Opinion ID: 845997
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: defendant's sentencing

Text: A jury convicted defendant of third-degree criminal sexual conduct [3] (CSC III) and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct [4] (CSC IV). Defendant pleaded guilty of being a third-offense habitual offender. MCL 769.11. The focus of his appeal is his sentence for the CSC III offense. CSC III is categorized as a crime against a person and is listed as a class B offense. MCL 777.16y. When it sentenced defendant, the court calculated his prior record variable (PRV) level at 20 points. With respect to the offense variables (OVs), it scored ten points for OV 4, [5] 15 points for OV 10, [6] five points for OV 12, [7] and 25 points for OV 13. [8] Defendant objected at sentencing to the scores attributed to OVs 4 and 10, but the court rejected his arguments. His OV level was set at 55 points. In the class B sentencing grid, a PRV level of 20 points and an OV level of 55 points placed defendant in cell C-V. MCL 777.63. That cell provides a minimum sentence range of 51 to 85 months. Because defendant was a third-offense habitual offender, the top number was increased by 50 percent to 127 months. MCL 777.21(3)(b). Accordingly, the trial court sentenced defendant to 127 months to 30 years of imprisonment. It also sentenced him to one to four years of concurrent imprisonment for the CSC IV conviction. Defendant's sentences were rendered before the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Blakely. But after that date, defendant raised the Blakely issue in a supplemental brief on appeal. The Court of Appeals did not directly analyze the issue, stating merely that it disagreed with defendant's contentions. It relied on dicta contained in our Claypool opinion, treating it as binding precedent. But the Court of Appeals did request this Court to indicate whether it should be bound by the Claypool dicta. People v. Drohan, 264 Mich.App. 77, 89 n. 4, 689 N.W.2d 750 (2004). We granted oral argument on the matter, limited to what effect, if any, the Blakely opinion has on Michigan's statutory sentencing guidelines. 472 Mich. 881, 693 N.W.2d 823 (2005).