PEOPLE OF MI V RICKY FRANKLIN
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
UNPUBLISHED
December 12, 2000
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v
No. 212866
Wayne Circuit Court
Criminal Division
LC No. 98-000913
RICKY FRANKLIN,
Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Wilder, P.J., and Holbrook, Jr., and McDonald, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Defendant was convicted by a jury of two counts of armed robbery, MCL 750.529; MSA
28.797, carjacking, MCL 750.529a; MSA 28.797(a), and possession of a firearm during the
commission of a felony (hereinafter felony-firearm), MCL 750.227b; MSA 28.424(2). He was
sentenced to concurrent prison terms of three to ten years each for the armed robbery and
carjacking convictions, and a consecutive two-year term for the felony-firearm conviction. He
appeals as of right. We affirm.
Defendant does not dispute that the crimes for which he was charged were committed.
Rather, he argues that he was mistakenly identified as the perpetrator. His first argument on
appeal is that the prosecutor failed to present sufficient evidence to support the jury’s conclusion
that he was the guilty party. We disagree. When reviewing the sufficiency of evidence in a
criminal case, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine
whether a rational trier of fact could find that each element of the crime was proved beyond a
reasonable doubt. People v Fetterley, 229 Mich App 511, 515; 583 NW2d 199 (1998).
Although early in the investigation both complaining witnesses equivocated to varying
degrees about defendant’s identity as their assailant, both expressed certainty in the matter at
trial. Further, through the course of direct and cross-examination, the witnesses explained both
their earlier equivocations and their eventual firm conclusions. The testimony of these witnesses
was sufficient to create for jury resolution the question of defendant’s identity as the offender.
See People v Abernathy, 39 Mich App 5, 7; 197 NW2d 106 (1972) (even where the witnesses’
identification of the defendant is less than positive, the question remains one for the jury).
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Defendant next argues that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a
mistrial. We disagree. The motion for mistrial was premised on the prosecutor’s alleged
misconduct in improperly injecting a reference to defendant’s having been arrested for a different
crime. However, the record indicates that defense counsel himself questioned the witness in
reference to defendant’s arrest for the instant crimes. The prosecutor, in turn, referred to defense
counsel’s question concerning defendant’s arrest, which could hardly have suggested anything to
the jury other than defendant’s arrest as a suspect in the crimes presently before the court. Thus,
the prosecutor did not inject any mention of defendant’s arrest, but instead followed up on
defense counsel’s mention of it, and the referenced arrest was the one that brought defendant to
court for the instant case, not some other matter.
“A mistrial should be granted only for an irregularity that is prejudicial to the rights of the
defendant, and impairs his ability to get a fair trial.” People v Haywood, 209 Mich App 217,
228; 530 NW2d 497 (1995) (citation omitted). In this case, there was no irregularity, let alone
one that impaired defendant’s ability to receive a fair trial. Accordingly, we conclude that the
trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the request for a mistrial. People v Laws, 218
Mich App 447, 456; 554 NW2d 586 (1996).
Finally, defendant argues that the prosecutor improperly and fatally presented a civic-duty
argument to the jury during closing statements. We disagree. As an initial matter, we note that,
when the prosecutor spoke of the victims’ statuses as mother and grandmother, the trial court
sustained defense counsel’s specific and timely objection. We further note that, as the prosecutor
continued, the argument took the form of admonishing the jury to expect that victims situated as
were the two in this case would remember well the face of their assailant, not that sympathy for a
mother and grandmother should compel a conviction. In sum, the trial court properly steered the
prosecutor away from any improper civic-duty argument, and none infected these proceedings.
Affirmed.
/s/ Kurtis T. Wilder
/s/ Donald E. Holbrook, Jr.
/s/ Gary R. McDonald
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