PEOPLE OF MI V CAROL GARRISON
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
March 25, 1997
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 189213
Eaton Circuit Court
LC No. 94-000288-FH
CAROL GARRISON,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: D.F. Walsh,* P.J., and R.P. Griffin** and W.P. Cynar,* JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
Defendant pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, MCL 750.321; MSA 28.553, uttering
and publishing (three counts), MCL 750.249; MSA 28.446, and removing a body from the place of
death, MCL 52.204; MSA 5.593(4). Defendant was sentenced to ten to fifteen years’ imprisonment
for the manslaughter conviction, nine to fourteen years’ imprisonment for each of the uttering and
publishing convictions, and one year imprisonment for the removing a dead body conviction. She
appeals as of right. We affirm. This case has been decided without oral argument pursuant to MCR
7.214(A).
Defendant’s sentences do not violate the principle of proportionality. People v Milbourn, 435
Mich 630; 461 NW2d 1 (1990). Defendant neglected to care for her eighty-six-year old aunt to such
an extent that the elderly woman died from infection caused by bedsores. It can be surmised that the
death was not brief and merciful. Defendant then hid the body in the residence she shared with the
victim and misled police conducting an investigation. Defendant deprived her family not only of money
but also of the socially accepted grieving which accompanies a funeral. Defendant then, for a period of
ten months, forged and converted to her use the victim’s pension, dividend, and social security checks
*Former Court of Appeals judges, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment pursuant to
Administrative Order 1996-10.
**Former Supreme Court justice, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment pursuant to
Administrative Order 1996-10.
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while her aunt’s body decomposed in a closet in the residence. The above-described actions were so
egregious that standard guidelines’ scoring methods failed to reflect the severity of defendant’s conduct,
and so an upward departure from the guidelines’ range was warranted. People v Granderson, 212
Mich App 673, 680; 538 NW2d 471 (1995).
Affirmed.
/s/ Daniel F. Walsh
/s/ Robert P. Griffin
/s/ Walter P. Cynar
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