PEOPLE OF MI V CORINNE MICHELLE MELTON
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
FOR PUBLICATION
July 20, 2006
9:05 a.m.
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 257036
Tuscola Circuit Court
LC No. 03-008812-FH
CORINNE MICHELLE MELTON,
Defendant-Appellant.
Official Reported Version
Before: Davis, P.J., and Neff, Fitzgerald, Saad, Bandstra, Markey, and Murray, JJ.
NEFF, J. (concurring).
I concur in the lead opinion by Judge Davis with respect to the interpretation of offense
variable (OV) 9, which concludes that OV 9 does not encompass the danger of financial injury.
However, I write separately because this case raises the additional question whether the trial
court's scoring of OV 9 was correct on the basis that defendant's criminal conduct nevertheless
placed two victims in danger of injury.
In this case, the trial court concluded that there were two victims, not because both
suffered financial injuries, but because they were residents of the occupied dwelling and there
was a possibility that they would come home during the home invasion, placing them "in danger
of injury or loss of life," MCL 777.39(2)(a). The trial court reasoned that Mary Ann and Jeffrey
Elbers, who resided in the home, should therefore be counted as victims.
Under MCL 777.39, the number of victims must be scored by counting "each person who
was placed in danger of injury . . .":
(1) Offense variable 9 is number of victims. Score offense variable 9 by
determining which of the following apply and by assigning the number of points
attributable to the one that has the highest number of points:
(a) Multiple deaths occurred ………………. 100 points
(b) There were 10 or more victims ………... 25 points
(c) There were 2 to 9 victims ……………… 10 points
(d) There were fewer than 2 victims ………. 0 points
-1-
(2) All of the following apply to scoring offense variable 9:
(a) Count each person who was placed in danger of injury or loss of life as
a victim.
(b) Score 100 points only in homicide cases. [MCL 777.39 (emphasis
added).]
In my view, the basis for scoring OV 9 recognized by the trial court warrants consideration.
/s/ Janet T. Neff
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