Court Opinion

ID: 9542151
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:31:32.934232+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:06:50.356794
License: Public Domain

Danhof, J.
(dissenting). I must dissent from the majority opinion and would affirm the defendant’s conviction of manslaughter.
This case arose out of the killing of one Donald Jarvis. At approximately 10 pm on the evening of August 10, 1969, three young persons and the deceased, Donald Jarvis, arrived at a bar owned by *232the defendant, Duane Dunn. After using the bar’s restroom facilities, two of Jarvis’s companions purchased cigarettes and Jarvis purchased a shell of beer. At this point, the bartender, Jay Dunn, brother of the defendant, ascertained that Jarvis’s companions were underage. He asked these three people to leave the bar and they complied with his request. Donald Jarvis remained on the premises in order to finish his beer. After a short period of time, one of Jarvis’s female companions came back into the bar in order to obtain a light for a cigarette. Jay Dunn, the bartender, noticed the girl’s return and got into a disagreement with Jarvis over her return. Defendant, Duane Dunn, who was in the bar at the time, noticed the disagreement between Jarvis and his brother, Jay. Defendant Duane Dunn testified that he went behind the bar in order to get a quarter to refund Jarvis for his beer; he further stated that as he reached for the glass he knocked it out of Jarvis’s hand. A heated argument ensued. Jarvis was hustled out of the bar. Jarvis and his companions remained outside the bar and several shouted obscenities were heard by the people inside.
Defendant then went behind the bar and removed a .32-caliber Smith & Wesson six-shot revolver. Defendant cocked the gun as he walked to the door. He ordered the four people to leave. The defendant stated that Jarvis was on his motorcycle; that the defendant believed that they were about to leave; and that as the defendant attempted to release the hammer it slipped and the gun went off.
Defendant thereupon returned to the barroom and was quoted as saying: "I hit him”; "Call the police. I shot someone”; "Call the police” and "Call the cops. I shot somebody.”
*233Jarvis was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
The trial court gave the jury instructions on second-degree murder and on manslaughter.
Defendant claims, and the majority agree, that it was reversible error for the prosecutor to elicit on direct examination the fact that defendant had exercised his right to remain silent. There were two references to defendant’s silence brought out on direct examination before the defendant testified. This was error. People v Jablonski, 38 Mich App 33 (1972). This Court has indicated that it will not decline to review such error even in the absence of an objection. People v Severance, 43 Mich App 394 (1972). It remains to be resolved, however, whether these references were harmless under the facts of the instant case. Chapman v California, 386 US 18; 87 S Ct 824; 17 L Ed 2d 705 (1967), reh den 386 US 987; 87 S Ct 1283; 18 L Ed 2d 241 (1967). Defendant makes no allegation that these references to his silence forced a change in trial strategy. The people point out that defendant subsequently testified fully as to his version of what happened. People v Fredericks, 36 Mich App 632, 639 (1971). The defendant also caused a statement made by him to be read into the record. This statement was made with his attorney present some 10 to 12 hours after the incident in question. Thus, the defendant was neither forced to the stand, nor was the jury left to infer that his silence at the time of his arrest was an indication of his guilt. I would hold that the people have demonstrated that the error present here was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
I would affirm.