence of a clear indication that the Legislature intended us to do otherwise, this Court must examine the language of a statute in its grammatical and structural context. People v Gillis, 474 Mich 105, 114-115; 712 NW2d 419 (2006). The remainder of the statute clearly indicates that only physical injuries were contemplated.
Under MCL 777.39(2)(a), scoring should "[c]ount each person who was placed in danger of injury or loss of life as a victim." The statute further directs that the maximum number of points should be scored only in homicide cases in which "[m]ultiple deaths occurred." MCL 777.39(l)(a) and (2)(b). The only kind of "injury" that can plausibly be juxtapositioned with "loss of life" is physical injury to one's person. We cannot conclude that the Legislature intended to categorize financial loss with the same gravity as physical injury and death.
The Legislature has mandated that OV 9 should be scored for all crimes against a person, property, public order, public trust, or public safety. MCL 777.22. However, this simply means that the Legislature intended a sentencing court to score OV 9 for any property crime that happens to result in the additional risk of physical injury. Certainly, this constitutes a directive to consider whether there has been a risk of physical injury, even when imposing sentences for a category of crimes unlikely to pose such a risk. However, if no risk of physical injury was posed, OV 9 will be scored at zero points, as permitted by MCL 777.39(l)(d). We see no way to interpret MCL 777.22 as an expression of the Legislature's intent to score OV 9 for financial injuries or, as discussed, any other kinds of injuries. Rather, it appears that the Legislature was sufficiently concerned about physical injuries that it wished sentencing courts to take them into account no matter what kind of underlying crime was committed.
Finally, we agree with the dissent that OV 16 measures the aggregate amount of property damage, rather than the number of victims who sustained property damage. However, we do not see any significance to this, and we agree with the original Melton panel's conclusion that OV 16 already accounts for financial injuries. There is nothing irrational about the Legislature concluding that property damage is best measured by placing on it an aggregate dollar value or, in the alternative, accounting for the property's sentimental value, while simultaneously concluding in a separate context that the best way to quantify physical risk is by counting the number of people exposed to that risk. It is axiomatic that human lives carry a very different value from that of property or money.
Because defendant's sentences were within the appropriate guidelines range in any event, we do not disturb them. However, the trial court should not have scored OV 9 at ten points here because no one was placed in danger of physical injury. We therefore reverse the trial court's scoring of OV 9 and remand for correction of defendant's guidelines score.
Fitzgerald and Markey, JJ., concurred with Davis, EJ.