People of Michigan v. Christopher James Harner, 331122

Background

Defendant Christopher Harner lived with Amy Welch and developed relationships with Welch’s daughters and their friends: CS (15), RA (14), and MG (13).
Each girl testified to sexual activity with Harner: CS (two incidents of vaginal intercourse), MG (multiple penetrative acts and oral sex while age 13), and RA (sexual touching over clothing).
Harner was convicted by a jury of seven counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-III), one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-IV), and one count of accosting a minor for immoral purposes.
Sentences: time served for CSC-IV and accosting minor counts; 60–180 months for each CSC-III count.
Harner appealed, raising sufficiency of the evidence, ineffective assistance of counsel (multiple grounds), Lockridge/OV scoring, judicial bias, and constitutional challenge to the criminal sexual conduct statutory scheme.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for CSC-III and CSC-IV	Prosecution: victim testimony alone can support sexual-penetration and sexual-contact crimes; age and conduct proven.	Harner: victims inconsistent, motivated by jealousy/romance, no physical corroboration, lack of force for CSC-IV.	Affirmed; jury credibility determinations upheld; victim testimony sufficient; age differential satisfied for CSC-IV.
Accosting a minor for immoral purposes	Prosecution: repeated requests for nude photos to a 14‑year‑old constituted encouragement to commit an immoral act.	Harner: no nude photos recovered; argues insufficiency.	Affirmed; encouragement theory proven by testimony of requests even without receipt of images.
Ineffective assistance of counsel (voir dire, objections, discovery, suppression)	N/A (respondent argues counsel reasonably exercised strategy).	Harner: counsel failed to challenge jurors, failed to object to prosecutorial misconduct/direct leading, failed to compel discovery, failed to move to suppress cellphone evidence.	Rejected; record shows reasonable strategic decisions, no meritorious objections to raise, no proof cellphone search was unlawful, and no prejudice shown.
Lockridge/OV judicial fact-finding	Harner: OVs 4 and 10 based on judge-found facts increased guideline minimums, requiring resentencing.	State: sentencing occurred after Lockridge made guidelines advisory; defendant did not object at sentencing.	Rejected; sentenced post-Lockridge, guidelines advisory, no mandatory minimum increase from judge-found facts.
Judicial bias / judge presiding over multiple proceedings	Harner: judge’s prior involvement (preexam, district proceedings) created bias; counsel ineffective for not objecting.	State: no evidence of bias or disqualifying ‘‘one‑man grand jury’’; judge’s involvement was proper.	Rejected; heavy presumption of judicial impartiality, no plain error or prejudice shown.
Constitutionality of 1974 sex-offense statutory scheme	State: criminal sexual conduct statutes validly enacted.	Harner: 1963 Constitution forbids a "general revision" of laws, so 1974 PA 266 was invalid.	Rejected; statute presumed constitutional, 1974 amendment was not a forbidden general revision and challenge unpreserved.

Key Cases Cited

People v Lockridge, 498 Mich 358 (holding Michigan sentencing guidelines advisory after severance of mandatory language)
Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99 (holding facts that increase mandatory minimum are elements for jury to find)
People v Trakhtenberg, 493 Mich 38 (discussing ineffective assistance and burden to establish factual predicate)
People v Kowalski, 489 Mich 488 (describing accosting a minor statutory theories)
People v Ginther, 390 Mich 436 (establishing procedure for evidentiary hearing on ineffective assistance)
People v Unger, 278 Mich App 210 (voir dire and juror observation considerations)
People v Ericksen, 288 Mich App 192 (holding failure to raise meritless objections not ineffective assistance)