Opinion ID: 2211835
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: an opinion by the court of appeals disposing of his case

Text: The appellate court's decision, though not present in every case, as Ross recognized, nonetheless offers a key tool toward subsequent appellate access. This Court knows this to be true, because a substantial failing of more than a few of the applications to this Court is a failure to address the conclusion of the Court of Appeals. Under MCR 6.005(H)(4), however, two basic components will be absent. First, though less important, the press of trial court business means that postconviction motions may well have little, if any, opinion offered with that court's decision. Indeed, we see some such motions denied simply by checking a box on a SCAO or local form, with no further explanation. The record may or may not contain some sort of discussion, but in general, even when written opinions are offered, they may not be particularly in depth. More importantly, however, is what trial court opinions are not. Although such opinions are most likely not appellate opinions in terms of their content, they are certainly not appellate opinions in terms of their authorship. The very same court that is purported to have made the error is ruling on the motion. The motion may address an issue preserved by objection, and thus the court would have already ruled on the alleged error. In other instances the motion may raise a new issue. Every instance, though, will involve an allegation of error by the same court asked to decide whether there was error. As a matter of first instance, courts may address claims of their own error. A trial court correcting its own errors when it finds merit in a party's contention, however, can hardly be said to amount to an appellate decision. Rather, it is more likely a re-decision of the same point. Consider, for example, motions for reconsideration before this Court. When a party offers nothing new, but simply alleges that the prior decision was incorrect, even for new and expanded reasons, we tend to offer them short shrift. Much the same would occur below. In Proposal B cases, then, rather than a scenario comparable to the constitutionally acceptable situation in Ross, which involved appellate counsel presenting appellate arguments to an appellate court, Michigan will have trial counsel presenting trial-level arguments to the same trial court that is alleged to have made the error, when that court has already decided the issue to its satisfaction in the first instance.