Court Opinion

ID: 9693387
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:39:11.91701+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:07:54.774856
License: Public Domain

R. M. Maher, J.
(concurring). I concur with Judge Tahvonen’s opinion but write separately to express my views on an issue not decided by Judge Tahvonen. The trial court failed to instruct the jury that it must find that the defendant acted with specific intent in order to convict him of assault. In People v Joeseype Johnson, 407 Mich 196; 284 NW2d 718 (1979), the Supreme Court held that this error requires reversal. Defendant was convicted, however, before Joeseype Johnson was decided. In my view, Joeseype Johnson’s holding applies retroactively:
"* * * [T]he Court in Joeseype Johnson did not announce a new rule but merely clarified existing law * * *.” People v Ideis, 101 Mich App 179, 182-183; 300 NW2d 489 (1980), lv den 411 Mich 854 (1981).
Consequently, I hold that the trial court’s error in its instructions to the jury is a sufficient ground for reversing defendant’s conviction.