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No. 120036
| People
of the State of Michigan, |
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Jerrold
Schrotenboer (517) 788-4283 |
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Plaintiff-Appellee,
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| vs (Appeal
from Ct of Appeals) |
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(Jackson
-- Perlos, A.)
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| Prentice Devell Watkins, |
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Donald R. Cook (313) 964-6677 |
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Defendant-Appellant.
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Click to view briefs in Adobe format:
Plaintiff-Appellee's Brief on Appeal>>
Defendant-Appellant's Brief on Appeal>>
Background
Prentice Devell Watkins was charged in the shooting death of Allen
Russell Stewart. At a hearing on November 4, 1999, Watkins pled guilty
open murder and felony-firearm, and claimed that he shot Stewart after
the two fought. On November 8, 1999, the court held a hearing to determine
the degree of murder that Watkins had committed. Jackson County Circuit
Judge Alexander C. Perlos called Watkins as a witness, and he was questioned
both by the court and the prosecution. Defense counsel did not object
to the court calling Watkins as a witness or to Watkins' testimony.
Watkins denied robbing Stewart and continued to insist that the shooting
occurred as the two fought. In an oral decision following the degree
hearing, the judge found that Watkins planned to rob Stewart and that
the shooting could not have happened in the way Watkins described. The
judge concluded that the killing constituted felony murder because it
occurred during the course of a robbery. Watkins appealed, arguing in
part that the trial court erred in compelling him to testify against
himself at the degree hearing. In a published opinion, the Court of
Appeals agreed that the trial court should not have called Watkins as
a witness at the degree hearing. However, the error was harmless, the
Court of Appeals concluded. Calling Watkins as a witness amounted to
a "trial error" – in other words, an error in the presentation
of one particular portion of the case, not a "structural error"
which would have rendered the entire framework of the case defective,
the Court of Appeals stated. Watkins appeals.
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