Court Opinion

ID: 9678784
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:32:20.361519+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:07.845383
License: Public Domain

M. J. Kelly, P.J.
(concurring). I concur with my brother Holbrook’s opinion in the affirmance of defendants’ convictions. I write separately, however, to elaborate on two points.
I
Certain pertinent facts are necessary to an understanding of the propriety of the admission of hair sample evidence in the instant case. Rosemary Smith, a white woman, testified that she was raped and battered in the back seat of a car by two black men. After the arrest of the two defendants, an automobile belonging to defendant Wright was taken into custody pursuant to a search warrant. Although the interior of the car was found to be "very clean” by a state police criminologist, a number of hairs were found on the floor in front of the car’s rear seat. These hairs were turned over to Michigan State Police chemist Curtis Flunker. Flunker compared samples of Rosemary Smith’s head hair, pubic hair, and blood.
Upon examining the hairs which came from the rear seat of defendants’ car, Flunker eliminated animal hairs and hair of Negro origin. Flunker was left with a long head hair and a short pubic hair. These two hairs were very similar to the samples obtained from Rosemary Smith.
A number of tests were performed on the hair known to be from Ms. Smith and on the hair from the back seat floor of defendant Wright’s car. These tests included measurements of length and diameter and comparisons of color, root structure, ends, cuticles, medulla content, and twist. Included *661in the tests was a determination of the blood type of the unknown hairs. These were found to be blood type A. The blood taken from Rosemary Smith was also blood type A.
Although chemist Flunker found no significant differences between the unknown hair and the hair of Rosemary Smith, he testified he could not say for certain that the unknown hairs came from Rosemary Smith. Rather, he stated that his tests would eliminate "approximately 90% of the white population and nearly 100% of the black population” from having been the source of the unknown hairs.
In People v Sturdivant, 91 Mich App 128, 131; 283 NW2d 669 (1979), lv den 407 Mich 933 (1979), we found error in blood-type evidence being used to include a defendant in a class of possible assailants, which included 20% of the population, because "it thereby increased the probability of defendant’s guilt without connecting him, in any way, to the charged offense”. Thus, we held "that blood type evidence, when used solely for the purpose of including a defendant in a class of possible defendants, has no probative value”. Sturdivant, supra, p 134.
The instant case differs significantly from Sturdivant. Here, scientific analysis was not used to place the defendant in a large group of possible assailants. Rather, the analysis placed the victim in a small portion of the population which could have been the source of both head and pubic hairs which were found in the back seat of defendant Wright’s car. The hair sample analysis only lends credibility to the victim’s testimony that she was raped in the back seat of defendant Wright’s car. Since the analyzed hair came from the victim rather than one of the defendants, the analysis did *662not "increase the probability of defendant’s guilt without connecting him, in any way, to the charged offense”. It was not error, therefore, for testimony concerning the hair analysis to be admitted into evidence.
II
On appeal, the prosecutor argues that this Court should not address defendants’ 180-day-rule argument since, in the prosecutor’s view, a previous ruling by this Court concerning the issue amounts to the law of the case. The 180-day-rule argument was previously before this Court in the form of an application for leave to appeal. The application was denied "for lack of merit”. People v Wright, Docket No. 77-4364, order of February 27, 1978, lv den 402 Mich 950m (1978).
Generally, a prior ruling concerning the same question of law in the same case is the law of the case and is controlling. People v Conte, 104 Mich App 73, 76; 304 NW2d 485 (1981). A legal issue raised in one appeal may not be raised in a subsequent appeal after proceedings held on remand to a lower court. Conte, supra, p 76. The instant order, however, was a denial of leave to appeal. Generally, denials of applications for leave to appeal do not import an expression of opinion on the merits of a cause, but rather are acts of judicial discretion. Malooly v York Heating & Ventilating Corp, 270 Mich 240, 247; 258 NW 622 (1935); People v Berry, 10 Mich App 469, 473-474; 157 NW2d 310 (1968). Thus, denials of applications for leave to appeal have been held not to constitute rulings on the merits of a case. People v Hines, 88 Mich App 148, 152; 276 NW2d 550 (1979), lv den 406 Mich 934 (1979).
In the instant case, however, this Court did not *663deny leave without considering the merits of the case. While denials of leave are generally for "failure to persuade the Court of the need for immediate appellate review”, the order in the instant case denied leave expressly "for lack of merit”. Thus, the Court was expressing a decision on the merits on the 180-day issue when it denied defendants’ application for leave to appeal.
Judge Holbrook’s opinion, however, does address the merits of defendants’ 180-day-rule argument. It is clear, therefore, that the law-of-the-case doctrine is not being applied in the instant case. Since defendants’ claim is being denied on the merits of defendants’ arguments, no prejudice has resulted to either party by the Court’s decision not to apply the law-of-the-case doctrine. Thus, we leave for future decision what weight should be accorded a denial of leave "for lack of merit”.
D. E. Holbrook, Jr., and N. J. Kaufman, JJ., concurred.