PEOPLE OF MI V DAWAD HELTON
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
September 4, 2001
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 224951
Wayne Circuit Court
LC No. 98-006303
DAWAD HELTON,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Fitzgerald, P.J., and Gage and C. H. Miel*, JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
Following a bench trial, defendant was convicted of possession with intent to deliver less
than 50 grams of cocaine, MCL 333.7401(2)(a)(iv), and possession of a firearm during the
commission of a felony, MCL 750.227b. The trial court sentenced him as a second felony
offender, MCL 769.10, to one to twenty years’ imprisonment for the controlled substance
conviction, to be served consecutively to the two-year sentence for the felony-firearm conviction.
Defendant appeals as of right and we affirm.
Defendant’s sole claim on appeal is that he was denied a fair trial when the trial
judge recalled and questioned a prosecution witness after both sides rested. We agree with the
prosecution that defendant has waived this issue. A defendant’s acquiescence to a trial court’s
decision about how to proceed at trial waives the issue on appeal. People v Carter, 462 Mich
206, 214-216; 612 NW2d 144 (2000). The Carter Court distinguished between waiver, which it
likened to an express approval of the court’s decision, and forfeiture, which involves a failure to
object, and concluded that a waiver extinguishes any error. Id. Here, defense counsel
specifically stated that he had no objection to the court recalling and questioning the witness.
This amounts to an approval of the judge’s evidentiary decision on defendant’s behalf. Id. at
218-219. Because the waiver extinguished any error, reversal of defendant’s convictions is not
warranted. Id. at 219-220.
Affirmed.
/s/ E. Thomas Fitzgerald
/s/ Hilda R. Gage
/s/ Charles H. Miel
* Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.
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