People v. Hardman
People v. Hardman
Opinion of the Court
Defendant pled no contest to two charges of second-degree murder, MCL 750.317; MSA 28.549. The reason for the no contest pleas was two-fold. One, there was a civil case pending in Calhoun County Probate Court that a guilty plea would affect, and two, the defendant did not remember the incident of the actual shootings. The record of the preliminary examination which was offered at the plea taking established sufficient facts to find the defendant guilty of the charges. The record also indicates that defendant was found competent to stand trial and that he was not insane at the time of the shootings.
There was a plea agreement in this case and it was agreed that the prosecutor would recommend that defendant’s sentence not exceed 15 to 25 years. The trial judge sentenced defendant to the agreed-upon term of years in the state prison.
Defendant, by affidavit, now claims that he offered his pleas of no contest because of erroneous advice. Two weeks before the taking of defendant’s pleas a referendum known as "Proposal B” was approved. Proposal B, enacted into law as MCL 791.233b; MSA 28.2303(3), was designed to ban "good time” and to restrict parole for persons serving sentences for specified crimes, including second-degree murder. Defendant seeks a remand to enable him to develop a record showing that his pleas were based solely on erroneous advice related to the effective date of Proposal B.
The record, affidavits and newspaper article presented to us by defendant on appeal do not show
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.