People of Michigan v. Kelwin Dwayne Edwards, 333738

Defendant Kelwin Edwards was convicted by jury of assault with intent to commit murder and felony-firearm; originally sentenced to 51 months–11 years (assault) plus 2 years (felony-firearm).
Following a Crosby remand from the Michigan Supreme Court, the trial court resentenced Edwards to 1–15 years (assault) and 2 years (felony-firearm), a large downward departure from the guidelines.
At trial the jury necessarily found Edwards had actual intent to kill (assault with intent to murder); the sentencing court nonetheless scored OV 6 at 10 points (intent to injure) rather than 25 or 50.
The trial court relied on additional information not presented to the jury: Edwards’s PTSD and a prior gunshot to the head, and concluded those facts reduced his intent to kill.
The prosecution appealed, arguing OV 6 was mis-scored and the downward departure sentence was unreasonable and disproportionate to the offense.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Proper scoring of OV 6	OV 6 must be scored consistent with jury verdict for intent to kill; score 25 or 50	Trial court had additional information (PTSD, prior head wound) justifying 10 points	Court upheld 10-point score: judge may rely on information not presented to jury and did not clearly err in finding lesser intent under MCL 777.36(2)(a)
Reasonableness of downward departure sentence	1–15 year minimum is unreasonable and disproportionate; mitigating factors used were already accounted for in the guidelines	Trial court relied on offender-specific mitigating factors (remorse, limited record, PTSD/mental state) to justify departure	Court reversed and remanded: departure was not adequately justified because court focused only on offender, used factors already accounted for in guidelines, and failed to consider seriousness of offense

Hardy, 494 Mich. 430 (2013) (standard: factual findings reviewed for clear error; legal application reviewed de novo)
Lockridge, 498 Mich. 358 (2015) (reasonableness review of guideline departure sentences post-Booker-style advisory guidelines)
Milbourn, 435 Mich. 630 (1990) (principle of proportionality for sentencing departures)
Masroor, 313 Mich. App. 358 (2015) (departure appropriate where guidelines inadequately account for important factors)
Jackson, 292 Mich. App. 583 (2011) (elements of assault with intent to commit murder require actual intent to kill)
Crosby, 397 F.3d 103 (2d Cir. 2005) (procedural precedent regarding resentencing after sentence invalidation)