Court Opinion

ID: 9730684
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:20:46.671815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:08.564448
License: Public Domain

*520Cynar, J.
(dissenting). I am in accord with the majority that proof as to value of the property with respect to one contested charge was sufficiently established at the time of defendant’s plea. Because the record does not establish a sufficient factual basis for seven convictions, a remand to the trial court is required for purposes of affording the prosecution an opportunity to supplement the record in order to establish that defendant helped to conceal the stolen property after he sold it to the undercover officers.
It is my further opinion that all eight convictions require a remand to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing concerned with the defendant’s entrapment defense.
GCR 1963, 817.6(1) provides that, within the time provided for filing the appellant’s brief, appellant may move to remand to the trial court. A timely motion must be granted if it identifies an issue sought to be reviewed on appeal and shows that a testimonial record must be developed to support the issue or that the issue should be initially decided by the trial judge. In my opinion, appellant’s affidavit identifies an issue to be reviewed on appeal, and it is plain that a record must be developed to support the issue or that the issue should be decided ab initio by the trial judge. Since the guilty pleas in seven cases already require a remand to establish a sufficient factual basis, this is all the more reason that, upon remand, the trial court first should hold a hearing for all the cases on the issue of entrapment.
As stated in People v D’Angelo, 401 Mich 167, 179, 182; 257 NW2d 655 (1977):
"When an accused claims entrapment he is asserting, in essence, entitlement to the benefit of a judicial policy that his claim, if true, is a bar to the prosecution of the *521case. His claim does not involve an assessment of guilt or innocence and, in fact, is irrelevant to it. * * * The defense of entrapment is not interjected to establish the absence of an essential element of the crime but to present facts collateral or incidental to the criminal act which justify acquittal on the ground of an overriding public policy to deter instigation of crime by enforcement officers in order to get a conviction.”
"Essentially, a hard analysis of each entrapment case invariably leads to the conclusion that the accused is affirmatively alleging that, even if culpable, he should be insulated from prosecution due to the impropriety of the government conduct. The challenge focuses exclusively upon the nature of the police conduct which, if improper, will not be mitigated, justified or excused in any fashion by the disposition of the accused.” (Emphasis supplied.)
As the defense of entrapment depends upon resolutions of factual disputes, the trial court, not the Court of Appeals, must ascertain the facts. People v Cushman, 65 Mich App 161, 167; 237 NW2d 228 (1975).
For the reasons stated, I believe a remand for an evidentiary hearing on the issue of entrapment should be granted.