People of Michigan v. Thomas G Xenakis, 333185

Background

In 1987 Thomas G. Xenakis pleaded guilty in two Oakland County cases: possession of >650 grams of cocaine (cocaine case) and multiple counts including extortion and felonious assault (extortion case); he absconded before sentencing and remained a fugitive until 2014.
After his capture, Xenakis moved to withdraw his guilty plea in the cocaine case, alleging coercion by Judge Jessica Cooper at the 1987 plea hearing; no plea transcript exists due to the passage of time.
The only contemporaneous record is a signed 1987 plea form in which Xenakis and his then-attorney affirmed the plea was voluntary and not the result of threats or coercion.
The trial court denied Xenakis’s motions for plea withdrawal, for an evidentiary hearing, for disqualification of the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, and for recusal of the entire Oakland Circuit Court bench, and later sentenced him in both matters.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals considered (1) whether it had jurisdiction to hear appeals from guilty pleas entered before the 1994 Proposal B changes, (2) whether the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to allow plea withdrawal or to hold an evidentiary hearing, and (3) whether ministerial correction of the cocaine judgment was required (statutory quantity misstatement).

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Jurisdiction to hear appeals from pre-1994 guilty pleas	Court (People) argued appeal should be by leave because plea convictions generally require leave post-1994	Xenakis argued his crimes occurred before Dec. 27, 1994 so he retains appeal as of right	Court held Kaczmarek controls: crimes committed before Dec. 27, 1994 preserve appeal as of right, so Court has jurisdiction
Motion to withdraw guilty plea (coercion claim)	Prosecutor argued Xenakis cannot rely on belated, self-contradictory evidence and plea-form statements bar contradictory testimony	Xenakis claimed judge coerced plea and sought evidentiary hearing to prove coercion (proffered attorney and his own testimony)	Court held trial court did not abuse discretion: Serr/White bar a defendant and counsel from contradicting prior in-court plea statements; no admissible evidence of coercion; denial affirmed
Request for evidentiary hearing to establish coercion	People argued offer was hearsay/contradicted plea form and prior in-court statements; hearing unnecessary	Xenakis argued hearing required to resolve factual dispute about alleged coercion	Court held no hearing required because proposed testimony would contradict prior written sworn representations and presumption of regularity supports that a proper plea colloquy occurred
Disqualification/recusal of prosecutor’s office and entire bench	People opposed disqualification/recusal absent any basis; argued request stemmed solely from proposed hearing	Xenakis argued potential witness (Judge Cooper) and conflicts required disqualification/recusal	Court held denial proper: without a hearing there is no basis to disqualify prosecutor’s office or recuse entire bench
Clerical error in judgment of sentence (cocaine quantity)	People noted judgment listed modern statutory threshold (1,000 grams)	Xenakis argued conviction was under the statute in force at plea (over 650 grams) and judgment should reflect that	Court remanded for ministerial correction: judgment must reflect possession of more than 650 grams of cocaine

Key Cases Cited

People v Kaczmarek, 464 Mich 478 (supersedes pre-1994 appeal practice; preserves appeals as of right for crimes committed before Dec. 27, 1994)
People v Serr, 73 Mich App 19 (1977) (bars defendant or counsel from later contradicting statements made during a plea proceeding to withdraw a plea)
People v White, 307 Mich App 425 (2014) (applies Serr to deny evidentiary hearing when affidavits contradict defendant’s prior plea testimony)
People v Iacopelli, 141 Mich App 566 (1985) (presumption of regularity where records are unavailable due to passage of time)