People of Michigan v. Mona Fawaz, 329162

Defendant Mona Fawaz convicted by jury of arson of a dwelling (MCL 750.72), arson of insured property (MCL 750.75), and two counts of making false statements for an insurance claim (MCL 500.4511(1)) arising from a September 26, 2009 house fire.
Two firefighters suffered heat exhaustion and an elderly neighbor required rescue; two independent investigations concluded the fire was intentionally set.
Defendant previously had a 1996 fire loss paid by insurance; she denied that prior claim during investigation.
Guidelines minimum range was 30–50 months; trial court sentenced defendant to five years’ probation (downward departure).
This was the third resentencing; the Court of Appeals previously reversed aspects of the sentencing analysis and remanded twice.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether downward departure to probation from 30–50 months was reasonable	Trial court abused discretion; departure unsupported by proportionality and incorrect scoring justification	Trial court relied on factors (financial motive, compliance on probation, low risk of reoffense) to justify probationary sentence	Reversed: downward departure not justified; remand for resentencing before a different judge
Whether trial court correctly scored PRV 7 and treated fraud convictions as ancillary	PRV 7 scoring cannot justify departure because prior appellate ruling found trial court’s PRV 7 analysis legally incorrect	Trial court reiterated prior reasoning that fraud convictions removed case from straddle cell	Court applies law-of-the-case; prior holding controls; PRV 7 scoring cannot justify departure
Whether defendant’s conduct on probation supported downward departure	Probation compliance argued as mitigating	Record shows restitution nonpayment and a probation violation; such conduct does not support downward departure	Court rejects reliance on probation conduct to justify downward departure
Whether motive (financial vs malicious) justifies treating arson as less serious	Financial motive reduces culpability and risk	Statutory willful standard and facts (close neighbor, firefighters injured) show reckless disregard; motive irrelevant to proportionality	Court rejects motive-based diminishment; motive did not justify probationary sentence

People v Lockridge, 498 Mich 358 (mandatory guidelines removed; sentencing review for reasonableness)
People v Steanhouse, 313 Mich App 1 (adoption of Milbourn proportionality standard for reviewing departures)
People v Milbourn, 435 Mich 630 (proportionality principle requires sentencing proportionate to offense and offender)
People v Masroor, 313 Mich App 358 (abuse of discretion standard for reasonableness review)
People v Hendrick, 472 Mich 555 (probation violation can support upward departure)
People v Fisher, 449 Mich 441 (law-of-the-case doctrine explanation)
People v Hill, 221 Mich App 391 (remand for resentencing before different judge when prior judicial views may taint new sentencing)
People v Hardy, 494 Mich 430 (statutory interpretation and application of facts reviewed de novo)