Court Opinion

ID: 9657834
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:39:04.080926+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:48.762245
License: Public Domain

Boyle, J.
(concurring in part and dissenting in part). I concur with the majority’s resolution of the search and seizure issue. I also agree with Justice Riley’s conclusion that MCL 333.7403(2)(a)(i); MSA 14.15(7403)(2)(a)(i) is not unconstitutional and that Const 1963, art 1, § 16 should not be interpreted differently from the Eighth Amendment counter*68part. I would hold that the statute is not grossly disproportionate under either the Eighth Amendment or Const 1963, art 1, § 16, each of which contain a proportionality principle. For the reasons stated by Justice Kennedy in his concurrence in Harmelin v Michigan, 501 US —; 111 S Ct 2680; 115 L Ed 2d 836 (1991), I also believe that the mechanistic formula applied in People v Lorentzen, 387 Mich 167; 194 NW2d 827 (1972), fails to give sufficient deference to the judgment of the Legislature.
Nevertheless, although I am in agreement with Justices Riley and Mallett that Const 1963, art 1, § 16 does not require a different interpretation than the federal constitution, it is neither permissible to conclude that Michigan’s cruel or unusual punishment provision provides less protection than the Eighth Amendment (Justice Riley),1 nor necessary to accept the suggestion that Lorentzen was rightly decided (Justice Mallett). The Court’s opinion in Harmelin recognizes a proportionality principle, and, under either constitution, the mandatory penalty is not facially disproportionate.2
I write separately to briefly state my reasons for *69agreement with Justice Mallett’s conclusion that proportionality review is not precluded by either the state or federal constitution.
I
In Harmelin v Michigan, supra, the United States Supreme Court upheld Michigan’s mandatory statutory penalty against an Eighth Amendment challenge. In so doing, a splintered Court offered differing approaches to the question whether a proportionality principle is embodied in the protections afforded by the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the United States Constitution. Justice Scalia announced that the understanding of the Eighth Amendment articulated in Solem v Helm, .463 US 277; 103 S Ct 3001; 77 L Ed 2d 637 (1983), "was simply wrong; the Eighth Amendment contains no proportionality guarantee.” Harmelin, 111 S Ct 2686. Chief Justice Rehnquist was the only other justice to agree with this analysis. Justice Kennedy, emphasizing the principle of stare decisis, concluded that "the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause encompasses a narrow proportionality principle.” Id., 111 S Ct 2702. Justices O’Connor and Souter joined in this opinion.
Because the United States Supreme Court recognizes a proportionality principle limiting punishment in noncapital punishment cases, proportionality is part of this state’s prohibition3 against *70cruel or unusual punishment.4 The scope of that principle is hazy, and the proper test for considering its application in any particular case is subject to dispute. Harmelin did not resolve that dispute.
Notwithstanding Justice Scalia’s suggestion that no proportionality principle survives outside the death penalty context, it is apparent that seven justices of the Court do not agree. Justice Kennedy emphasized that several principles can be discerned regarding the proper scope and method of proportionality review. First, Justice Kennedy stressed the notion that decisions regarding the length of prison terms constituted a "substantive penological judgment” predicated upon "[djeterminations about the nature and purposes of punishment for criminal acts implicating] difficult and enduring questions respecting the sanctity of the individual, the nature of law, and the relation between law and the social order.” Id., 111 S Ct 2703. Second, Justice Kennedy emphasized the belief that the Eighth Amendment "does not mandate adoption of any one penological theory.” Id., 111 S Ct 2704. Third, Justice Kennedy underscored the importance of federalism and its recognition that states adhering to different "penological assumptions” might arrive at differing "sentencing schemes.” Id., 111 S Ct 2704. Finally, Justice Kennedy highlighted the principle that sentencing review should be based on objective factors as much as possible. Id. Summarizing, Justice Kennedy observed:
All of these principles — the primacy of the legis*71lature, the variety of legitimate penological schemes, the nature of our federal system, and the requirement that proportionality review be guided by objective factors — inform the final one: the Eighth Amendment does not require strict proportionality between crime and sentence. Rather, it forbids only extreme sentences that are "grossly disproportionate” to the crime. [Harmelin, 111 S Ct 2705, quoting Solem.]
The dissenters in Harmelin advocated a broader interpretation of the proportionality principle. Justice White, joined by Justices Blackmun and Stevens, urged continued use of the three-factor test employed in Solem emphasizing that punishment must be "tailored to a defendant’s personal responsibility and moral guilt.” Harmelin, 111 S Ct 2716. Justice Marshall dissented as did Justice Stevens, with whom Justice Blackmun concurred. The linchpin of analysis in each of the separate dissents was the notion that a proportionality principle is embodied in the Eighth Amendment and requires the Court to scrutinize legislative enactments to determine whether the punishment is disproportionate. Harmelin, 111 S Ct 2709-2720.
Like federal authority, our own precedents recognize a proportionality principle, but fail to provide a clear answer to the manner of review or the scope of protection afforded by the proportionality principle embodied in Michigan’s Constitution. Chief Justice Cavanagh traces his proportionality analysis to this Court’s opinion in Lorentzen. Ante, pp 34-35. He apparently advocates a broad proportionality review, although he concludes that "even under Justice Kennedy’s restrictive view of Solem, it is clear that an application of Solem’s first prong leads to an inference of gross disproportionality.’ ” Ante, p 39, quoting Harmelin.
I disagree with the majority regarding both the *72scope of the inquiry and the result. Since a majority of the United States Supreme Court has not agreed with Justice Scalia’s view that "Solem was simply wrong,” Harmelin, 111 S Ct 2686, we may not disregard the precedents of that Court, and must attempt to predict how a majority of the Supreme Court would describe its contours.
I would apply a narrow proportionality principle to sentencing cases such as this one. To ensure appropriate deference to legislative judgments regarding the gravity of a particular crime, and the extent to which varying penological goals inform the scheme of punishment, a court’s threshold inquiries should be only whether the sentence is grossly disproportionate. In this case, the sentence is mandatory life without parole for the crime of possession of more than 650 grams of cocaine. This penalty is not grossly disproportionate on its face.
ii
The issue before us is defendant Hasson’s challenge to the statute on its face.5 Because the absolute magnitude of the crime is grave and the principle of proportionality does not permit the judiciary to impose on the Legislature its subjec*73tive view of appropriate responses to perceived evils, the statutory scheme passes constitutional muster. Our Legislature has created a statutory scheme that gives clear notice that punishment is tied to quantity, rather than to the underlying act, thus actually reducing the likelihood that sentencing discretion will subject an unwary offender to the ranges of an indeterminate scheme. The majority’s finding that the penalty is cruel or unusual because it is imposed for mere possession of cocaine without any proof of intent to sell or deliver, is simply a non sequitur. The clear purpose of the Legislature is to deter the possibility of dissemination of such an amount, whether it is possessed with intent to deliver, or is subsequently lost, stolen, or misplaced.6 To suggest that the penalty is grossly excessive because that possibility is neither rational nor sufficiently grave, requires accepting the unacceptable. No sentient citizen of Michigan can ignore the barbarousness of the drug culture, the destructive effects on our children, and the threat to the very survival of our urban centers. To suggest that the crime is not grave because it is not violent, is, as Justice Kennedy observed, "false to the point of absurdity.” Harmelin, 111 S Ct 2706.
Unquestionably, the sentence is harsh. Nevertheless, where the social harm caused by the criminal conduct at issue is as devastating as that created by the drug epidemic in existence today, the penalty is not unconstitutional._
*74III
It must be emphasized that the United States Supreme Court has forcefully observed that the proportionality principle will rarely result in a successful challenge because of the "substantial deference that must be accorded legislatures and sentencing courts . . . Solem, supra at 290, n 16. Indeed, the prosecution does not dispute that in some rare case on its particular facts the statute may be unconstitutionally applied. People v Broadie, 37 NY2d 100; 332 NE2d 338 (1975).7
Thus, the mere fact that a punishment falls within statutory limits of a constitutional statute does not end the inquiry.8 Even where a statute is concededly valid, there may exist extraordinary circumstances that render it unconstitutional as applied under the facts of the case.9
Institutional concerns counsel • a cautious approach to review of sentence length lest a court merely substitute its judgment of the most appropriate punishment in light of its judgment regard*75ing the gravity and social harm attached to the conduct. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit explained these concerns:
It is one thing for a court such as we to contemplate an extreme case such as the felonizing of overtime parking, striking down such an action as outlandish, and quite another for us to interfere in the various gradations of punishment specified by the legislator for crimes which no one disputes are serious ones — and to do so on Constitutional grounds, at that. We may be competent to contemplate outrageous disproportion and declare that it cannot be; certainly, however, we are not equipped, nor do our procedures lend themselves to equipping us, with the factual knowledge and common sense of what is proportional, what punishments should be administered for particular offenses, and along what general lines the positive legislative attack on criminality should proceed. One who is to do this has need, like Antaeus, to touch the earth pretty frequently, an exercise to which our isolation does not conduce. [Terrebonne v Butler, 848 F2d 500, 506-507 (CA 5, 1988). Emphasis in the original.]
I would reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and affirm the convictions of defendants Bullock and Hasson.10

 Thus, while I can agree that the Lorentzen methodology is an incorrect approach to proportionality, it is simply incorrect to say that Michigan’s cruel or unusual clause "does not have a proportionality component.” (Riley, J., ante, p 48.) Further, a grossly disproportionate analysis does indeed present a risk that the judiciary will improperly substitute its views for those of the Legislature, Riley, J., id., p 64, but that is a risk the United States Supreme Court is as yet not prepared to foreclose.

 The fact that Michigan did not adopt a specific proportionality principle, as did sister states of the Northwest Territory before adoption of the Michigan Constitution (Ohio Const 1802, art 8, § 14; Ind Const 1816, art 1, § 10), cuts against the claim that cruel "or” unusual should be interpreted differently than cruel and unusual. Further, a proposal to abolish the death penalty was rejected during the Constitutional Convention of 1835 and was only implemented by the Legislature eight years later, after several failed attempts. Abolition of this "cruel” or "unusual” penalty did not enter the constitution until 1963, art 4, § 46.

 This is not the proportional exercise of discretion within statutory limits recognized in People v Milbourn, 435 Mich 630; 461 NW2d 1 (1990), as a basis for challenging sentences. I am bound by the decision in that case, but adhere to my view that it was wrongly decided. The proportionality principle referenced is that encompassed by a claim that the statutory penalty is constitutionally disproportionate.

 See Weems v United States, 217 US 349; 30 S Ct 544; 54 L Ed 793 (1910), Rummel v Estelle, 445 US 263; 100 S Ct 1133; 63 L Ed 2d 382 (1980), Hutto v Davis, 454 US 370; 102 S Ct 703; 70 L Ed 2d 556 (1982), and Solem v Helm, supra. For Michigan authority recognizing a proportionality principle, see People v Lorentzen, supra, and People v Mire, 173 Mich 357; 138 NW 1066 (1912).

 Defendant Bullock did not raise the issue below, and the Court denied her motion to add the issue. In his brief, Hasson argued that the statute was unconstitutional on its face and as applied. I understood the "as applied” challenge to have been waived from the colloquy at oral argument, a conclusion supported by recognition that the factual context presents none of the circumstances utilized in Solem. Hasson possessed over fifteen kilograms of cocaine alleged to be worth eleven million dollars, had three previous convictions for possession of narcotics, and was on probation for possession of heroin with intent to sell at the time he committed the instant offense. Assuming such a challenge were before this Court, I would find that Hasson’s sentence was not one of the "rare cases” of unconstitutionally disproportionate application.
In my view, this case does not present an "as applied” challenge. Therefore, I do not agree with Justice Mallett’s conclusion that remand is appropriate.

 Other courts have upheld sentences that harshly penalize the underlying act without regard to quantity. See Terrebonne v Butler, 848 F2d 500 (CA 5, 1988) (the court upheld a Louisiana statute imposing life in prison without parole for distribution of twenty-five packets of individual doses of heroin), and Hutto v Davis, n 4, supra at 375 (Powell, J., concurring) (the Court upheld a forty-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute applied to facts involving distribution of nine ounces of marijuana having "a street value of about $200”).

 The dissenters in Harmelin observed that since Solem the parties had cited only four cases reversed on the basis of proportionality. Harmelin, 111 S Ct 2713, n 2 (White, J., dissenting).

 Federal courts of appeal have held that an extended proportionality review is warranted on imposition of a life sentence without parole. Young v Miller, 883 F2d 1276 (CA 6, 1989). The contours of that analysis are unclear. Although Justice Kennedy’s opinion in Harmelin narrows the proportionality review, it did not criticize the factors utilized in Solem, which included the harm caused or threatened to the victim or society "and the culpability of the offender,” 463 US 292. See State v Bartlett, 171 Ariz 302; 830 P2d 823 (1992).

 Other courts have recognized the possibility of a constitutional challenge to a valid criminal statute. See, e.g., People v Dillon, 34 Cal 3d 441; 668 P2d 697 (1983); People v Keogh, 46 Cal App 3d 919; 120 Cal Rptr 817 (1975); Faulkner v State, 445 P2d 815 (Alas, 1968).

 It is my personal belief that mandatory sentencing is unwise because it creates the kind of tension between the Legislature and the judiciary that classically leads to making bad law from hard cases. It is also true that "broad and unreviewed discretion exercised by sentencing judges leads to the perception that no clear standards are being applied, and that the rule of law is imperiled by sentences imposed for no discernible reason other than the subjective reactions *76of the sentencing judge.” Harmelin, 111 S Ct 2708. (Kennedy, J., concurring in part.) Michigan courts have addressed and attempted to correct the subjective reactions of sentencing judges in applying the test of substantial and compelling reasons for departure for amounts except those exceeding 650 grams. People v Hill, 192 Mich App 102; 480 NW2d 913 (1991). That fact may suggest to the Legislature that an escape hatch is also appropriate in the over 650-gram situation. The question is, of course, for the Legislature to resolve. Indeed, striking the mandatory aspects of the penalty may itself have the effect of reducing to zero the universe of "rare” cases in which discrete challenges to sentences imposed under this statute could be successful.