Court Opinion

ID: 9740243
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:30:43.161017+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:17.096066
License: Public Domain

M. F. Cavanagh, J.
(dissenting). I cannot agree with my sister’s conclusion that the trial court’s instructions did not provide the jury with any guidance or standard by which they could deter*453mine whether the defendant’s conduct was proscribed. The trial court clearly instructed on first-degree criminal sexual conduct, MCL 750.520b; MSA 28.788(2), and clearly instructed the jury on the definition of cunnilingus. I can conceive of no instance when cunnilingus could be medically recognized as an ethical or acceptable practice. The average lay person or juror would not need expert medical testimony to come to this same conclusion. The meaning of the language here involved is understandable to a person of ordinary intelligence and, for this reason, I feel the jury was competent to make this determination. People v Cabassa, 249 Mich 543, 549; 229 NW 442 (1930). This is not to say that medical testimony is unnecessary in most conceivable prosecutions under this section of the statute. It is only because this particular practice is readily understandable by a juror as being medically unethical or unacceptable.
A reading of the closing arguments of counsel and instructions by the court in their entirety persuades me that this defendant was not denied a fair trial. The portion of the transcript quoted by the majority to indicate that the trial court placed the question of the propriety of the entire examination before the jury occurred outside the presence of the jury and was never again mentioned or referred to in the court’s instructions. The portion of the prosecutor’s argument cited by the majority occurred on rebuttal and clearly was in response to matters propounded by a defense counsel during his closing argument. The prosecutor’s comments in closing and rebuttal when read in their entirety did not exceed the bounds of permissible advocacy. I also take note of the fact that neither the instructions given by the trial court nor any of the *454comments of the prosecuting attorney were objected to by defense counsel.
This was a close case. It basically resolved itself down to a matter of credibility between the complainant and the defendant. The defendant through cross-examination of the complainant, by his own testimony, and by defense counsel’s argument clearly presented to the jury defendant’s theory of the case. The fact that the jury chose to disbelieve the defendant’s version does not mean that he was denied a fair trial. I Would affirm the conviction.