People of the State of Michigan v. William Lee Lathrop

Summary

The Michigan Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, vacated the defendant's sentence, and remanded for resentencing because prior record variable 5 was improperly scored, resulting in an incorrect sentencing-guidelines range. The Court held that, absent an indication that the trial court would have imposed the same upward departure despite the scoring error, the defendant was entitled to relief under People v. Francisco and related precedent. Separate opinions addressed the propriety of sentencing-court statements intended to avoid remand for future scoring errors.

Holdings

1. The prosecution's admission that prior record variable 5 was improperly scored established plain error affecting defendant's substantial rights because the error materially increased the guidelines range used as the basis for the upward departure.
2. Resentencing was required because the trial judge did not indicate that he would have imposed the same upward departure despite the scoring error.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an incorrect scoring of prior record variable 5 constituted plain error affecting defendant's substantial rights when the resulting guidelines range was materially lower than the range used at sentencing.
2. Whether resentencing was required because the record did not show that the trial court would have imposed the same upward departure using the correctly scored sentencing-guidelines range.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded