MSC Order List: December 21, 2012
In People v. Orlewicz, the Michigan Supreme Court remanded the case back to Wayne County Circuit Court, for consideration of defendant’s argument under Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. __; 132 S. Ct. 2455 (2012), which held that mandatory life sentences for juvenile defendants violates the Eighth Amendment. Mr. Orlewicz is serving a life sentence after a first-degree murder conviction arising out of events that took place when he was 17 years old. The Court of Appeals’ opinion in Orlewicz is available here.
The Court rejected all other grounds in the application. It had been holding Mr. Orlewicz’s application in abeyance pending its decision in People v. Vaughn, which was decided on July 9, 2012. In that case, the Court held that violation of the right to public voir dire in a trial is error, although it found that the error under those circumstances did not require a new trial. For more on Vaughn, see the OCJ Blog post here.
The Court also denied two other applications for leave, and dismissed another application on stipulation of the parties.
