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People v. Whitmore

Michigan Court of Appeals
Jan 27, 1971
30 Mich. App. 193 (Mich. Ct. App. 1971)

Opinion

Docket No. 8485.

Decided January 27, 1971.

Appeal from Kalamazoo, Wade Van Valkenburg, J. Submitted Division 3 January 6, 1971, at Grand Rapids. (Docket No. 8485.) Decided January 27, 1971.

John Jack Whitmore was convicted of uttering and publishing. Defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Robert A. Derengoski, Solicitor General, Donald A. Burge, Prosecuting Attorney, and Stewart D. Fenner, Jr., Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for the people. Brown, Colman DeMent, for defendant on appeal.

Before: HOLBROOK, P.J., and McGREGOR and T.M. BURNS, JJ.


Defendant was found guilty of uttering and publishing at the conclusion of a jury trial and was sentenced to from 5 to 14 years in prison. On appeal there are three assignments of error.

MCLA § 750.249 (Stat Ann 1962 Rev § 28.446).

I

Defendant contends that the circuit court should have granted his motion for dismissal at the close of the people's case because of the prosecution's failure to indorse the names of all the claimed res gestae witnesses present in the store at the time of the offense.

All known res gestae witnesses were made available at trial. The plaintiff does not deny that other people were in the store at the time of the incident, but their mere presence does not make them res gestae witnesses to the crime. Defendant does not assert that these other persons did actually witness the transaction in question, but only that they may have witnessed it. In all likelihood, the testimony of any other witness in the store would have been merely cumulative at most.

The statute, MCLA § 767.40 (Stat Ann 1970 Cum Supp § 28.980), does not extend to "witnesses" not known to the prosecuting attorney at the time of filing the information. People v. Fleisher (1948), 322 Mich. 474. Nor is it error if the prosecutor fails to indorse on the information the name of a witness whose testimony would be merely cumulative. People v. Cooper (1950), 326 Mich. 514. Defendant could have, but failed to request names of the additional witnesses to be indorsed on the information. People v. Amos (1968), 10 Mich. App. 533. There is no reversible error as to issue I.

II

Defendant argues that the trial court committed reversible error by giving instructions that were incomplete and misleading to the jury. A review of the record indicates that the charge was adequate and fair and we determine that the defendant was not prejudiced by the charge. Under the facts in this case, since defendant made no objection at the time the instructions were given he must be said to have waived his right to object on appeal. GCR 1963, 516.2; People v. Floyd (1968), 15 Mich. App. 284, 288, 289.

III

Defendant's final argument is that the trial court's failure to provide defense counsel with a copy of the presentence investigation report was a violation of his constitutional right to effective counsel under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and of article I, § 20 of the Michigan Constitution. This issue was dealt with in People v. Camak (1967), 5 Mich. App. 655, 661-663, where this Court held that the failure of defendant's attorney to request permission to examine the report (as in the instant case) precludes defendant from raising this issue on appeal. See also People v. Charles Williams (1969), 19 Mich. App. 544.

Affirmed.


Summaries of

People v. Whitmore

Michigan Court of Appeals
Jan 27, 1971
30 Mich. App. 193 (Mich. Ct. App. 1971)
Case details for

People v. Whitmore

Case Details

Full title:PEOPLE v. WHITMORE

Court:Michigan Court of Appeals

Date published: Jan 27, 1971

Citations

30 Mich. App. 193 (Mich. Ct. App. 1971)
185 N.W.2d 917