People v. Glass
| Decision Date | 12 June 2001 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 114795. |
| Citation | 464 Mich. 266,627 N.W.2d 261 |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellant, Cross-Appellee, v. Willie GLASS, Jr., Defendant-Appellee, Cross-Appellant. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
Jennifer M. Granholm, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, Jeffrey L. Sauter, Prosecuting Attorney, and William M. Worden and Hope E. Freeman, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, Charlotte, for the people.
Constitutional Litigation Associates, P.C. (by Hugh M. Davis, Jr. and Patrick M. Edwards), Detroit, for the defendant-appellee.
Jennifer M. Granholm, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, and William E. Molner, Assistant Attorneys General, Lansing, for the Attorney General.
John D. O'Hair, Prosecuting Attorney, and Timothy A. Baughman, Chief of Research, Training and Appeals, Detroit, for the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.
Following his waiver of preliminary examination, t he defendant was bound over to Eaton Circuit Court on the charge of conspiracy to deliver 650 or more grams of cocaine. Defendant, who is black, seeks to challenge the composition of the multicounty grand jury that indicted him, claiming that the selection process systematically excluded blacks from the multicounty grand jury. The prosecution responds that the information it filed after defendant waived preliminary examination purged any taint in the grand jury selection process. On remand from this Court, the Court of Appeals rejected the prosecution's argument and directed further proceedings on the selection issue, including the unsealing and inspection of certain grand jury documents that might be relevant to the claim of racial discrimination in selection of the composition of the grand jury.
We hold that this Court exceeded its criminal procedure rulemaking authority in People v. Duncan, 388 Mich. 489, 201 N.W.2d 629 (1972), by creating a substantive right to a preliminary examination for grand jury indictees. To the extent that Duncan exceeded this Court's rulemaking authority, it is overruled and its implementing court rules are rejected.
As to defendant's constitutional claims, we hold that he has not established and cannot establish a prima facie case of discrimination under either the Sixth or the Fourteenth Amendment. It was, therefore, an abuse of discretion for the Court of Appeals to order an in-camera inspection of the grand jury record.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed in part, and this case remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Upon a petition filed by Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham County prosecutors, the Court of Appeals on January 13, 1995, formed a multicounty grand jury under M.C.L. § 767.7b et seq. The grand jury was given jurisdiction over the three counties. The Court of Appeals order provided that the grand jury would consist of seventeen jurors: six from Ingham County, six from Eaton, and five from Clinton County. The court's order granted the prosecutors' motion to suppress the grand jury proceedings.
On April 27, 1995, the grand jury indicted the defendant on a charge of conspiracy to deliver 650 grams or more of cocaine.1 The indictment alleged that the conspiracy took place in Eaton County. A felony warrant was issued by the circuit judge on assignment by the Court of Appeals to the multicounty grand jury. Defendant was apparently arraigned on the indictment on May 12, 1995, and bond was set for $150,000.2
On September 8, 1995, the defendant appeared in the 56th District Court and waived preliminary examination on the indictment. Defendant was bound over to the Eaton Circuit Court, and his papers were filed with that court on September 11, 1995. Defendant waived arraignment in the Circuit Court on September 27, 1995 or September 28, 1995.3
On September 29, 1995, the Eaton County prosecutor filed an information in circuit court. The information was identical to the indictment, again alleging conspiracy to deliver 650 grams or more of cocaine. Attached to the information was a list of witnesses. There is no record of a complaint and warrant or a separate preliminary examination or waiver in the district court before the filing of the information.
Trial was scheduled and adjourned several times. On February 21, 1996, the defendant moved to dismiss, alleging, among other things, that the composition of the grand jury violated his due process rights, his Sixth Amendment right to a jury selected from a fair cross section of the community, and his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection. As the Court of Appeals summarized his allegations:
Specifically, defendant indicated that the population of Clinton County is 3.85 percent African-American and 13.8 percent of the total population of the three counties, the population of Eaton County is 3.56 percent African-American and 21.47 percent of the total population of the three counties, and the population of Ingham County is 9.87 percent African-American and 65.16 percent of the total population of the three counties.3 Defendant thus contended that this Court's order that five grand jurors be from Clinton County, six from Eaton County, and six from Ingham County amounted to a systematic overrepresentation of the counties with the smallest African-American population and a systematic underrepresentation of the county with the largest African-American population. Defendant further contended that if proper percentages had been used, Clinton County would have had two grand jurors, Eaton County would have had four grand jurors, and Ingham County would have had eleven grand jurors.4 In addition to arguing for dismissal, defendant requested that the trial court order the prosecution to produce a copy of the petition for the establishment of the multicounty grand jury.
3 These population figures are based on the 1990 census.
4 Defendant also attached to his motion two affidavits from witnesses at the grand jury proceedings who stated that there were no African-Americans on the seventeen-person grand jury.
[235 Mich.App. 455, 459-460, 597 N.W.2d 876 (1999).]
On March 12 and April 2, 1997, the circuit court held evidentiary hearings on defendant's motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals summarized the testimony at the hearing as follows:
Those witnesses who did testify shed little light on how the grand jury was selected and whether African-Americans were excluded from the grand jury.5 The Eaton County deputy clerk and Ingham County deputy clerk indicated that their juror questionnaire did not contain questions pertaining to race. Both the Eaton County and Ingham County deputy clerks indicated that they did not know how the multicounty grand jury was selected. A member of the Clinton County jury board indicated that two panels of potential petit jurors from Clinton County were assigned to the multicounty grand jury pool. These panels were formed by use of the Secretary of State's list of licensed drivers in Clinton County, mailing questionnaires to the licensed drivers, and the jury board's review of the returned questionnaires to determine who could sit on the jury panels. Persons excluded were those who did not have appropriate citizenship, had a documented physical disability, were over the age of seventy, lacked competency, were currently under conviction of a felony; or served on a jury within the past twelve months. The Clinton County juror questionnaire also did not include questions about race.
5 We note that the Legislature requires that the names of grand jurors shall be drawn in the same manner and from the same source as petit jurors. MCL 600.1326.
[Id. at 460-461, 597 N.W.2d 876.]
The circuit court denied defendant's motion to dismiss on the basis of racial discrimination in selection of the grand jury, concluding that the defendant had failed to establish that blacks were systematically excluded.
Defendant filed an application for leave to appeal from that decision, which the Court of Appeals denied.4 The defendant filed an application for leave to appeal to this Court, and on September 25, 1997, we issued an order remanding the case to the Court of Appeals for consideration as on leave granted.
On remand, the Court of Appeals concluded that defendant had not established a prima facie case of racial discrimination under either the Sixth or Fourteenth Amendment because he had not provided evidence regarding the racial composition of the grand jury venire, had not shown that underrepresentation of blacks was due to systematic exclusion during the selection process, and had not shown that the grand jury selection procedure was racially biased or susceptible to abuse. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals agreed with defendant that the grand jury records should be unsealed so that he might obtain evidence to support that claim.5 The Court of Appeals dissent concluded that any errors in the grand jury selection or proceedings were harmless because the prosecutor proceeded by information in the circuit court.
Michigan law provides that criminal prosecutions may be initiated in the court having jurisdiction to hear the cause by either indictment or information. MCL 767.1 et seq. Throughout the record in this case, there is confusion regarding whether the defendant is in circuit court on the indictment or the information.6 The record does reveal that the prosecution filed an information in the circuit court after the grand jury indictment had already been returned and the defendant bound over. The effect of the prosecutor's decision to file an information after the defendant's bindover on the grand jury indictment has raised questions involving the interplay of the statutes, case law, and court rules governing informations and indictments. In our order granting leave, we requested that the parties brief three issues in addition to granting leave on the issues...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sington v. Chrysler Corporation
...465 Mich. 492, 638 N.W.2d 396 (2002); Brown v. Genesee Co. Bd. of Commr's, 464 Mich. 430, 628 N.W.2d 471 (2001), People v. Glass, 464 Mich. 266, 627 N.W.2d 261 (2001); Nawrocki v. Macomb Co. Rd. Comm., 463 Mich. 143, 615 N.W.2d 702 (2000); Mudel v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 462 Mich......
-
Mack v. City of Detroit
...465 Mich. 492, 638 N.W.2d 396 (2002); Brown v. Genesee Co. Bd. of Cmmr's, 464 Mich. 430, 628 N.W.2d 471 (2001); People v. Glass, 464 Mich. 266, 627 N.W.2d 261 (2001); Nawrocki v. Macomb Co. Rd. Comm., 463 Mich. 143, 615 N.W.2d 702 (2000); Mudel v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 462 Mich.......
-
People v. Cornell
...offense instructions. As this Court has recognized, matters of substantive law are left to the Legislature. People v. Glass (After Remand), 464 Mich. 266, 281, 627 N.W.2d 261 (2001); McDougall v. Schanz, 461 Mich. 15, 27, 597 N.W.2d 148 (1999). Determining what charges a jury may consider d......
-
People v. Martin
...the offense charged. As this Court has recognized, matters of substantive law are left to the Legislature. People v. Glass (After Remand), 464 Mich. 266, 281, 627 N.W.2d 261 (2001); McDougall v. Schanz, 461 Mich. 15, 27, 597 N.W.2d 148 (1999). Determining what charges a jury may consider do......