People v. Williams

• Decision Date: 09 July 2009
• Docket Number: Docket No. 135271.,Calendar No. 3.
• Citation: 483 Mich. 226,769 N.W.2d 605
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Carletus Lashawn WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

769 N.W.2d 605

483 Mich. 226

PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Carletus Lashawn WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 135271.

Calendar No. 3.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Argued January 21, 2009.

Decided July 9, 2009.

[769 N.W.2d 607]

Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, B. Eric Restuccia, Solicitor General, David G. Gorcyca, Prosecuting Attorney, and Janice A. Kabodian, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.

James Daniel Shanahan and Carletus Lashawn Williams, in propria persona, for the defendant.

Opinion

CORRIGAN, J.

In this criminal case, we consider the joinder and severance of charges against a single criminal defendant under our court rules. MCR 6.120(A) and (B) establish when a court may join offenses charged in two or more informations against a single defendant and when a court must sever offenses charged in a single information against a single defendant. This Court first adopted MCR 6.120 on October 1, 1989. Before adopting MCR 6.120, however, we had ruled 12 years earlier that two drug sales to the same undercover agent within 12 days could not be joined because "[t]he two informations charged distinct and separate offenses, and [the defendant] was entitled to a separate trial on each offense." People v. Tobey, 401 Mich. 141, 145, 257 N.W.2d 537 (1977).

We conclude that the provisions of MCR 6.120 superseded Tobey. The unambiguous language of MCR 6.120 permits joinder in a greater range of circumstances than did Tobey. In this case, the trial court correctly applied the plain language of the court rule when it determined that defendant's offenses were "related." Accordingly, we affirm defendant's convictions.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Court of Appeals summarized the facts of this case as follows:

Officers from the Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team executed a search warrant at a Motel 6 motel room on November 4, 2004. They knocked and announced their presence, and they forced the door open when they received no response. As they entered, defendant, the sole occupant, was just walking out of the bathroom and the toilet was in mid-flush. A bag of suspected crack cocaine was caught in the drain and an officer fished it out. Another officer broke the toilet bowl and recovered one or more small rocks. In the room itself, the officers found some large chunks of suspected crack cocaine, several small rocks in individual "corner ties," a digital scale, a box of razor blades, a container of sandwich baggies, some individual baggies with missing corners, a pair of scissors, two handguns and ammunition, over $500 in cash, and a receipt showing that the room had been rented to defendant. The suspected narcotics weighed at least 50 grams and tested positive for cocaine.

Pontiac police officers testified that they executed another search warrant at 510 Nevada on February 2, 2005. The officers saw defendant arrive in a 1994 Ford and enter the house shortly before the warrant was executed. The officers again knocked and announced their presence, then forced the door open when they received no response. Defendant and another person were in the living room. Defendant was seated in a chair with a brown bag in his lap. He was leaning down with his right hand extended toward the floor between the chair and the television set. He ignored orders to raise his hands. On the floor where defendant had been reaching, the officers found a plastic bag containing approximately 18 rocks of suspected cocaine. The bag in defendant's lap contained sandwich baggies and a pair of scissors. A digital scale and a box of sandwich baggies were on top of the television, along with a set of keys that included a key to the 1994 Ford. Both inside the back of the television and on the floor behind it were empty baggies and used "corner ties" with cocaine residue. Defendant had over $1,000 in his wallet. Inside the trunk of the 1994 Ford, the officers found a handgun and two assault rifles. The suspected narcotics weighed just under ten grams and tested positive for cocaine.[¹]

The prosecutor moved under MCR 6.120(A) and (B) to consolidate for a single jury trial the offenses charged as a result of defendant's November 4, 2004, and February 2, 2005, arrests. In the alternative, the prosecutor moved to introduce evidence of each offense in the other trial under MRE 404(b). Defendant objected to both motions. The trial court granted the prosecutor's motion for joinder, holding that the offenses were "related" under MCR 6.120(B) because "[b]oth of the acts that are involved here do appear to the Court to be parts of a single scheme or plan; namely, drug trafficking and therefore they would appear to be related offenses." The trial court further explained that "[t]he Court is concerned about the potential for prejudice, but the Court believes there actually is a greater risk of prejudice if we had separate trials and the Court would allow 404(b) even to be used in the form of the conduct of the offense that is not the subject of a particular trial."

With regard to the charges stemming from the November 2004 arrest, the jury convicted defendant of possession with intent to deliver 50 grams or more, but less than 450 grams, of cocaine, MCL 333.7401(2)(a)(iii), felon in possession of a firearm, MCL 750.224f, and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (felony-firearm), MCL 750.227b. With regard to the February 2005 arrest, the jury convicted him of possession with intent to deliver less than 50 grams of cocaine, MCL 333.7401(2)(a)(iv), being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle MCL 750.227(1), and one count of felony-firearm.

In an unpublished opinion per curiam, the Court of Appeals affirmed. It held that the trial court did not err by concluding that the offenses were "related" under MCR 6.120(B). The Court explained:

The offenses here were not discrete, unrelated sales. Rather, they indicated a single scheme or plan to earn money by selling cocaine. In both, defendant was found in possession of enough cocaine to indicate an intent to sell it, as well as the necessary equipment to prepare it for sale and weaponry to defend the operation. The evidence therefore indicated that both of defendant's offenses were connected parts of an ongoing scheme or plan to sell drugs.[²]

Defendant then applied for leave to appeal in this Court. We granted his application for leave and directed the parties to address "(1) whether the defendant was entitled to separate trials under MCR 6.120; (2) whether People v. Tobey, 401 Mich. 141, 257 N.W.2d 537 (1977), is consistent with MCR 6.120; and (3) if the joinder was erroneous, whether the error may be deemed harmless."³

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Generally, this Court reviews questions of law de novo and factual findings for clear error. People v. McRae, 469 Mich. 704, 710, 678 N.W.2d 425 (2004); MCR 2.613(C). The interpretation of a court rule, like matters of statutory interpretation, is a question of law that we review de novo. People v. Petit, 466 Mich. 624, 627, 648 N.W.2d 193 (2002). To determine whether joinder is permissible, a trial court must first find the relevant facts and then must decide whether those facts constitute "related" offenses for which joinder is appropriate. Because this case presents a mixed question of fact and law, it is subject to both a clear error and a de novo standard of review.

Additionally, when this Court reviews preserved nonconstitutional errors, we consider the nature of the error and assess its effect in light of the weight and strength of the untainted evidence. MCL 769.26; People v. Lukity, 460 Mich. 484, 495, 596 N.W.2d 607 (1999). Similarly, MCR 2.613(A) provides that "[a]n error in the admission or the exclusion of evidence, an error in a ruling or order, or an error or defect in anything done or omitted by the court or by the parties is not ground for granting a new trial, for setting aside a verdict, or for vacating, modifying, or otherwise disturbing a judgment or order, unless refusal to take this action appears to the court inconsistent with substantial justice." We recognize that both the statute and the court rule present "different articulations of the same idea." People v. Robinson, 386 Mich. 551, 562, 194 N.W.2d 709 (1972).

III. ANALYSIS

The same legal principles that govern the construction and application of statutes apply to court rules. In re KH, 469 Mich. 621, 628, 677 N.W.2d 800 (2004). When construing a court rule, we begin with its plain language; when that language is unambiguous, we must enforce the meaning expressed, without further judicial construction or interpretation. Id.

Defendant alleges that the trial court violated MCR 6.120. Defendant argues that his offenses do not constitute either "the same conduct" or "a series of connected acts or acts constituting part of a single scheme or plan," as the Tobey Court defined those terms. Defendant further contends that his interpretation of the court rule is consistent with a Court of Appeals decision in which the Court applied Tobey's definitions of the relevant terms.⁴ Because the offenses charged were "unrelated," defendant claims that he had an absolute right to severance upon his objection to the prosecutor's motion to consolidate under MCR 6.120(B).

At the time of defendant's trial, MCR 6.120(A) and (B) provided in relevant part:⁵

(A) Permissive Joinder. An information or indictment may charge a single defendant with any two or more offenses. Each offense must be stated in a separate count. Two or more informations or indictments against a single defendant may be consolidated for a single trial.

(B) Right of Severance; Unrelated Offenses. On the defendant's motion, the court must sever unrelated offenses for separate trials. For purposes of this rule, two offenses are related if they are based on

(1) the same conduct, or

(2) a series of connected acts or...