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People v. Allen

Supreme Court of Michigan
Nov 21, 1973
390 Mich. 383 (Mich. 1973)
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Summary

adopting as opinion of court the dissenting opinion of Judge Levin

Summary of this case from Berry v. Mintzes
See 9 Summaries

Opinion

No. 3 November Term 1973, Docket No. 54,341.

Decided November 21, 1973.

Appeal from Court of Appeals, Division 1, Levin, P.J., and R.B. Burns and J.H. Gillis, JJ., affirming Recorder's Court of Detroit, Don Binkowski, J. Submitted November 6, 1973. (No. 3 November Term 1973, Docket No. 54,341.) Decided November 21, 1973.

39 Mich. App. 483 reversed.

Jerome Wesley Allen was convicted of first-degree murder. Defendant appealed to the Court of Appeals. Affirmed. Defendant appeals. Reversed, conviction modified to second-degree murder and remanded for resentencing on second-degree murder.

Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Robert A. Derengoski, Solicitor General, William L. Cahalan, Prosecuting Attorney, Dominick R. Carnovale, Chief, Appellate Department, and Thomas M. Khalil, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people.

State Appellate Defender Office (by Dennis H. Benson and Marshall Redman), for defendant on appeal.

PER CURIAM.

The question presented by this appeal is whether the corpus delicti of felony murder MCLA 750.316; MSA 28.548 may be established without evidence independent of the accused person's confession of the essential element that distinguishes the offense of first-degree murder from second-degree murder.

For the reasons set forth in the dissenting opinion of Judge (now Justice) LEVIN in the Court of Appeals, 39 Mich. App. 483, 494; 197 N.W.2d 874 (1972), we hold it may not.

We adopt the opinion of Justice LEVIN as the opinion of this Court.

Reversed, the judgment of conviction is modified to reduce the offense of which the defendant stands convicted to murder in the second degree and the defendant is remanded for resentencing on second-degree murder.

T.M. KAVANAGH, C.J., and T.E. BRENNAN, T.G. KAVANAGH, SWAINSON, WILLIAMS, and M.S. COLEMAN, JJ., concurred.

LEVIN, J., did not sit in this case.

Summaries of

People v. Allen

Supreme Court of Michigan
Nov 21, 1973
390 Mich. 383 (Mich. 1973)

adopting as opinion of court the dissenting opinion of Judge Levin

Summary of this case from Berry v. Mintzes

adopting dissent of LEVIN, J.

Summary of this case from People v. Gay

In Allen, this Court adopted verbatim Justice LEVIN'S dissent in People v Allen, 39 Mich. App. 483; 197 N.W.2d 874 (1972).

Summary of this case from People v. Williams

In Allen, this Court held that in order to establish the corpus delicti of first-degree felony murder, the elements of the underlying felony must be shown by evidence independent of the defendant's confession.

Summary of this case from People v. Williams

In People v Allen, 390 Mich. 383; 212 N.W.2d 21 (1973), adopting then-Judge LEVIN's dissenting opinion in the same case, 39 Mich. App. 483; 197 N.W.2d 874 (1972), the Court held that the corpus delicti of felony murder may not be established without evidence independent of the accused person's confession of the essential element that distinguishes the offense of first-degree murder from second-degree murder (i.e., commission of the underlying felony).

Summary of this case from People v. Emerson

In Allen, the Supreme Court adopted the dissenting opinion of Judge (now Justice) LEVIN in People v Allen, 39 Mich. App. 483, 494; 197 N.W.2d 874 (1972).

Summary of this case from People v. John Williams

In People v Allen, 390 Mich. 383; 212 N.W.2d 21 (1973), the Michigan Supreme Court adopted the dissenting opinion in this Court of Judge (now Justice) LEVIN, which held that, in order to establish the corpus delicti of first-degree murder, the prosecutor must introduce evidence of each element of the crime, including premeditation and deliberation, independent of a defendant's extrajudicial confession.

Summary of this case from People v. Germain

In Allen, the defendant's statements were made to friends and jailmates; in the present case, they were made to bystanders and friends, and, thus, more properly characterized as admissions.

Summary of this case from People v. McKinney

In People v. Allen, 390 Mich. 383; 212 N.W.2d 21 (1973), adopting and following 39 Mich. App. 483, 494-506; 197 N.W.2d 874, 880-886 (1972) (LEVIN, P.J., dissenting), Justice LEVIN defined the corpus delicti rule in a felony murder case to require proof, independent of the confession, of the murder and the felony.

Summary of this case from People v. Skowronski
Case details for

People v. Allen

Case Details

Full title:PEOPLE v ALLEN

Court:Supreme Court of Michigan

Date published: Nov 21, 1973

Citations

390 Mich. 383 (Mich. 1973)
212 N.W.2d 21

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