Court Opinion

ID: 9539886
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:11:23.913107+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:26.877149
License: Public Domain

T. M. Burns, J.
(dissenting). I dissent. It is clear that under the holding of the Michigan Supreme Court in People v Fountain, 407 Mich 96; 282 NW2d 168 (1979), a supplemental information charging the defendant as a habitual offender could not have been filed under the facts of this case. It may be true that defendant’s plea of guilty to the instant offense of unarmed robbery was induced by other offers of the prosecutor and not by the prosecutor’s promise not to supplement him. However, we are in no position to hold this absent an evidentiary record on this matter. Therefore, I would remand for a hearing on the question of whether defendant’s decision to plead guilty in this case was substantially based on the promise of the prosecutor not to charge him as an habitual offender. If it was, defendant’s plea should be vacated. Of course, if defendant’s plea was in no way substantially affected by the promise to forego charging him as an habitual offender, his plea should be affirmed. Nonetheless, until such an evidentiary record is before this Court, I would hold that we can not properly affirm defendant’s plea without speculating as to his motives in tendering it.
I would remand for a hearing on this issue.