Michigan Appeals Court Overturns Felony Murder Conviction Over Faulty Jury Instructions

The Michigan Court of Appeals reversed a felony murder conviction after finding the trial judge gave the jury an incorrect instruction about accident as a defence, and imposed a sentence far beyond guidelines.

Michigan Appeals Court Overturns Felony Murder Conviction Over Faulty Jury Instructions

A panel of appellate judges in Michigan has vacated a felony murder conviction and ordered a retrial, ruling that the original proceedings contained serious legal errors.

The case centred on Marquis Thomas, who had been found guilty of killing an acquaintance during an incident prosecutors characterised as an attempted armed hold-up. Thomas maintained the death was not deliberate: he stated that while moving a loaded gun from one seat to another inside the car, the weapon fired by mistake.

During the trial, the judge instructed the panel of jurors that an accidental killing could not be raised as a defence against a felony murder charge. The Court of Appeals found this direction was legally wrong. A former law student at the University of Michigan, Meg Beyer, had flagged this problem while participating in the school's appellate clinic.

Beyer described the instruction as relying on an outdated understanding of felony murder that had fallen out of use in Michigan decades earlier. She later travelled back from her current public-defender post in Ohio to present oral argument for the appeal.

The appeals judges also faulted the punishment handed down for a separate weapons offence. The lower court had set a minimum prison term of 45 years for possessing a firearm as a felon, even though state guidelines capped the range at roughly two to six years. Another clinic participant, Alexandra Hargrave, had prepared the briefing on this sentencing error.

Both women have since begun careers as public defenders. They credited the clinic with teaching them how trial-level mistakes can reshape a defendant's life, and with deepening their dedication to representing accused individuals.

Source: University of Michigan Law School

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)