Court Opinion

ID: 9718582
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:27:30.497197+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:00.510208
License: Public Domain

M. J. Kelly, J.
(dissenting). This defendant was apprehended a little after four o’clock in the morn*547ing when he got stuck in the snow after abducting the complainant at rifle point at Metropolitan Airport. The police officers happened on the scene, the complainant jumped out of the car and the arrest of the defendant followed.
Defendant testified on his own behalf that he had had an argument with his fiancee earlier in the evening, began drinking beer and whiskey and by the time he encountered the complainant he considered himself intoxicated although he only wanted to talk to the complainant and see if something of a sexual nature might develop. He explained that the rifle was in the car for the purpose of rabbit hunting and that he only knocked on the window with the rifle to get the complainant’s attention, not to intimidate her. A reading of this record leaves no doubt that defendant’s testimony was fully incredible and that the complainant’s testimony was completely believable. To reverse this verdict and judgment on the ground that the witness was examined "in relation to [her] opinions on religion” in violation of the statute, MCLA 600.1436; MSA 27A.1436, is carrying the holding in People v Hall, 391 Mich 175; 215 NW2d 166 (1974), and People v Bouchee, 400 Mich 253; 253 NW2d 626 (1977), to outright absurdity. It is time that the Supreme Court reviewed the havoc that People v Hall and its progeny has wrought and reinvigorated the rule that reversal on unobjected-to error is appropriate only where "it shall affirmatively appear that the error complained of has resulted in a miscarriage of justice”. MCLA 769.26; MSA 28.1096.
Were this the court of last resort one would be tempted to reexamine the historical basis for the constitutional provision in question, Const 1963, art 1, § 18, and the legislative intent of the statute *548hereinabove referred to. Certainly the question of incompetency is obsolete beyond a doubt and the correlation to veracity in today’s profane (secular) America is dubious.
This trial was concluded on April 1, 1976. People v Hall, supra, was released shortly after its decisional date of February 27, 1974. What more comfortable feeling for a knowledgeable defense attorney than to allow a two or three line religious reference to put in the bank for later appellate review in case of conviction? The ebb and flow of a trial must not be measured by the existence of irregularities. There is no such thing as a perfect trial. The question is whether or not the defendant had a fair trial under all the circumstances, and I believe that he did here. I find no manifest injustice. I do not mean to be facetious but supposing the prosecutor had asked the witness where she attended high school and her reply was "Christ the Good Shepherd”.
I would affirm.