Court Opinion

ID: 9533901
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:35:24.438544+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:12.260513
License: Public Domain

W. Moore, Jr., J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent from the majority’s position that Blachura was convicted of "more than one offense” as that phrase is used in MCL 780.621; MSA 28.1274(101). In my view, the Legislature’s intent would be better served with the opposite interpretation. The purpose of the expungement statute is to create a possibility for a first-time offender that, after five years without a subsequent conviction, he might show the court that he has been rehabilitated and have his record expunged. Although defendant *721here was convicted of five counts of perjury, they all arose out of the same factual transaction and were obtained at one trial. The charges were based on five false statements made at one grand-jury hearing. Essentially, defendant answered the same kind of question falsely five times.
I would distinguish this case from People v Manning, 153 Mich App 516; 396 NW2d 468 (1986), where the defendant had three plea convictions for fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, which involved three different occurrences concerning three different victims. I would hold that, where a defendant’s multiple convictions arise out of a single criminal transaction, they constitute a single offense for purposes of the expungement statute. See Application of Fontana, 146 NJ Super 264; 369 A2d 935 (1976). The circuit court would then have jurisdiction under the statute to exercise its discretion in deciding defendant’s motion to expunge his record.
Although I recognize the purposes of the habitual offender provisions, MCL 769.10 et seq.; MSA 28.1082 et seq., are different from those of the expungement statute, I would, by analogy, apply the reasoning in People v Stoudemire, 429 Mich 262; 414 NW2d 693 (1987), to reverse and remand this matter to the trial court for a hearing on defendant’s motion for expungement.