PEOPLE OF MI V JACQUELINE SYREETA WILLIAMS
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
November 29, 2007
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 269296
Oakland Circuit Court
LC No. 2005-202985-FH
JACQUELINE SYREETA WILLIAMS,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Servitto, P.J., and Sawyer and Murray, JJ.
SERVITTO, J. (concurring)
While I agree with the conclusion reached by the majority, I write separately to address
the questions posed by the jury in this matter. During deliberations, the jury sent out a note
requesting clarification of a felony firearm charge and further questioning whether, if a defendant
is found guilty of possession of marijuana (a misdemeanor)1, he or she could still be found guilty
of felony firearm.
The trial court in the instant matter gave the appropriate instruction with respect to the
felony firearm charge. That instruction provides, part:
(2) To prove this charge, the prosecutor must prove each of the following
elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
(3) First, that the defendant committed [or attempted to commit] the crime
of [possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance], which has been
defined for you. It is not necessary, however, that the defendant be convicted of
that crime.
(4) Second, that at the time the defendant committed [or attempted to
commit] that crime, she knowingly carried or possessed a firearm.
CJI2d 11.34
1
Defense counsel advised the jury several times throughout his closing argument that possession
of marijuana was a misdemeanor offense.
-1-
However, given the questions posed by the jury, there was apparently some confusion
with respect to the above instruction. It is not clear from the record whether the trial court
simply repeated the jury instruction to the jury, or provided additional guidance to eliminate (or
attempt to eliminate) the confusion. In my opinion, the trial judge should have further explained
to the jury that if it did not convict defendant of the felony charge of possession with intent to
deliver, it could still convict her of the felony firearm charge so long as it found that the
prosecutor had proven the elements of the felony charge of possession with intent to deliver
beyond a reasonable doubt.
/s/ Deborah A. Servitto
-2-
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