Court Opinion

ID: 9677484
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:53:26.271034+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:56.252366
License: Public Domain

Murphy, J.
(concurring in part and dissenting in part). I concur in part and dissent in part. I would vacate defendant’s conviction of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and affirm the judgment of the trial court in all other respects.
On February 8, 1990, Benjamin Gravel was shot *617and killed while driving on Clairpointe Road in the City of Detroit. Defendant and a group of other young men were attempting to steal a car and had placed a tree in the road to cause a car to stop. At one point, defendant fired a shot at a car, barely missing the driver. When Mr. Gravel’s car pulled up, Kermit Haynes, one of the young men in the group, ordered Mr. Gravel to get out of the car. As Mr. Gravel drove away, Haynes fired shots at the driver’s side of the car, killing Mr. Gravel.
At the time of the shooting, defendant was fifteen years old. The Detroit Recorder’s Court acquired jurisdiction over defendant pursuant to the automatic waiver provisions of MCL 764. If; MSA 28.860(6) and MCL 600.606; MSA 27A.606. After defendant pleaded guilty of the charges, the trial court conducted a dispositional hearing pursuant to MCL 769.1(3); MSA 28.1072(3) and MCR 6.931(A) to determine if the best interests of the defendant and the public would be served by sentencing him as a juvenile or as an adult. In making this determination, the trial court was required to consider the criteria of MCL 769.1(3); MSA 28.1072(3) and MCR 6.931(E)(3) and give each criterion its appropriate weight under the circumstances.
During the hearing, Firoza Van Horn, a clinical psychologist, testified concerning her evaluation of defendant and recommended that defendant be placed within the juvenile system. Similarly, Thomas Doran, a social worker with the Michigan Department of Social Services, recommended that defendant be placed within the juvenile system. Francis Gibson, a probation officer with the Michigan Department of Corrections who had prepared the presentence investigation report, also recommended that defendant be placed in a juvenile facility. Similarly, Dr. Karen Clark, a psychologist, *618testified that she performed a psychological evaluation of defendant and recommended that he be placed within the juvenile system. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court sentenced defendant to juvenile probation and committed him to the Department of Social Services for confinement in a proper institution until he reaches age twenty-one.
The prosecution challenges the trial court’s decision to sentence defendant as a juvenile. The prosecution argues that the trial court clearly erred in giving credence to the opinions of the testifying experts that defendant should be sentenced as a juvenile. This Court will not set aside the trial court’s findings of fact unless clearly erroneous. MCR 2.613(C); People v Buck, 197 Mich 404, 425; 496 NW2d 321 (1992); People v Passeno, 195 Mich App 91, 103; 489 NW2d 152 (1992); People v Lyons, 195 Mich App 248, 252; 489 NW2d 218 (1992). This Court then reviews the trial court’s ultimate decision to sentence the defendant as a juvenile or as an adult for an abuse of discretion. Buck, supra; Passeno, supra, 103-104. After reviewing the record, I believe that the trial court’s findings in reliance upon the testimony of the witnesses were supported by the ample evidence on the record and were not clearly erroneous. I would also note the trial court’s special opportunity to judge the credibility of the witnesses who appeared before it. MCR 2.613(C).
The prosecution also argues that the trial court erroneously found that the prosecution failed to present any affirmative evidence that defendant should be sentenced as an adult. Pursuant to MCR 6.931(E)(2), the burden is on the prosecutor to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the best interests of the juvenile and the public would be served by sentencing a juvenile defen*619dant as an adult. I agree with the trial court that the prosecution must do more than demonstrate that defendant is guilty of a serious offense for which adult punishment is permitted. The prosecution in this case did not demonstrate defendant’s potential either for rehabilitation or for harm to society, and instead focused only on the seriousness of the offense, which while one consideration, is not the sole consideration in determining whether defendant should be sentenced as an adult. I would therefore hold that the trial court correctly concluded that the prosecution failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant should be sentenced as an adult and that the ultimate decision to sentence defendant as a juvenile was not an abuse of discretion.
I agree with the majority that although not raised by either party, the automatic waiver statute does not grant the court ancillary jurisdiction to try defendant for felony-firearm. People v Spearman, 195 Mich App 434, 443; 491 NW2d 606 (1992). See also People v Deans, 192 Mich App 327, 330-331; 480 NW2d 334 (1991). I would therefore vacate defendant’s felony-firearm conviction. In all other respects, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.