PEOPLE OF MI V JAMES ARTHUR HARRISON
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
November 25, 1997
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
No. 196243
Oakland Circuit Court
LC No. 91-113098 FC
JAMES ARTHUR HARRISON,
Defendant-Appellee.
Before: McDonald, P.J., and Wahls and J. R. Weber*, JJ.
MEMORANDUM.
On prior appeal of right, No. 185099, defendant’s plea-based conviction of assault with intent
to commit great bodily harm, MCL 750.84; MSA 28.279, was remanded to the Oakland Circuit Court
for resentencing, based on an error in scoring offense variable 13. At the resentencing, the trial court
rejected the prosecutor’s proffer of additional evidence to support its original scoring decision, opining
that this Court’s decision left it no discretion but to sentence defendant within the sentence guidelines as
calculated by this Court in its opinion. The prosecutor now appeals by right. This appeal is being
decided without oral argument pursuant to MCR 7.214(E).
This Court does not now, and never has, scored the sentence guidelines. This is a reviewing
court, and this Court’s prior decision holds only that on the record as it then existed, there was
inadequate basis to support the trial court’s scoring decision with respect to OV 13. That decision in no
way limited the trial court’s discretion, on remand, to consider additional evidence and make a new
scoring decision, including the same scoring decision. People v Williams, 208 Mich App 60, 65, 526
NW2d 614 (1994). Accordingly, the trial court’s failure to recognize that it possessed discretion to
determine the applicable sentence guideline range was an abuse of discretion. People v Jackson, 391
Mich 323, 336; 217 NW2d 22 (1974). Where, as here, new evidence is presented, the law of the
case doctrine does not preclude the trial court on remand from revisiting a factual question underlying a
legal determination. See Topps-Toeller, Inc v City of Lansing, 47 Mich App 720; 209 NW2d 843
(1973).
* Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.
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Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We do not retain
jurisdiction.
/s/ Gary R. McDonald
/s/ Myron H. Wahls
/s/ John R. Weber
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