Opinion
SC: 161869 COA: 353243
12-22-2020
PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Lucus William COVEY, Defendant-Appellant.
Order
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the July 13, 2020 order of the Court of Appeals is considered. We DIRECT the Emmet County Prosecuting Attorney within 28 days after the date of this order to answer the defendant's claim that as a Native American tribal member, in a case where the crimes allegedly were committed on tribal reservation land, Michigan's state courts lacked jurisdiction over his case. See McGirt v. Oklahoma, ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 2452, 207 L. Ed. 2d 985 (2020), and Solem v. Bartlett, 465 U.S. 463, 465 n. 2, 104 S.Ct. 1161, 79 L.Ed.2d 443 (1984). The prosecuting attorney shall also answer the defendant's claim that trial defense counsel was constitutionally ineffective, Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), for failing to pursue a restitution hearing to establish that the defendant may only have been guilty of the misdemeanor of malicious destruction of property worth less than $1,000.
The application for leave to appeal and the motion to remand remain pending.