Court Opinion

ID: 9688381
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 17:45:07.496913+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:37.927488
License: Public Domain

Cynar, P.J.
(concurring in part; dissenting in part). I concur with the majority opinion except I dissent as to the sentence imposed on defendant Carlton Mixon. In People v Coles, 417 Mich 523; 339 NW2d 440 (1983), the Supreme Court held that upon proper request, the appellate court shall review a trial court’s exercise of discretion in sentencing, but may grant relief only upon finding that the trial court abused its discretion to the extent the sentence shocks the conscience of the appellate court. The Court also noted the proper criteria for determination of an appropriate sentence. Coles, supra.
While I agree with the majority in accepting Judge Tahvonen’s dissent that the phrase "life or any term of years” is sufficiently clear as to need no construction, I do so with some reservation. In my opinion, imposition of a lengthy minimum sentence is not in itself determinative that the sentence is invalid. For instance, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing defendant Annie Lee Williams to forty to eighty years for kidnapping. Nor was there an abuse of discretion in People v Cooper, 168 Mich App 62; 423 NW2d 597 (1988), where a sentence of one hundred to two hundred years was imposed, or in People v Harden, 166 Mich App 106; 420 NW2d 136 (1988), where a sentence of 90 to 150 years was imposed, or in People v Crawford, 144 Mich *522App 86; 372 NW2d 688 (1985), where a sentence of 80 to 120 years was imposed. Considering the brutal nature of the crimes involved, the sentences imposed were within the discretion of the sentencing judge.
In this case, a lengthy minimum sentence might have been appropriate. However, to categorically impose a minimum sentence of one hundred to two hundred years, based on the record in this case, in my opinion, was an abuse of discretion which should shock the conscience of this Court. I would vacate the sentence for defendant Carlton Mixon and remand for resentencing.