People v. Carp

• Decision Date: 15 November 2012
• Docket Number: Docket No. 307758.
• Citation: 298 Mich.App. 472,828 N.W.2d 685
• Parties: PEOPLE v. CARP.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

298 Mich.App. 472

828 N.W.2d 685

PEOPLE

v.CARP.

Docket No. 307758.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted Oct. 16, 2012, at Lansing.

Decided Nov. 15, 2012, at 9:05 a.m.

Unconstitutional as Applied

M.C.L.A. § 791.234(6)(a)

Limitation Recognized

MCR 6.903(E)

M.C.L.A. § 600.606(1)

Bill Schuette, Attorney General, John J. Bursch, Solicitor General, Michael D. Wendling, Prosecuting Attorney, and Timothy K. Morris, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.

Selby Law Firm, PLLC, Grosse (by Patricia L. Selby), for defendant.

Bill Schuette, Attorney General, John J. Bursch, Solicitor General, B. Eric Restuccia, Deputy Solicitor General, and Richard A. Bandstra, Chief Legal Counsel, for Amici Curiae the Attorney General.

Dawn Van Hoek, Detroit, Brett M. DeGroff, Marla R. McCowan, Detroit, Michael L. Mittlestat, Johnathon Sacks, and Christopher M. Smith, for Amici Curiae the State Appellate Defender Office.

David S. Leyton, Kym L. Worthy, Detroit, and Timothy A. Baughman, Detroit, for Amici Curiae the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.

Stuart G. Friedman, Southfield, for Amici Curiae the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan.

Daniel S. Korobkin, Michael J. Steinberg, Kary L. Moss, Detroit, Kimberly A. Thomas, and Deborah L. LaBelle, for Amici Curiae the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, and the University of Michigan Law School Juvenile Justice Clinic.

Before: TALBOT, P.J., and FITZGERALD and WHITBECK, JJ.

TALBOT, P.J.

A jury convicted defendant, Raymond Curtis Carp, of first-degree murder,¹ armed robbery,² larceny in a building,³ and larceny of property worth $1,000 or more but less than $20,000.⁴ The trial court sentenced Carp to mandatory life imprisonment without parole for the first-degree murder conviction, 15 to 30 years' imprisonmentfor the armed robbery conviction and 1 to 4 years' imprisonment for both larceny convictions, to be served concurrently. Following an appeal as of right, this Court affirmed his convictions and sentences.⁵ The Michigan Supreme Court denied Carp's subsequent application for leave to appeal.⁶ Following the trial court's denial of his motion for relief from the judgment, Carp again applied to this Court for delayed leave to appeal, which this Court denied.⁷ Subsequently, this Court granted Carp's motion for reconsideration of that order ⁸ to address his contention of entitlement to resentencing following the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court in Miller v. Alabama.⁹ We affirm.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

“[W]hether a United States Supreme Court decision applies retroactively presents a question of law that we review de novo.” ¹⁰

II. PEOPLE V. CARP

The events leading to Carp's conviction involved the murder of Mary Ann McNeely in her home on May 31, 2006. At that time, Carp was 15 years of age. Carp's 22–year–old half-brother,¹¹ Brandon Gorecki, began to reside with the victim after his mother told him to leave the family residence because of his continued drug use. Their mother permitted Carp to visit his half-brother and spend the night at the victim's home. That night, Gorecki became involved in a verbal argument and physical confrontation with his girlfriend at the victim's residence. According to Gorecki's girlfriend, the victim intervened, affording the girlfriend an opportunity to leave the premises.

Following this confrontation, Carp and Gorecki left the victim's residence but returned a short time later. Gorecki and the victim began to argue, and the argument evolved into a physical confrontation. Although Gorecki denied an ability to recall the events that transpired due to his use of drugs and alcohol, he admitted stabbing the victim more than once in the neck area and also striking her in the head with a mug. According to Gorecki, during this confrontation, Carp “threw a mug at the victim and closed the drapes.” Gorecki acknowledged trying to clean up the victim's blood and removing electronic equipment from the victim's home. Gorecki also took the victim's truck while Carp accompanied him.

The medical examiner indicated that the victim had “23 stab wounds to the face and neck and nine stab wounds to the torso” along with “incised wounds to the victim's extremities” and “numerous blunt force injuries including lacerations and bruises to the skin and fractures of the skull and injuries to the brain.” Neither Carp nor Gorecki returned to the victim's home to determine her status or secure any assistancefor her. It was not until June 1, 2006, following the receipt of a telephone call from Gorecki that his mother and a friend went to the victim's home to investigate and contacted police when they encountered “bloody footprints.”

At trial the prosecutor presented evidence regarding statements by Carp to friends after the murder, indicating that he had thrown a mug at the victim and that Gorecki subsequently stabbed her. Although Carp admitted to another individual that he threw a mug at the victim, he denied knowing whether it made contact because his eyes were closed. To another friend, Carp stated that he struck the victim in the back of the head with a mug he had removed from the freezer and that, at the direction of Gorecki, he closed the blinds and windows. Carp also said that he “held the victim down while [Gorecki] kneed her face” and that Gorecki asked him for a knife, which Carp handed to him. Purportedly, Carp indicated that the victim was a “horrible person and deserved to die.”

Carp's statements to police varied. While acknowledging the argument between the victim and Gorecki, Carp asserted that both were intoxicated and that Gorecki began to strike the victim and grabbed a knife from a kitchen drawer. Carp denied seeing Gorecki stab the victim or assisting in trying to clean up the blood. In a later interview, Carp denied striking the victim and indicated that he was unable to assist Gorecki in the clean up because he became ill. During his third interviewwith police, Carp admitted he struck the victim with a heavy glass because Gorecki “was wrestling on the kitchen floor with the victim and stated to him, ‘[h]elp me, man. Help me, help me.... What do you want me to do. Bust, bust her in the head.’ ” Carp further admitted to closing the drapes and shutting the windows and that he assisted in taking the electronic equipment, placing the items in the victim's truck. At trial, Carp asserted duress as his primary defense.

As already stated, the jury convicted Carp of first-degree murder, armed robbery, larceny in a building, and larceny of property worth $1,000 or more but less than $20,000. The trial court sentenced Carp on November 20, 2006. A presentence investigation report was prepared and made available to the trial court. When queried by the trial court, the prosecutor stated the following as factors to be considered in sentencing, relevant to the circumstances of this case:

[T]his is a situation where the Court has heard the testimony in this case and you, I believe, have the best understanding, objective and rational understanding of exactly what happened here and this Defendant's role in it. I think as it's been demonstrated in the PSI [presentence investigation report], in the Defendant's comments and his statements to the investigating officer in this case, he has never in any way, shape or form accepted responsibility for his role in what happened to this victim. He has never in any way, shape or form acknowledged that had it not been for his assistance to his brother, [the victim] may be alive today. And I find that to be extremely unfortunate, and it's unfortunate because the Defendant does not accept his role and does not indicate to the Court that he understands his part in what happened.

This Court knows exactly how violent and how brutal this murder was and obviously the statutes in place dictate what the sentence must be in this case, but irrespective of that I believe that the recommendation is appropriate on all accounts and I would ask the Court to follow it.

Citing caselaw and statutes pertaining to disposition hearings for juveniles,¹² defense counsel at sentencing began to discuss factors for a “designated waiver case,” suggesting that the court was authorized to impose “either juvenile disposition ... an adult sentence ... or blended sentence.” Defense counsel asserted that sentencing Carp to life imprisonment without parole was inherently unjust in light of his level of participation and lesser culpability in commission of the crime. At this point, the prosecutor and the trial court clarified that the factors were not applicable because this was an “automatic waiver case.”

Seemingly in anticipation of the Miller Court's decision, defense counsel continued. While recognizing that Carp had some culpability in the crime, which demanded public punishment counsel asserted:

[B]ut when the public punishment is one of mandatory life without the possibility of parole for a 15–year–old that presents himself to this Court with absolutely no prior record whatsoever and without at least in my opinion, a direct and intentional culpability or responsibility in the commission of this crime, I think [it] is inherently unjust, I think it's inherently unfair, and at the very least completely inappropriate with respect to individual, individualizing a sentencing that's appropriate to this Defendant.

In sentencing Carp to life without parole, the trial court commented:

This is probably the most horrific case that I've been involved with in my entire career, the brutality of this act that was committed on the victim, my recollection is that even to the extent that the testimony of the doctor indicated there was actually no blood left in her body.

The Court can't help but note that there were several opportunities that this Defendant had to, to escape, leave, get away, assist her in some way, and I—there's just—I can't find an explanation that I—for the fact that he didn't do that,...