Court Opinion

ID: 9535807
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:44:34.905167+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:20.689215
License: Public Domain

T. M. Burns, P.J.
(dissenting). I dissent. I believe that the Supreme Court’s opinion in People v Fountain, 407 Mich 96; 282 NW2d 168 (1979), requires us to vacate the defendant’s habitual offender conviction.
In Fountain, the Supreme Court held that where a prosecutor wishes to charge a defendant as an habitual offender, he must do so by filing the habitual offender information simultaneously with the information charging the defendant with the latest crime where the prosecutor has knowledge that a supplemental information would be warranted at that time. This is not a new rule of law, rather, it is merely a clarification of prior Michigan law.
On the date of the Fountain decision Michigan law required a prosecutor who knew that a person had a felony record to proceed promptly, if at all, against that person as an habitual offender. See, People v Hatt, 384 Mich 302; 181 NW2d 912 (1970), People v Stratton, 13 Mich App 350; 164 NW2d 555 (1968). Thus, even under pre-Fountain *15law, defendant’s habitual offender conviction could be vacated in this case where the supplemental information under which he was convicted was not filed by the prosecutor until March 7, 1979, despite the fact that defendant’s conviction under the principle information was had on February 1, 1979.1
In determining whether a particular ruling on a point of law should be given retroactive effect, the factors set forth by the Supreme Court in People v Kamin, 405 Mich 482, 494; 275 NW2d 777 (1979), are often seen as paramount. Those factors are: the purpose of the new rule; the ámount of general reliance on the old rule; and the effect of the new rule on the administration of justice. Perceiving Fountain to set forth a new rule of law, the majority in this case has limited its application to the fewest possible cases. However, I see in Fountain nothing making it a sharp departure from former law. Rather, every case that could be reversed on the basis of Fountain could also be reversed on the basis of the "promptness” rule of prior law.
Nonetheless, considering the factors of Kamin, I would hold that the first dictates in favor of defendant. That is, there is nothing in this case that would have prohibited the prosecutor from filing the supplemental information promptly whereas the threat of a possible supplemental information cannot be deemed to have had anything other than a coercive effect on defendant._
*16Neither can the second factor of Kamin be said to mitigate against defendant. Although it was common practice for prosecutors to file supplemental informations at dates later than those on which the principle informations were filed, indeed sometimes supplemental informations were filed subsequent to conviction on the principle information, this practice cannot be deemed to have been justified under pr e-Fountain law. As was made clear in Hatt and Stratton, prosecutors were always required to file supplemental informations promptly. Fountain only clarified the meaning of the word "prompt”; it did not create the "promptness” test nor radically depart from it.
Finally, contrary to what the majority believes, application of Fountain to this and similar cases will not adversely affect the administration of justice. In this case, it would only require us to vacate defendant’s habitual information sentence of 13 to 20 years and reinstate his six years, eight months to ten years sentence for his conviction on the principle charge. Moreover, fair administration of justice is more important than concerns regarding the ease of administering justice. We must not lose sight of the fact that in the phrase "administration of justice” the word "justice” is of paramount importance and not the word "administration”.
Therefore, I believe that the rule pertaining to the time for filing supplemental informations as set forth in Hatt and Stratton, and as clarified by Fountain, should apply to all cases initiated after the date of Fountain and to all cases that were pending in any court of this state on the date of the Fountain decision. I would vacate defendant’s habitual offender sentence and reinstate his sentence on the principal charge.

 On February 2, 1979, the prosecutor filed an information charging defendant as a third offender. On February 20, 1979, an amended supplemental information was filed in which the prosecutor deleted reference to a high court misdemeanor that had been cited in the original supplemental information. Finally, on March 7, 1979, a second amended supplemental information was filed in which defendant was again charged as a third time habitual offender. Defendant was convicted under this last information.