PEOPLE OF MI V MARKEY LAMONT WALKER
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
February 25, 1997
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 196567
Ingham Circuit Court
LC No. 95-069239
MARKEY LAMONT WALKER,
Defendant-Appellant.
ON REMAND
Before: Griffin, P.J., and McDonald, and C. W. Johnson*, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant is charged by information with open murder, MCL 750.316c; MSA 28.548(3), and
the possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, MCL 750.227b; MSA 28.424(2).
Defendant filed a motion in the circuit court to quash the information, claiming defects in the grand jury
proceeding resulting in defendant’s indictment. The circuit court rejected defendant’s claims and denied
the motion to quash. On April 12, 1996, in docket No. 192273, this Court denied defendant’s
application for leave to file an interlocutory appeal. In lieu of granting leave to appeal, our Supreme
Court remanded the case to this Court for expedited consideration as on leave granted, 452 Mich 871
(1996). We affirm the order denying the motion to quash.
On January 13, 1995, in docket No. 181751, this Court granted a petition to conduct a multi
county grand jury pursuant to MCL 767.7b(1) and (2); MSA 28.947(2). On April 27, 1995, grand
jurors from Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham Counties indicted defendant on charges of open murder and
felony-firearm. The charges stem from the Ingham County murder of Jerome Carson. On the strength
of the indictment, a Clinton Circuit Court judge issued a warrant for defendant’s arrest. Thereafter,
defendant waived preliminary examination and an Ingham County prosecutor filed a felony information
charging defendant with open murder and felony-firearm.
On appeal, defendant claims that the trial court erred in refusing to quash the felony information.
Defendant contends that this Court’s order establishing the grand jury violated MCL 767.3; MSA
* Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.
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28.943 by failing to specify the crimes to be investigated. Defendant also argues that a multi-county
grand jury cannot indict him for a crime committed in one county. Without reaching the merits of these
claims, we conclude that the errors, if any, in the grand jury proceeding are harmless.
In Michigan, criminal charges can be filed by either information or indictment. See MCR
6.110(A); MCR 6.112(B); People v Harris, 37 Mich App 179, 180; 194 NW2d 414 (1971), rev’d
on other grounds People v Duncan, 388 Mich 489; 201 NW2d 629 (1972). Either charging
mechanism provides the circuit court jurisdiction over felony charges. See MCL 767.1; MSA 28.941;
MCR 6.112(B); see, e.g., Duncan, supra at 492-493, 494; People v Weathersby, 204 Mich App
98; 514 NW2d 493 (1994). The only substantive difference between the two procedures is the way
each is achieved. Whereas an information is predicated by a signed complaint, an indictment results
from grand jury deliberation.
The extent to which a warrant is achieved through the grand jury process is irrelevant. A
complaint merely initiates criminal proceedings by documenting the allegations against defendant.
Regardless whether allegations are set forth in a document entitled “complaint” or “indictment,” the
process is identical. In either case, the allegations are tested by preliminary examination before charges
can be filed in circuit court. Once defendant is bound over for trial, the information governs the charges
and the document stating the original allegations becomes irrelevant. People v Lauer, 41 Mich App 4,
7; 199 NW2d 534 (1972); see People v Hunt, 442 Mich 359, 363; 501 NW2d 151 (1993). The
information is presumptively drafted with reference to the facts disclosed at the preliminary examination.
Hunt, supra at 363, citing People v Kahler, 93 Mich 625, 627; 53 NW 826 (1892).
Where, as here, the defendant waives the preliminary examination, the information may charge
defendant with any offense alleged in the document initiating proceedings in district court. People v
McDonald, 233 Mich 98; 206 NW2d 516 (1925). Accordingly, defendant was denied no due
process by the fact that allegations against him were initially set forth by an indictment instead of a
complaint.
In the present case, the prosecution proceeded under both charging mechanisms. However, in
lieu of using the indictment, the prosecutor charged defendant via a sufficiently detailed felony
information. See MCL 767.45(1); MSA 28.985(1). Thus, under Michigan’s dual system of charging
by information or indictment, the valid information independently sustains the filing of charges against
defendant in Ingham Circuit Court. Because the information in the present case is valid, the alleged
errors in the grand jury process did not undermine the circuit court’s jurisdiction. Accordingly, the
alleged errors, if any, in the grand jury process are harmless and the trial court correctly denied
defendant’s motion to quash.
Affirmed.
/s/ Richard Allen Griffin
/s/ Gary R. McDonald
/s/ Charles W. Johnson
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