Opinion
SC 160670 (28) COA 348984
12-09-2022
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JOHNATHAN THOMAS, Defendant-Appellant.
Kalamazoo CC: 1994-000707-FC.
Elizabeth T. Clement, Chief Justice, Brian K. Zahra, Bridget M. McCormack, David F. Viviano, Richard H. Bernstein, Megan K. Cavanagh, Elizabeth M. Welch, Justices.
ORDER
By order of July 16, 2021, the application for leave to appeal the September 24, 2019 order of the Court of Appeals was held in abeyance pending the decision in People v Poole (Docket No. 161529). On order of the Court, the case having been decided on July 28, 2022, 510 Mich. (2022), the application is again considered. Pursuant to MCR 7.305(H)(1), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we REMAND this case to the Court of Appeals for reconsideration in light of People v Parks, 510 Mich. (2022) (Docket No. 162086). The motion to remand the case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing is DENIED.
We do not retain jurisdiction.
Viviano, J. (concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in the denial of the motion to remand to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing. But for the reasons stated in Chief Justice CLEMENT's dissent in People v Parks, 510 Mich. (2022) (Docket No. 162086), I do not believe that a mandatory sentence of life without parole for a defendant who committed first-degree murder when he was 18 years old is unconstitutional. Therefore, I respectfully dissent from the order remanding to the Court of Appeals and would instead deny leave to appeal on this issue.