PEOPLE v METZLER
Docket Nos. 128751, 128752
Court of Appeals of Michigan
April 6, 1992
193 Mich. App. 541
Submitted January 14, 1992, at Detroit. Decided April 6, 1992, at 10:35 A.M.
The Court of Appeals held:
MCL 780.131 ;MSA 28.969(1) andMCR 6.004(D) , which require that a state prison inmate be brought to trial on an untried criminal charge within 180 days of the time at which the prosecutor knows or has reason to know the inmate is incarcerated in a state prison, or the Department of Corrections knows or has rеason to know that a criminal charge is pending, were not violated in this case. Because the Detroit Police Department did not enter information regarding the warrant authorizing the defendant‘s arrest for murder into the Law Enforcement Information Network, the Department of Corrections neithеr knew nor had reason to know of the murder charge at the time of the defendant‘s arrest, conviction, incarceration, and parole for a larceny offense in Oakland County. At that same time, the Wayne County Prosecutor did not know of the incarceration. The 180-day rule also was not violаted during the period between the defendant‘s arrest for cocaine possession and trial on the murder charge because he was not a state prison inmate during that period, but was held in jail under a parole hold from the Department of Corrections.- The defendant‘s right to a speedy trial under
US Const, Am VI ;Const 1963, art 1, § 20 ; andMCL 768.1 ;MSA 28.1024 was not violated. Although the delay resulted in the unavailability of certain witnesses, the delay was not prejudicial to the defendant because the testimony of those witnesses would have been adverse to him. - Contrary to the defendant‘s claim on appeal, there was
sufficient evidence from which a rational trier of fact could have concluded that the essential elements of second-degree murder were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the prosecutor had established the corpus delicti of the offense with evidence other than the defendant‘s confession, the admission of the confession did not violate the corpus delicti rule. - Therе was sufficient evidence to support the conviction of possession with intent to deliver cocaine.
- Other alleged errors by the trial court were not properly preserved for appeal, and manifest injustice will not result from the failure of the Court of Appeals to consider those claims.
Affirmed.
CONNOR, J., dissenting in part, stated that the 180-day rule was violated because the Department of Corrections would have known of the murder charge were it not for the failure of the police to enter information regarding the murder warrant into the LEIN system and that the case should be remanded to the trial court for a grant of sentence credit under
CRIMINAL LAW — SPEEDY TRIAL — INMATES — COMMENCEMENT OF PROCEEDINGS — 180-DAY RULE.
The rule requiring that a state prison inmate be brought to trial on an untried criminal charge within 180 days of the time at which the prosecutor knows or has reason to know the inmate is incarcerated in a state prison, or the Department of Corrections knows or has reason to know of the pending criminal charge, is not violated where delay of trial is caused by lack of notice to the prosecutor or the Department of Corrections due to failure of a police department to enter into the Law Enforcement Informаtion Network information concerning the untried charge (
Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Gay Secor Hardy, Solicitor General, John D. O‘Hair, Prosecuting Attorney, Timothy A. Baughman, Chief of Research, Training, and Appeals, and Jeffrey Caminsky, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.
Kraizman & Kraizman (by Jack J. Kraizman), for the defendant on appeal.
MURPHY, P.J. Defendant Melvin Metzler appeals his convictions of second-degree murder,
On July 1, 1986, Carter Henderson was shot to dеath in front of 9800 Wyoming, Detroit, Michigan. According to several witnesses, Mr. Henderson entered the Gaines Bar on Wyoming Street late in the evening of July 1, 1986. Mr. Henderson appeared to be intoxicated and attempted to buy a drink while showing a handful of money. Mr. Henderson talked with two women in the bar and then left, follоwed by one of the women. Outside the bar, Mr. Henderson was attacked by five or six young men, one of whom was armed with a club and another with a gun. After a struggle, Mr. Henderson was shot several times, resulting in his death.
On July 23, 1986, a warrant was issued for defendant‘s arrest on a charge of first-degree murder for the shooting death of Mr. Henderson. On December 6, 1986, defendant was arrested in Oakland County, where he was subsequently charged and convicted of larceny in an amount over $100 and of being an habitual offender. After sentencing, defendant was remanded to the custody of the
On November 10, 1988, defendant was rеleased on parole for the Oakland County convictions. On June 1, 1989, defendant was arrested for possession of less than fifty grams of a mixture containing cocaine. While processing defendant for the arrest on the drug charge, the Detroit Police Department discovered the outstanding murder wаrrant. Defendant was subsequently charged and convicted of the possession offense and of second-degree murder.
I
We address first defendant‘s contention that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the murder charge on the ground that he was not brought to trial within 180 days. We conclude that the 180-day rule was nоt violated.
In addition, defendant was arrested on the possession chargе on June 1, 1989, but was not brought to trial on the murder charge until December 4, 1989. Because defendant was apparently held in a local facility with an MDOC parole hold, however, he was not an inmate of a penal institution of this state for purposes of the 180-day rule. People v Hastings, 136 Mich App 380, 382; 356 NW2d 645 (1984), rev‘d on other grounds 422 Mich 267; 373 NW2d 533 (1985); People v Rose, 132 Mich App 656, 658; 347 NW2d 774 (1984).
II
We also find to be without merit defendant‘s argument that he was denied a speedy trial as guaranteed by the federal and state constitutions,
Defendant contends that he was prejudiced by the delay because four witnesses were unavailable for trial. Because the delay lasted more than eighteen months, it is presumed to be prejudicial unless the prosecution proves otherwise. People v Sickles, 162 Mich App 344, 354; 412 NW2d 734 (1987). In this case, however, thе prosecution demonstrated that the unavailability of the witnesses was not caused by the delay and that the witnesses’ statements were actually adverse to defendant, so that there was no prejudice to him.
In addition, defendant first asserted his right to a speedy trial in a postverdict motion to dismiss. Although dеfendant‘s failure to earlier assert his right to a speedy trial does not waive consideration of this issue, his failure to timely do so weighs against defendant. People v Hammond, 84 Mich App 60, 67-68; 269 NW2d 488 (1978). We therefore conclude that defendant was not denied a speedy trial.
III
Defendant next contends that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the murder conviction. When reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence presented at trial, this Court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and determines whether a rational trier of fact could find that the
In this case, sufficient evidence was presеnted at trial from which a rational trier of fact could have concluded that the essential elements of the crime were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Testimony was presented that on the night of July 1, 1986, gunshots were heard outside 9800 Wyoming in Detroit and a man was seen lying in the street beside a red Cadillac. Five or six young men were seen standing near the man, and one had a club. The victim was found dead at the scene of the shooting, having been shot four times with a small-caliber gun. Defendant then confessed to the police that he had been involved in the robbery of Mr. Henderson.
Defendant argues, however, that his confession, which was admitted into evidence over his objection, is the only evidence offered at trial tending to prove that he was involved in Mr. Henderson‘s murder. Defendant correctly asserts that an accused‘s confession cannot be used to establish the corpus deliсti of a crime. People v Cotton, 191 Mich App 377, 387; 478 NW2d 681 (1991); People v Williams, 114 Mich App 186, 193; 318 NW2d 671 (1982).
All that the prosecution need prove to establish the corpus delicti of the crime, however, is the death of the victim and some criminal agency as its cause. Cotton, supra, 387. The prosecution need not establish that the defendant is the perpetrator in order to establish the corpus delicti. Once the
IV
Defendant also contends that insufficient evidence was presented to support the conviction of possession with intent to deliver less than fifty grams of cocaine. At trial, evidence was presented that a police officer saw defendant hand a package that appeared to contain narcotics to a person who had just handed money to a third person. When defendant was apprehended less than a minute later, defendant was in possession of $520 and eighteen individual packages, one of which was later determined to contain cocaine. From this evidеnce, it was reasonable for the trier of fact to conclude that defendant possessed less than fifty grams of cocaine with the intent to deliver it. See Petrella, supra, 275.
V
The remaining issues raised by defendant regarding alleged improper jury instructions and the introduction of defendant‘s confession into evidencе are not preserved. Although defendant objected to the admission of the confession at trial, he did not specify the same ground for the objection as now raised on appeal, thus failing to preserve review by this Court on that newly raised ground. See People v Furman, 158 Mich App 302, 329-330; 404 NW2d 246 (1987). We decline to review these unpresеrved issues, concluding that manifest injustice will not result.
CAVANAGH, J., concurred.
CONNOR, J. (concurring in part and dissenting in part). I agree the defendant‘s convictions should be affirmed. I dissent from the Court‘s decision that the 180-day rule was not violated by the neglect of law enforcement officials to enter information regarding the warrant into the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) system. The LEIN system is the computer program that law enforcement officials utilize to notify one another of outstanding warrants.
In order to effectuate the purpose of the 180-day rule, the Supreme Court, in People v Hill, 402 Mich 272; 262 NW2d 641 (1978), added a caveat to the statute in holding that the 180-day period begins to run not only from when the prosecutor “knows or should know” that a charge is pending against the state prison inmate, but also from when “the Department of Corrections knows or should know” of such a charge. Id., 280-281. The Court so held “because we are confident that the Legislature which drafted the 180-day rule did not intend to empower lаw-enforcement officials to defeat this statutory protection afforded to defendants by failing or refusing to serve formal notice.” Id., 281. The Court originally imposed the statutory remedy of dismissal.
This case presents for the first time a breach of the initial duty of law enforcement officials to notify the Department of Corrections of the outstanding warrant. I believe the Court must find that the Department of Corrections “should have
I would remand to the trial court for computation of the period of delay that defendant is entitled to receive as a sentence credit under