Court Opinion

ID: 9527112
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:27:34.942886+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:34.000959
License: Public Domain

Bashara, P.J.
(concurring in part, dissenting in part). I am in concurrence with my brethren on all issues raised except that of the applicability of People v Tanner, 387 Mich 683; 199 NW2d 202 (1972). The fact that defendant is a repeat felony offender does not prevent Tanner from controlling.
In Tanner, the Supreme Court specifically stated:
*291"Convinced as we are, that a sentence with too short an interval between minimum and maximum is not indeterminate, we hold that any sentence which provides for a minimum exceeding two-thirds of the maximum is improper as failing to comply with the indeterminate sentence act.
"Of course this holding has no application to sentencing under statutes by which the only punishment prescribed is imprisonment for life, or those providing for a mandatory minimum. See, MCLA 769.9.; MSA 28.1081.” 387 Mich at 690. (Emphasis supplied.)
This construction of the indeterminate sentence act was followed in People v Redwine, 73 Mich App 83; 250 NW2d 550 (1976), in which I concurred.
Frankly, the above quote from Tanner appears to fly directly in the face of the specific statutory language of the indeterminate sentencing act. MCL 769.8; MSA 28.1080. That statute clearly indicates that it applies only to persons "convicted for the first time”. However, Tanner was decided long after the passage of the act and we are bound to follow the mandates of our Supreme Court.
I would, therefore, affirm the defendant’s conviction but remand for modification of sentence under People v Tanner, supra.