PEOPLE OF MI V CORBIN D ROYSTON
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
May 7, 1999
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
No. 205096
Eaton Circuit Court
LC No. 97-020062 FC
CORBIN D. ROYSTON,
Defendant-Appellee.
Before: Gage, P.J., and Gribbs and Hoekstra, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
The people appeal by leave granted from the judgment of sentence entered on defendant’s
plea-based convictions of three counts of armed robbery, MCL 750.529; MSA 28.797, challenging the
trial court’s downward departure from the five to ten-year guideline sentence range to impose
concurrent sentences of three to ten years’ imprisonment. We affirm. This appeal is being decided
without oral argument pursuant to MCR 7.214(E).
The trial court indicated that it departed from the guidelines range because defendant had been
assigned a large number of points under the guidelines for the actions of his co-defendant. This is true of
defendant’s score of twenty-five points under OV 2 for “terrorism,” which resulted in a total offense
variable score at the minimum fifty points necessary to place defendant within the fourth offense severity
level of the sentencing grid, increasing defendant’s resultant guideline sentence range from two to six
years to five to ten years. The trial court’s other stated reasons for departure were defendant’s
potential for rehabilitation, his remorse and his cooperation with the police.
Plaintiff argues that the trial court’s sentencing decision was based upon inaccurate information
regarding plaintiff’s cooperation. We disagree. Defendant turned himself in to the authorities and
admitted his involvement in the offenses. Although defendant initially declined to identify his accomplice,
for fear of retaliation, and may have initially declined a plea offer conditioned upon testifying against his
accomplice, the prosecuting attorney indicated on the record at the plea proceeding that defendant
ultimately “agreed to testify against the co-defendant in this matter.” Later, at sentencing, after the co
defendant decided to plead guilty, the prosecuting attorney asserted that “[a]t no time did we ever have
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a solid agreement that this defendant would testify against the co-defendant,” but this is not consistent
with the prosecuting attorney’s earlier remarks.
Plaintiff also objects that the trial court was mistaken regarding defendant’s eligibility for boot
camp. However, the trial court’s discussion of defendant’s boot camp eligibility arose in the context of
explaining the court’s prior Cobbs statement, not the court’s articulation of reasons for the sentence
imposed.
We are unpersuaded by plaintiff’s citation to the sentence of eighteen years four months to thirty
years received by the co-defendant as a basis for challenging the proportionality of defendant’s
sentence. There is nothing to indicate that the co-defendant’s case involved the kind of mitigating
factors identified by the trial court in this case. Because the trial court identified legitimate factors for
departure not adequately weighed within the guidelines and imposed sentences that reasonably reflect
the seriousness of the circumstances surrounding the offense and the offender, we find no abuse of
discretion here. People v Castillo, 230 Mich App 442; 584 NW2d 606 (1998).
Affirmed.
/s/ Hilda R. Gage
/s/ Roman S. Gribbs
/s/ Joel P. Hoekstra
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