Michigan v. Breidenbach
Annotate this CaseIn “People v. Helzer,” the Michigan Supreme Court held that when a criminal defendant is charged with being a sexually delinquent person in relation to an underlying sexual offense, separate juries must determine the defendant’s guilt of the sexual delinquency charge and the underlying charge. In this case, Defendant Anthony Breidenbach was convicted by a single jury of "indecent exposure as a sexually delinquent person.” The trial court granted Defendant’s motion for a new trial after the Court of Appeals vacated his conviction on the ground that the first trial violated his rights under the Supreme Court’s two-jury directive. The prosecutor appealed, arguing that the Helzer case was wrongly decided. The Supreme Court overturned its holding in Helzer. The sexual delinquency statute at issue this case and in the Helzer case, neither explicitly nor implicitly requires separate juries. Because the Helzer rule lacks support in the language of the statute itself, determinations whether separate juries are needed should be made on a case-by-case basis in accordance with state law. The Court granted the prosecutor’s request to for permission to appeal the lower court’s ruling, and it vacated the trial court’s granting to Defendant a new trial, reinstating his conviction.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.