Court Opinion

ID: 9736655
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:01:57.607551+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:07.910384
License: Public Domain

J. H. Gillis, J.
(concurring in part; dissenting in part). I agree with parts I through IV of the majority opinion. However, as to part V I must dissent. The majority holds that defendant cannot be convicted of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder because conviction of such crime would be in itself logically inconsistent.
Defendant was not charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. He was charged *669with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The second-degree murder conspiracy instruction was given apparently in order to comply with People v Jenkins, 395 Mich 440; 236 NW2d 503 (1975). In Jenkins, the Michigan Supreme Court held that in every case in which first-degree murder is charged, the trial court must instruct the jury sua sponte, and even over objection, on second-degree murder.
In the case at bar no objection to the instruction was proffered by defendant. A verdict of guilty of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder was returned by the jury.
Juries are not held to any rules of logic. The Michigan Supreme Court has held that juries are free to render verdicts which are inconsistent. People v Vaughn, 409 Mich 463; 295 NW2d 354 (1980). This rule preserves the jury’s power to dispense mercy. Id., 466. In light of this rule, coupled with defendant’s failure to object to the instruction, I would affirm the conviction.