Court Opinion

ID: 9663204
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:31:35.705818+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:46.614637
License: Public Domain

Danhof, C.J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. I would follow People v Freeman, 73 Mich App 568; 252 NW2d 518 (1977), and that line of cases which holds that there is no mandatory minimum sentence for armed robbery. People v Merriweather, 109 Mich App 388; 311 NW2d 361 (1981), People v Landis, 91 Mich App 345; 283 NW2d 647 (1979), People v McKnight, 72 Mich App 282; 249 NW2d 392 (1976), lv den 399 Mich 848 (1977). See also People v Earl Jones, 94 Mich App 232; 288 NW2d 385 (1979), lv den 409 Mich 854 (1980).
*11I also find support for the proposition that a defendant pleading guilty to armed robbery does not have to be informed of a mandatory minimum sentence in People v Abraham Jones, 410 Mich 407; 301 NW2d 822 (1981).
Abraham Jones consolidated the guilty-plea convictions of three defendants. One of the defendants had pled guilty to two counts of armed robbery. Two other defendants had pled guilty to various counts of armed robbery and one count each of felony-firearm. There is no indication in the facts set out in Abraham Jones that the trial courts informed any of the defendants of a mandatory minimum sentence for armed robbery. Rather than finding error on this ground, the Supreme Court held that error requiring reversal occurred in that the trial courts had not informed the defendants that the maximum sentence for armed robbery is life imprisonment and, additionally, as to some of the defendants, that the mandatory sentence for felony-firearm is two years imprisonment.
The logical inference to be drawn from Abraham Jones is that there is no mandatory minimum sentence for armed robbery. If there were a mandatory minimum sentence, it could be assumed that Abraham Jones would have referred to it. This is especially true since the thrust of the opinion is that a trial court’s failure to comply with the requirements of GCR 1963, 785.7(l)(b) and (d) mandates reversal of the resulting conviction.
In the instant case the trial court informed the defendant that the maximum penalty for armed robbery is life imprisonment and that by pleading guilty he could not be placed on probation. Thus, the trial court complied with the requirements of GCR 1963, 785.7(l)(b), (d), and (f).