Opinion
SC: 165013 COA: 355578
09-13-2023
PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert Steven WESTFIELD, Defendant-Appellee.
Order
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the September 22, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court. The motion for appellate bond is DENIED.
Viviano, J. (dissenting).
In this case, the Court of Appeals determined that there was insufficient evidence that defendants committed felony murder based on a predicate felony of larceny. I have serious concerns about this holding, which appears to ignore the arguably close connection between the killing of the victim and the larceny of the victim's property. I would grant the prosecutor's application for leave to appeal to determine whether the larceny was sufficiently related to the killing to serve as the predicate for felony murder. See People v Gillis , 474 Mich. 105, 121, 712 N.W.2d 419 (2006). Accordingly, I dissent from the denial order.