Court Opinion

ID: 9675057
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:40:53.262921+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:30.234748
License: Public Domain

O’Connell, P.J.
(concurring in part and dissenting in part). I concur with the majority except with respect to its resolution of the final issue. It has long been the rule in Michigan that
[a] sentencing court must articulate on the record its reasons for the sentence imposed. People v Fleming, 428 Mich 408, 428; 410 NW2d 266 (1987); People v Coles, 417 Mich 523, 549; 339 NW2d 440 (1983). Where a sentencing court departs from the guidelines range, it must articulate its reasons both on the record at sentencing and on the sentencing information report. Fleming, supra. [People v Johnson, 187 Mich App 621, 630; 468 NW2d 307 (1991).]
This rule has been followed in a myriad of this Court’s opinions. See, e.g., People v Barclay, 208 Mich App 670, 676-677; 528 NW2d 842 (1995); People v Reyna, 184 Mich App 626, 634; 459 NW2d 75 (1990).
This is a bright line rule. As plainly stated in the prior opinions of this Court and of our Supreme Court, a sentencing court’s failure to articulate its reasons for departure requires the appellate court to remand the matter for articulation. Because, in the present case, the sentencing court *556not only failed to state any reason for departing from the guidelines but also failed even to acknowledge that it was imposing a departure sentence, remand is required.
The majority concludes that failing to say the magic words "I am departing from the sentencing guidelines” is harmless error. Whether it is or is not harmless error is not the issue in this case. However, I would note that the Supreme Court in Fleming, supra, specifically stated that failing to state the reasons for departure on both the sentencing information report and the record is reason for remand. The majority opinion appears to contradict this edict. See Boyd v W G Wade Shows, 443 Mich 515, 523; 505 NW2d 544 (1993).
The majority, by stating in conclusory fashion that "[t]he trial court’s articulation of the reasons for departing from the guidelines was sufficient under the circumstances,” ante, p 554, implies that the sentencing court articulated various reasons for imposing a departure sentence and then simply failed to state that the sentence was a departure sentence. However, this is not what happened.
Contrary to what is suggested by the majority opinion, there is nothing in the record to indicate that the experienced trial court was aware that it was imposing a departure sentence. In fact, after numerous adjustments to the sentencing information report resulting in a lowering of the guidelines sentence range, the court imposed a sentence at the upper limit of the uncorrected guidelines range, a sentence that exceeded the corrected guidelines range. Even the prosecution, whose integrity is to be commended, in its brief on appeal states:
Nevertheless, given the last-minute changes that *557took place in the guidelines scoring — and the fact that the People, at least, have no written record of the court’s reasons for departure — the People concede that it is possible that [the sentencing judge] did not realize that her sentence exceeded the guidelines.
In short, it appears that the sentencing court intended to sentence defendant at the top of the original guidelines range. Because articulation in the strict sense of the word is.not required where one sentences a defendant within the guidelines range, the court’s failure to set forth its reason for imposing the particular sentence would not have been improper. People v Lawson, 195 Mich App 76, 78; 489 NW2d 147 (1992). Unfortunately, following the correction of the sentencing information report, the court imposed the sentence it would have imposed had the guidelines range not been altered. This resulted in the imposition of a departure sentence, one apparently imposed unknowingly by the sentencing court.
However, and this goes to the heart of my dissent, because there exists no articulation, we have no way of knowing if what is adduced above is, in fact, what happened. The defendant simply requests that the trial court reveal whether the sentence imposed was meant to bé within the guidelines range or whether it was intended to be a departure sentence and, if so, the court’s reasons for departing from the guidelines. The lower court record provides no insight with regard to this issue. I believe the defendant’s request is not an unreasonable one. If the articulation requiremént of Fleming is to enjoy any continuing vitality, see Boyd, supra, remand is required in the present case.
The majority states, however, that to remand *558would result in a waste of judicial resources because this Court has already determined the departure sentence imposed to be proportionate. I do not disagree with the majority’s conclusion. However, I would clarify that the waste of judicial resources does not stem from adherence to the articulation requirement, but from this Court’s practice of reviewing the proportionality of sentences that depart from the guidelines’ recommendation1 where there exists no articulation of the reasons for imposing the particular sentences.
We review the proportionality of sentences under the abuse of discretion standard. People v Milbourn, 435 Mich 630, 635-636; 461 NW2d 1 (1990). Necessarily, our duty is to consider whether the sentencing court abused its discretion. Id. However, where the sentencing court fails to articulate on the record and the sentencing information report its reasons for imposing a departure sentence, it is difficult to "review” the actions of the court to ascertain whether it did, in fact, abuse its discretion.
Where the sentencing court fails to articulate its reasons for imposing a departure sentence, we are left to assumptions and inferences from which to decide whether the court committed an abuse of discretion. In other words, we review what we believe the sentencing court would have said had it articulated its reasons for imposing a departure sentence. It is difficult to term this "subjective assessment of [allegedly] excessive punishment,” Milbourn, supra, p 699 (Boyle, J., dissenting), a review under the abuse of discretion standard; it is much closer to review de novo._
*559Nevertheless, this Court regularly conducts such reviews — determining a sentence to be proportional and then remanding because of a lack of articulation. See, e.g., People v White, 208 Mich App 126, 135-136; 527 NW2d 34 (1994). Given that this is a common practice in this Court that has met with no Supreme Court disapprobation, such review will continue. With respect to the present case, after reviewing the record and supplying a rationale not specifically articulated by the sentencing court — defendant’s admitted but uncharged illegal activities, his juvenile record, the pending charges against him — I agree that the sentence imposed is proportional.
I would remand under the procedures set forth in People v Triplett, 432 Mich 568, 573; 442 NW2d 622 (1989), to allow the circuit court to articulate its rationale for the sentence imposed. White, supra. I would not retain jurisdiction.

 Justice Boyle maintains that all review of statutorily valid sentences is unjustified. People v Milbourn, 435 Mich 630, 680-684; 461 NW2d 1 (1990) (Boyle, J., dissenting); People v Cervantes, 448 Mich 620, 637-638; 532 NW2d 831 (1995) (Boyle, J., dissenting).