Opinion ID: 848612
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: larceny from the person is a specified felony

Text: MCL 750.224f [5] places felons in two different categories. The first category consists of persons convicted of a felony. These persons regain their right to possess a firearm three years after paying all fines imposed for their violations, serving all jail time imposed, and successfully completing all conditions of parole or probation. MCL 750.224f(1). The second category consists of persons convicted of a specified felony. These persons must wait five years after completing the same requirements and, moreover, must have their right to possess a firearm restored. MCL 750.224f(2). The term specified felony is defined in MCL 750.224f(6), which provides: As used in subsection (2), specified felony means a felony in which 1 or more of the following circumstances exist: ( i ) An element of that felony is the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or that by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense. ( ii ) An element of that felony is the unlawful manufacture, possession, importation, exportation, distribution, or dispensing of a controlled substance. ( iii ) An element of that felony is the unlawful possession or distribution of a firearm. ( iv ) An element of that felony is the unlawful use of an explosive. ( v ) The felony is burglary of an occupied dwelling, or breaking and entering an occupied dwelling, or arson. [Emphasis added.] The prosecution in this case has neither alleged that an element of larceny from the person is the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, MCL 750.224f(6)( i ), nor that any of the criteria in subsections ii through v apply in this case. Therefore, the inquiry is whether larceny from the person is a crime that by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense. We hold that it does. The crime of larceny from the person consists of a larceny effectuated by stealing from the person of another. [6] The defendant acknowledges that there is a risk of force inherent in the crime of larceny from the person because of the potential for the victim to notice the taking of his or her personal property and use force to prevent it. [7] However, he claims that such a risk is not substantial. We disagree. Substantial is defined as of ample or considerable amount, quantity, size, etc. Random House Webster's College Dictionary (1995). Therefore, the issue is whether larceny from the person by its nature involves a substantial or considerable risk that physical force will be used. We believe that it does. In order to commit a larceny from the person, the defendant must steal something from a person in that person's presence. That is, the victim must be present when the defendant steals something from the victim. Unless the victim submits to the theft or does not notice the theft, physical force will almost certainly be used in response. [8] As the Court of Appeals explained: [T]he offense of larceny from a person is separated from other larceny offenses because it is committed in the immediate presence of another person. The Legislature decided that larceny from a person presents a social problem separate and apart from simple larceny. Specifically, the invasion of the person or immediate presence of the victim. Because a person whose property is stolen from his presence may take steps to retain possession, and the offender may react violently, we conclude that the offense of larceny from a person,  by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.  We therefore hold that larceny from a person is a specified felony within the meaning of MCL 750.224f. [ Perkins, supra at 272, 686 N.W.2d 237 (citations omitted; emphasis in the original).] That the Legislature has recognized that larceny from the person involves a substantial risk of physical force is demonstrated by the different punishments that it has chosen to impose for larceny [9] and larceny from the person. If a defendant [10] steals property from another outside the person's presence and the property is worth less than $1,000, the defendant is only guilty of a misdemeanor. MCL 750.356(4)(a). [11] If the property is worth less than $200, the defendant cannot be imprisoned for more than ninety-three days. MCL 750.356(5). [12] On the other hand, if the same defendant steals the same property directly from the person, the defendant can be imprisoned for ten years. A defendant who steals property from a person outside the person's presence can only face a ten-year sentence if the property is worth $20,000 or more. MCL 750.356(2)(a). That the Legislature has chosen to subject a defendant who steals property from a person in that person's presence to a ten-year sentence, regardless of the value of the property, and has chosen to subject a defendant who steals property worth less than $200 from a person outside that person's presence to a ninety-three-day sentence demonstrates that the Legislature recognized the substantial risk of force that is involved when one steals something from somebody's person, a risk that is absent when one steals something outside the person's presence. [13] Therefore, we hold that larceny from the person is a specified felony under MCL 750.224f(6)(i).