Court Opinion

ID: 9692349
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 15:52:20.902597+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:34.189719
License: Public Domain

D. C. Riley, J.
(concurring in part and dissenting in part). I write separately to demonstrate my disagreement with the majority’s treatment of two issues.
With regard to the instructions on intoxication, I would not reverse where defense counsel invited the supposed error by submitting the now-assailed instructions to the court and by applying them in closing argument. Nor would I comment further on the propriety of the instructions, since any such discussion would be gratuitous.
The issue, however, on which the majority and I completely part company relates to the sentencing of defendant Griffith. After defense counsel examined the presentence report, he specifically requested that the court not consider mention in the report suggesting that defendant had "been suspected of illegal activity”. Rather than responding to counsel’s objection, the court proceeded to impose a statutorily permissible sentence.
*496The majority would require an "affirmative indication on the record that the court relied upon such information in its sentencing decision”. I would hold that once the judge is "asked to disregard any of the allegations in the report”, People v Lee, 391 Mich 618, 637; 218 NW2d 655 (1974), the onus shifts to the court either to state that it is disregarding the allegations or to determine whether defendant disputes the charges. If defendant denies involvement in "illegal activity” the court "may not rely upon the information contained in the presentence report unless it is amplified by information such as to be persuasive of the validity of the charge there made”. United States v Weston, 448 F2d 626, 634 (CA 9, 1971).
I would vacate Griffith’s sentence and remand for resentencing.