PEOPLE OF MI V WILLIAM FITZGERALD JAMES
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
FOR PUBLICATION
August 29, 2006
9:10 a.m.
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 266521
Kent Circuit Court
LC No. 04-002925-FC
WILLIAM FITZGERALD JAMES,
Defendant-Appellant.
Official Reported Version
Before: Zahra, P.J., and Neff and Owens, JJ.
ZAHRA, P.J. (concurring).
I agree with the majority that defendant is entitled to the appointment of appellate counsel
to seek leave to appeal his conviction to this Court, regardless of whether he purported to waive
his right to counsel before entering his guilty plea. Simply stated, defendant's constitutional
rights were violated when MCL 770.3a compelled him to forgo appointment of appellate counsel
in order to enter his guilty plea. I write separately to make clear that defendant here timely filed
an application for leave to appeal in this Court. Accordingly, not only is the majority opinion
moot, as it concedes, but wholly unnecessary because preserved appellate claims do not evade
judicial review. See Federated Publications, Inc v City of Lansing, 467 Mich 98, 112-113; 649
NW2d 383 (2002). Further, although I concur with the majority opinion that appellate counsel
should be appointed for defendant, I would not reverse the trial court's order denying defendant
appellate counsel; rather, I would simply affirm the trial court's subsequent order granting
defendant appellate counsel.
/s/ Brian K. Zahra
-1-
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