People v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 03 December 2015
• Docket Number: Docket No. 322350.
• Citation: 313 Mich.App. 409,884 N.W.2d 297
• Parties: PEOPLE v. JACKSON (On Reconsideration).
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

313 Mich.App. 409

884 N.W.2d 297

PEOPLE

v.JACKSON (On Reconsideration).

Docket No. 322350.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted Oct. 7, 2015, at Lansing.

Decided Dec. 3, 2015, at 9:00 a.m.

Bill Schuette, Attorney General, Aaron D. Lindstrom, Solicitor General, Douglas R. Lloyd, Prosecuting Attorney, and Brent E. Morton, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.

Kevin Raynard Jackson, in propria persona, and Mary A. Owens for defendant.

Before: BOONSTRA, P.J., and SAAD and HOEKSTRA, JJ.

ON RECONSIDERATION

BOONSTRA

, P.J.

Defendant appeals by right his conviction, following a jury trial, of second-degree home invasion, MCL 750.110a(3)

. The trial court sentenced defendant as a second-offense habitual offender, MCL 769.10, to 88 months to 22 years' imprisonment, with credit for 259 days served. We affirm.

I. PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The case arises out of the invasion of, and theft of household items and money from, Traci Brown's home in Charlotte, Michigan on July 4, 2012. On that day, Brown and her three children left the home to visit her mother. According to Brown, her windows and doors were all locked when she left, and she did not leave her front door open. Brown testified that, other than herself and her children, only her mother and the father of her children knew that she and the children would be away.

Alyson Michelle Hotchkiss, who lived in the house next door to Brown, testified that she was on vacation on July 4 with her husband Randy, three of her daughters, and her grandson. She had given permission to her oldest daughter, Tashena Waycaster (who does not reside with her), and Dan Pion, to stay at her house while she was away; Hotchkiss testified that she allowed them to stay at her house while she was away because they were heroin addicts and basically homeless. Hotchkiss took her valuables with her when she left for vacation because she did not want the items stolen by Waycaster and Pion (presumably to be sold for drugs).

The backyard of LaVern and Theresa Bailey's house borders both the Brown and Hotchkiss backyards. LaVern said that he was working on his computer around 10:00 a.m. on the morning of July 4, 2012, when he saw a man carrying something and walking from the area of Brown's house to the Hotchkiss house. LaVern was not positive that the man had come from Brown's house, “but [the man] was so close to the house” that “it kind of surprised [him].” While LaVern did not see the man come directly out of Brown's house, he did see him go into the Hotchkiss house. He described the man, who was approximately 40 yards away, as “[a] black man, medium build, short hair, about five eight, five ten.” LaVern and his wife saw the same man 15 minutes later walking from the side area of Brown's house toward the Hotchkiss house, carrying a laundry basket filled with “all kinds of stuff,” as well as a brown jug or jar. The man put the basket on the deck of the Hotchkiss house, noticed that he was being watched by LaVern and his wife, and walked into the house. The Baileys thought it looked a little suspicious but did not call the police at that time.

Pion and Waycaster admitted that in July 2012 they used heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana; Pion would sometimes steal things to pay for the drugs and Waycaster would prostitute herself for money to pay for the drugs. Pion and Waycaster testified that defendant was staying with them at the Hotchkiss house while her parents were on vacation around the Fourth of July in 2012. According to Pion and Waycaster, they ran into defendant at the Dairy Queen in town during the daytime and returned to Hotchkiss's home to smoke marijuana and crack cocaine. They testified that after doing drugs with defendant, defendant said that he was going to leave and “hit a lick,” which is a slang term meaning that defendant was going to steal something. Pion said that defendant left and returned with a storage tote containing a couple of game systems, movies, and games; he placed the items in the basement of 813 West Lawrence (the address of the Hotchkiss home) and then left and returned with what Pion thought was a 32–inch flat-screen television; according to Waycaster, defendant had socks on his hands. Pion claimed that defendant left the house again and Pion went to bed. Pion testified that Waycaster was with him at her mother's house while defendant was coming and going from the house. Waycaster testified that defendant went in and out of the Hotchkiss house at least four separate times; she saw him carry in a flat-screen television, video game systems, DVDs, and games. Waycaster denied ever entering Brown's house. Waycaster said that she told defendant that she “wanted something out of it,” i.e., a cut of the profits from selling the stolen goods, and that, when asked, defendant told her that he had stolen the items and pointed to the next door neighbor's house. According to Waycaster, defendant showed her money in his pocket. Pion thought defendant was going to sell the stolen items so that they could buy drugs. Defendant was sleeping on the couch when Waycaster went to bed; when Pion and Waycaster woke up the next morning, most of the items defendant had brought into the house were gone, as was defendant. They found some small miscellaneous items taken by defendant still in the house, and hid them under a bed. Pion also discovered that $20 was missing from his car.

Matthew Andrews, a friend of defendant, testified that defendant was with him around noon on July 4, 2012, at a baseball game. According to Andrews, defendant went to Lake Michigan for the day with Andrews's family and defendant's girlfriend. They stayed in Saugatuck for a few hours and purchased fireworks on the way home, returning to Andrews's house in Charlotte around 11:00 p.m. on July 4. Andrews testified that defendant spent the night at Andrews's home. Mindy Dassance, who has a child with defendant, testified that defendant called her on July 5, 2012, asking her to pick him up at Andrews's home; she said that she did so and drove him back to her home. According to Dassance, defendant did not own a vehicle.

The Baileys called the police on July 5, 2012, after Theresa drove by Brown's house and noticed that the front door was open. Charlotte Police Sergeant James Falk arrived at Brown's house around 6:00 p.m. According to Falk, it was clear that the house had been broken into because items appeared to be missing and the rooms had been ransacked. Falk contacted Brown on the telephone at her mother's home and informed her that her house had been broken into and that property had been stolen. Falk testified that after speaking with the Baileys he knocked on the door of the Hotchkiss house. No one answered the door but through a window he could see a green laundry basket lying on the floor in the basement.

Brown drove home after receiving the telephone call from Falk. Brown noted numerous items missing from her home: a 55–inch flat-screen television, an Xbox 360, a Wii, two blue-ray DVD players, over 600 DVDs, 50 Xbox games, 100 Wii games, portable DVD players, a round glass jar partially full of coins, a 32–inch flat-screen television that had been in her bedroom, a candleholder from the kitchen, food items from the refrigerator and freezer, alcohol, a brand new digital camera with a manual, a new computer printer still in the box, prescription medications, handheld personal gaming devices, 100 Game Boy DS games, a Dell laptop computer, a window air conditioner, a GPS device, and a full-size cooler. Brown testified that the dresser drawers had been emptied in her and one of her son's bedrooms, with the clothes strewn everywhere, and that a green laundry basket and $5,500 in cash had also been taken. In addition, she said that a television in another son's bedroom was tipped over and on the floor and a Wii figurine was missing. The original insurance estimate to replace the stolen items, excluding the $5,500, was $24,000.

Falk returned to the Hotchkiss home later that night after the Baileys informed him that someone was home at that house. When questioned, Waycaster indicated that in the preceding five days a woman named “Jamie” had been at the home with them. Waycaster informed Falk that the green laundry basket found in the Hotchkiss house belonged to her mother. According to Pion, he and Waycaster realized during Falk's questioning that the items defendant had brought into the Hotchkiss house had been stolen from Brown's house. Pion and Waycaster testified that they did not tell the police about defendant staying with them because they did not want to get anyone in trouble; Waycaster also testified that she was afraid of getting into trouble because she felt somewhat responsible for holding stolen items. Pion testified that he did not know who lived at the Brown house or that they would be on vacation on July 4.

Hotchkiss returned with her family to their house on July 6, 2012. When she got home, her landlord told her about the break-in at Brown's house. Hotchkiss found items later identified as stolen from Brown's house under her grandson's bed and in other areas around her house. Hotchkiss said that she called the Charlotte Police Department as soon as she found the items. Hotchkiss spoke to Waycaster on the telephone before the police arrived and told her that she and Pion needed to speak to the police or they would not be allowed to stay in her home. Pion and Waycaster again spoke with police on July 8, 2012. At first, both Pion and Waycaster minimized their knowledge of the robbery, but both identified defendant and described his conduct on July 4. Pion testified that he did not feel pressured by the police to “give up a name” and denied that he named defendant because he was a black male he knew.

Hotchkiss testified that additional items were taken from her home four days after she returned from vacation; Pion and Waycaster were not at the house when it happened. Pion and...