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No. 134913
| People of Michigan, |
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Danielle Walton |
Plaintiff-Appellant, |
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(Appeal from Ct of Appeals) |
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(Oakland - Chabot, R.) |
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| David Gordon Ream, |
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Shirley Burgoyne |
| Defendant-Appellee. |
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| __________________________________________ |
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Click to view briefs in Adobe format:
Plaintiff-Appellant's Application for Leave to Appeal>>
Defendant-Appellee's Brief in Opposition to Application for Leave to Appeal>>
Background
David Gordon Ream forced his 92-year-old neighbor into her bedroom, stripped her of her clothing, and killed her by stabbing her in her abdomen and genital area with a kitchen knife. Ream was acquitted of first-degree premeditated murder, but was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was also convicted of first-degree felony murder – murder committed in the commission of another felony, in this case the criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced to mandatory life in prison for the felony murder, life in prison for the second-degree murder, and 40 to 60 years for the criminal sexual conduct conviction. On appeal, Ream argued, among other issues, that his second-degree murder and criminal sexual conduct convictions violated the U.S. and Michigan Constitutions’ prohibition against double jeopardy. The Court of Appeals agreed and vacated Ream’s convictions for second-degree murder and criminal sexual conduct, but expressed dissatisfaction with “the continuing appellate practice of vacating valid convictions on the basis of multiple-punishment double jeopardy principles when the additional convictions and sentences do not add any time to a defendant’s prison term.” The prosecutor appeals, asking the Michigan Supreme Court to overrule its holding in People v Wilder, 411 Mich 328 (1981), that conviction of both felony murder and the underlying felony violates the double jeopardy prohibition against multiple punishments for the same crime.
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