Court Opinion

ID: 9730902
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:27:24.592675+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:10.594720
License: Public Domain

Griffin, J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. The majority has unwarily become bogged down in second-guessing the trial court’s scoring of the sentencing guidelines. The eagerness of the majority to overrule the scoring decision made by the sentencing judge is contrary to our limited standard of review. People v Clark, 147 Mich App 237; 382 NW2d 759 (1985). The Sentence Review Committee established by the Supreme Court to study implementation of the sentencing guidelines recommended "very limited” appellate review of scoring decisions. Specifically, the Sentence Review Committee Report states:
Thought must also be given to the question of how to respond when the parties request the Court of Appeals to review the scoring decisions which the trial court must make to arrive at the guideline sentence. The committee believes that it is absolutely crucial that the Court of Appeals never get bogged down in a close review of these many scoring decisions. The committee therefore believes very strongly that the underlying factual findings which the sentencing judge may have to make must be upheld if there is any evidence to -support them. [Sentence Review Committee Report and Recommendation, p 30 (July, 1982).]
In People v Warner, 190 Mich App 26, 27; 475 NW2d 397 (1991), we reiterated:
*206Appellate review of the guidelines calculations is very limited. People v Reddish, 181 Mich App 625, 628; 450 NW2d 16 (1989). A sentencing judge has discretion in determining the number of points to be scored provided that evidence exists adequate to support a particular score. People v Day, 169 Mich App 516, 517; 426 NW2d 415 (1988). The Sentence Review Committee strongly recommends that this Court uphold scoring decisions for which any support exists. People v Richardson, 162 Mich App 15, 17; 412 NW2d 227 (1987).
The scoring decision made by the sentencing judge in the present case is supported by both evidence and authority. I find no abuse of discretion and therefore would affirm.
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the language in Warner addressing this scoring issue is mere dicta. In this regard, I note that, until today, our Court has routinely followed Warner with regard to this issue. For example, in People v Harris, unpublished opinion per curiam of the Court of Appeals, decided September 17, 1992 (Docket No. 126931), pp 2-3, we held:
Offense variable 12 is to be scored 50 points for two or more penetrations, 25 points for one penetration, and zero points for no penetrations. All penetrations arising from the same transaction are to be scored. However, the penetration resulting in the conviction is not to be calculated into the ov 12 score. Defendant argues that ov 12 was erroneously given a score of 50 points since defendant was only convicted on one charge of criminal sexual conduct and the guidelines instruct that the first penetration is not to be counted. The sentencing court stated that the penetrations were properly scored under ov 12 because the multiple penetrations were from the same overall criminal transaction — years of molestation. We believe that offense variable 12 was properly scored by the sentencing court. People v Warner, 190 Mich App 26, 27-29; 475 NW2d 397 (1991). In Warner, this *207Court upheld a score of 50 points on offense variable 12 because the presentence report and the victim’s testimony showed that defendant had sexually penetrated the victim six times over the course of several months. This Court held that such evidence may be used' to support the score of 50 on offense variable 12. Here, the evidence presented at trial supports the victim’s testimony that the defendant forced her to have sexual intercourse approximately 50 times over the course of two years. Therefore, the sentencing court’s calculation of 50 points for offense variable 12 was not an abuse of discretion.
The decision in Warner is binding precedent pursuant to Administrative Order No. 1990-6, 436 Mich lxxxiv. In my view, the majority’s failure to follow Warner is a violation of that order.
Regarding the sentence itself, I would hold the six- to fifteen-year sentence to be proportionate. People v Milbourn, 435 Mich 630; 461 NW2d 1 (1990). Defendant entered his plea of guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct pursuant to a plea bargain in which the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the original charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The conduct that led to defendant’s conviction was his repeated sexual abuse, including penetration, of his daughter over a nine-year period.
The majority orders a remand to the sentencing court "for the limited purpose of determining if its sentence would be changed in light of the correct scoring of the guidelines.” Ante 201-202. Such a remand is unnecessary and a waste of valuable judicial resources.- The sentencing judge clearly believed that the sentence he imposed was proportionate and an appropriate social response to the crime and the criminal. I agree and therefore would affirm defendant’s sentence. No reasonable person would find the sentence disproportionate, *208considering defendant’s conduct.1 Under the circumstances of this case, I would find a sentence of any lesser term of years to be disproportionately lenient and therefore invalid.
The scoring of the sentencing guidelines is not an end- in itself but rather a means to achieve a proportionate sentence. Because the majority and I agree that defendant’s sentence is proportionate and valid, the ordered remand is an academic exercise without a purpose. As appellate judges, we should "decline ... to engage the trial court in the futile exercise of marching up the sentencing hill again, only to hand down the same sentence and march back down.” People v Ristich, 169 Mich App 754, 759; 426 NW2d 801 (1988), and United *209States v Tucker, 404 US 443, 449-452; 92 S Ct 589; 30 L Ed 2d 592 (1972) (Blackmun, J., dissenting).
I would affirm defendant’s sentence.

 The following recommendation contained, in the presentence report is unassailable:
It is this agent’s belief that Mr. Polus has not come to terms with his deviant behavior, nor with the serious nature of the crime he committed against his daughter. Over a period of years, [complainant] was robbed of her childhood. She was robbed of her innocence, and her dreams for the future have been jeopardized. In the nine years that this situation evolved, the defendant had unlimited opportunity to seek help and to change his behavior. This activity only stopped as a result of a direct confrontation with the Criminal Justice System. For the protection of the community, deterrence of others of like mind, and to punish the defendant, it is respectfully recommended that Tommy Roman Polus be sentenced to six (6) to fifteen (15) years in the State Prison of Southern Michigan ....
Also noted in the presentence report is a summary of the victim’s statements:
The victim, . . . has written several letters to the Court. She says, "I would like for my father to be locked up for as many years as he hurt me! (nine years) and when he gets out, he needs serious Kelp! I feel like he should be locked up for nine years or more so he can be hurt like I was hurt for those years. No matter how long he gets in prison it could never compare to what he has done to me. I have never had a childhood like most kids and I’ve grown up way too fast for everything and I wish I could start all over and be a child (a little girl)!”