PEOPLE OF MI V DONALD SULLIVAN
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
October 29, 1999
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 206962
Recorder’s Court
LC No. 93-013353
DONALD SULLIVAN,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Jansen, P.J., and Saad and Gage, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, MCL 750.317; MSA 28.549, and
possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, MCL 750.227b; MSA 28.424(2), pursuant
to a plea and sentence agreement. In accordance with the sentence agreement, the court sentenced
defendant to twenty-two to fifty years' imprisonment for the second-degree murder conviction and a
consecutive two-year term for the felony-firearm conviction. He appeals as of right, and we affirm.
Most of defendant’s issues on appeal involve challenges to various pretrial rulings and
proceedings. Where, as here, a defendant unconditionally pleads guilty, only those issues that would
preclude the state from obtaining a valid conviction against a defendant may be raised on appeal.
People v Lannom, 441 Mich 490, 493; 490 NW2d 396 (1992). Such issues must go beyond the
factual determination of the defendant's guilt; they must implicate the very authority of the state to try the
defendant. Id. Where a specific issue relates to the capacity of the state to prove the defendant's
factual guilt, that issue is subsumed by the defendant's guilty plea. Id.
Here, defendant's various issues do not involve jurisdictional or similar defects that would
preclude the state from obtaining a valid conviction. Thus, by unconditionally pleading guilty, appellate
review of the issues raised here is waived. Lannom, supra; People v New, 427 Mich 482, 494; 398
NW2d 358 (1986); People v Bordash, 208 Mich App 1, 3-4; 527 NW2d 17 (1994); People v
Vonins, 203 Mich App 173, 175-176; 511 NW2d 706 (1993).
We reject defendant’s claim that appellate review is appropriate under People v Sundling, 153
Mich App 277, 282-283; 395 NW2d 308 (1986). In Sundling, at the time the defendant entered his
-1
guilty plea, the trial court made certain misstatements regarding the law. This gave the defendant the
impression that he would be permitted to raise certain issues on appeal that otherwise would be waived
by a guilty plea. Here, because the record fails to disclose any statements by the trial court that were
calculated to lead defendant into mistakenly believing that he would be permitted to raise certain issues
on appeal notwithstanding his guilty plea, Sundling is inapplicable.
The only issue that has not been waived for appeal is did the trial court err when it ordered
defendant to pay restitution to the victim's family when restitution was not specifically addressed as part
of the plea and sentencing agreement. Defendant urges this Court to follow the decision in People v
Schluter, 204 Mich App 60, 63-66; 514 NW2d 489 (1994), rather than People v Ronowski, 222
Mich App 58, 59-61; 564 NW2d 466 (1997), because, at the time this offense was committed, the
amended version of MCL 780.766(2); MSA 28.1287(766)(2), which served as the basis for the
decision in Ronowski, had not yet been enacted. Defendant argues unpersuasively that applying MCL
780.766(2); SA 28.1287(766)(2), as amended, to his case as occurred in Ronowski, violates the ExPost Facto Clause of our state constitution, Const 1963, art 1, § 10.
The application of the amended statute did not disadvantage defendant. People v Slocum, 213
Mich App 239, 243; 539 NW2d 572 (1995). The amendment of MCL 780.766(2); MSA
28.1287(766)(2) simply made restitution mandatory rather than discretionary. Because restitution was
a permissible form of punishment under both versions of the statute, we are not persuaded that the
amendment amounted to an increase in punishment. Slocum, supra. When defendant committed this
offense, he was on notice that restitution was a permissible sentencing option. Thus, defendant has not
shown that application of MCL 780.766(2); MSA 28.1287(766)(2), as amended, violates the Ex-Post
Facto Clause. Accordingly, consistent with the decision in Ronowski, we conclude that the trial court
properly ordered defendant to pay restitution.
Affirmed.
/s/ Henry William Saad
/s/ Hilda R. Gage
I concur in result only.
/s/ Kathleen Jansen
-2
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.