Court Opinion

ID: 9670536
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:22:09.467384+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:05.058107
License: Public Domain

Mackenzie, J.
(dissenting). While I agree with the majority that defendant’s guilty plea did not waive his due process claim, I find that the record on appeal does not support the majority’s conclusion that defendant was a victim of judge shopping by the prosecutor. The majority relies on People v George, 114 Mich App 204; 318 NW2d 666 (1982), Iv den 414 Mich 931 (1982), and People v Walls, 117 Mich App 691; 324 NW2d 136 (1982), where this Court found subsequent prosecutions violative of the defendants’ right to due process since at those subsequent preliminary examinations the prosecutor introduced no new additional evidence which was not available at the original preliminary examination, but rather sought only to reargue the same issue on the same evidence before a different judge. I find George, supra, and Walls, supra, distinguishable from the present case.
The transcript of the original preliminary examination before Judge Roberson was not included in the record sent on appeal. However, the portions of that transcript quoted in defendant’s brief on appeal indicate that the charges were dismissed because the arresting officer who testified at the examination admitted that he had no personal knowledge of an outstanding warrant for defendant’s arrest. Consequently, Judge Roberson found *424this officer’s testimony inadequate to justify defendant’s arrest and concluded that the subsequent search of defendant was illegal. However, at the second and third preliminary examinations the prosecutor did present new additional evidence, the testimony of the other arresting officer who did have personal knowledge of the outstanding warrant for defendant’s arrest. Thus, at the second preliminary examination, the prosecution was not merely attempting to reargue the issue of the legality of defendant’s arrest and search on the same evidence before a different, and hopefully more receptive judge, but rather supplied new evidence in support of its case. Similarly, when the case was again dismissed on defendant’s motion to quash on the ground that the second warrant issued after the second preliminary examination was not signed by the proper judge, the prosecution’s institution of the third preliminary examination was intended to remedy this defect and not simply to relitigate before a different judge the same issues of probable cause to bind over or the legality of the arrest and search of defendant.
Subjecting a defendant to multiple preliminary examinations violates his right of due process if the prosecution is attempting to harass the defendant or is engaged in forum shopping. People v Walls, supra; People v George, supra. Although subsequent preliminary examinations do not constitute double jeopardy, the prosecutor must act in good faith and should not subject a person to multiple preliminary examinations without good reason. Gaffney v Missaukee Circuit Judge, 85 Mich 138, 139; 48 NW 478 (1891). Applying these principles to the present case, the record before this Court discloses no harassment or judge shopping by the prosecution since the prosecution pre*425sented new evidence at the second preliminary examination, People v Laslo, 78 Mich App 257, 260; 259 NW2d 448 (1977), and the third preliminary examination was necessary because of a technical defect in the signing of the second warrant. On this record, I would not disturb the guilty plea.
By finding no due process violation, it is necessary to resolve the other issues, not addressed by the majority, which defendant has raised on appeal. In view of the foregoing analysis finding no harassment or judge shopping by the prosecution, I reject defendant’s contention that his guilty plea was involuntary and coerced because of his being subjected to multiple preliminary examinations. I also reject defendant’s assertion that his guilty plea was involuntary and coerced because the prosecutor threatened to file a supplemental information on an habitual offender charge. At the third preliminary examination, the prosecutor stated that he intended to seek such a supplemental information, but the record reflects he never did so. It is not impermissible for a prosecutor to use a potential habitual offender charge as a tool in plea negotiations so long as the prosecution is not precluded from bringing such a charge. People v Roderick Johnson, 86 Mich App 77; 272 NW2d 200 (1978); People v Alford, 101 Mich App 446; 300 NW2d 593 (1980). In the present case, defendant makes no claim that the prosecutor was precluded from filing a supplemental habitual offender information. Moreover, defendant in his brief on appeal states that no plea negotiations were engaged in, and at the guilty plea proceeding defendant stated that his plea was not induced by any threat or promise, and was freely and voluntarily made. See People v Hollie, 112 Mich App 370, 371-372; 315 NW2d 549 (1981).
*426Defendant also claims, and the prosecution agrees, that resentencing is required because the court did not use an updated presentence report. People v Anderson, 107 Mich App 62; 308 NW2d 662 (1981). Thus, I would remand for resentencing.