Court Opinion

ID: 9530353
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:59:17.031096+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:05.185817
License: Public Domain

Whitbeck, J.
(concurring). I concur in the result the lead opinion reaches. Other than structural defects in the judicial process, only prejudicial error requires vacating a sentence or reversing a criminal conviction. See MCL 769.26; MSA 28.1096; People v Carines, 460 Mich 750, 774; 597 NW2d 130 (1999). In this case, McAllister did not sustain his burden of showing prejudicial error.
As the lead opinion states, the trial court did not allow defense counsel to examine the letters the victim’s family wrote to the trial court before the sentencing hearing. McAllister has not shown how this decision affected the sentence the trial court imposed. In that way, this case differs from United States v Hayes, 171 F3d 389 (CA 6, 1999). In Hayes, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the defendant’s sentence because the trial court explicitly relied on letters from the defendant’s victims to impose sentence, even though it did not permit the defendant or defense counsel to read those letters.
I write separately to express my belief that the trial court here erred in withholding the letters, even if that error does not require us to vacate McAllister’s sentence. The core concept of due process requires a trial court to share the materials in the record with all *479parties in most cases.1 Our system of justice makes parties adversaries, leaving the trial court to act as a neutral arbiter. When a trial court gives or allows one party an advantage over another, it upsets the precarious balance inherent in an adversarial system.
Some may dispute the adversarial system’s wisdom and efficiency. In it, the parties with the most information, data, evidence, or other factual insight may often obtain an advantage over an unknowing party. For instance, without an open record, one party may lose the opportunity to point out the opposing party’s misrepresentation or misapprehension of the facts. This gives the party with the access to the information an unfair advantage when framing the legal issues in the case on the basis of the alleged facts. Equal access to the record prevents this unfair advantage and provides a level of assurance that those who make decisions, whether judges or juries, know enough about any matter in order to reach the result the law requires. Surely, we do not, and likely cannot, serve justice by preventing equal access to the record.
I am willing to concede that access to otherwise undisclosed materials in the record is less important after the judge or jury finds a defendant guilty of the charged offense. However, I do not concede that undisclosed materials are always, or even regularly, inconsequential to a postverdict decision.
*480In this case, the victim’s family wrote letters to the trial court. We can only speculate about the letters’ contents because they do not appear in the record.2 However, it is self-evident that individuals who write to a trial court before sentencing do so with the explicit aim of affecting the sentence imposed. Whether the letter writer hopes to influence the sentencing judge’s opinion of the defendant and the circumstances of the case in a way that encourages leniency or severity depends solely on that person’s interests. That aim is not futile because, even with guidelines in place, trial courts typically retain some measure of discretion while sentencing and small details may sway a judge one way or another. An attempt to influence the trial court’s decision on the basis of evidence not introduced at trial is proper, even if the individuals who introduce it are not parties to the case. See Const 1963, art 1, § 24. However, a trial court “must” permit the defendant “an adequate opportunity to rebut or explain” other facts introduced for the purpose of sentencing. People v Ewing (After Remand), 435 Mich 443, 446, 474; 458 NW2d 880 (1990).
Ultimately, how a trial court exercises its discretion is of utmost importance to the defendant, whose liberty is at stake. It is crucial that a trial court give a defendant a fair opportunity to examine previously undisclosed materials in the record, such as letters encouraging a harsh sentence, so that the defendant *481has an opportunity to counter or clarify any factual assertions. Although the trial court in this case did not, apparently, show the letters to the prosecutor, the prosecutor had evidently already seen the letters or knew about their contents. Accordingly, solely within the context of this case, the trial court’s decision not to disclose the letters appears to have had relatively little effect on the prosecutor even though there may be other cases in which nondisclosure works against a prosecutor’s interests. However, whether nondisclosure favors a prosecutor over a defendant, or the converse, is irrelevant when it comes to fundamental fairness.
I see no danger in disclosing these sorts of letters to the parties and conclude that the trial court erred in not disclosing the letters to McAllister. Yet, as noted above, McAllister has not shown that this error was prejudicial. The trial court’s error was, therefore, harmless.

 Due process may not require disclosure in every case because, for example, the court rules permit in camera, ex parte review of materials in some situations. See, e.g., MCR 6.201(C)(2) (a trial court may review materials otherwise protected by privilege in an in-camera proceeding to determine if a defendant may have access to them because they are “necessary to the defense”).

 An open record has a separate beneficial, if collateral, effect. When the parties are able to dispute the facts of the case fully, then they help create a complete record, facilitating appellate review. See generally Smith v Crime Victims Compensation Bd, 130 Mich App 625, 628-629; 344 NW2d 23 (1983).