PEOPLE OF MI V SAMUEL M DEJESUS
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
January 15, 2004
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 241438
Wayne Circuit Court
LC No. 01-001632-01
SAMUEL M. DEJESUS,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Schuette, P.J., and Murphy and Bandstra, JJ.
BANDSTRA, J. (concurring).
In contrast to the majority, I would conclude that the testimony of Jesus that defendant
remained silent when Jesus asked him whether he had killed the victim was inadmissible. The
majority concludes that this case is more like People v Hackett, 460 Mich 202; 596 NW2d 107
(1999) than it is like People v Bigge, 288 Mich 417; 285 NW 5 (1939) because there was no
direct statement alleging guilt to which defendant failed to respond. While Jesus’ question to
defendant was not a declaratory statement, it certainly directly confronted defendant with at least
an implicit accusation of guilt. An inference that this was, in fact, an accusation could also be
drawn from the further testimony that, in response, defendant not only remained silent but began
to cry. Thus, Jesus’ testimony constituted evidence of defendant’s “confession of guilt by
silence” in contravention of Bigge. Id. at 420.
Nonetheless, I agree with the majority’s conclusion that defendant has failed to show
ineffective assistance of counsel as the decision to allow the questioning of Jesus may have been
a matter of trial strategy and, had that testimony not occurred, there is no reasonable probability
that the result of the proceedings would have been different. Accordingly, I concur in the
decision to affirm defendant’s conviction.
/s/ Richard A. Bandstra
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