Jackson v. Wayne Circuit Court Judge (In re Jackson) ( 2019 )

On order of the Court, the motions to file a supplement are GRANTED. The applications for leave to appeal the March 12, 2019 orders of the Court of Appeals are considered. Pursuant to MCR 7.305(H)(1), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we REMAND the case of People v. Jackson , Wayne CC: 09-003770-FC, to the Wayne Circuit Court for reconsideration of whether the defendant's May 24, 2016 motion for relief from judgment is a successive motion, as the circuit court states in the November 21, 2016 order denying relief from judgment, and for further proceedings as set forth in this order.

We first note that the circuit court record is in disarray and possibly incomplete. Based on the record provided to this Court, the defendant filed his first motion for relief from judgment on July 16, 2015. The defendant sought to amend that motion on October 16, 2015. The amended motion for relief from judgment was returned to the defendant by order dated January 21, 2016, because it exceeded the page limit. The defendant was encouraged to resubmit the motion after redacting his issues and arguments to a more manageable length. The defendant refiled the motion on May 24, 2016. This motion was denied by the circuit court on November 21, 2016, in an order that characterized the motion as successive and denied relief under MCR 6.502(G).

In support of its characterization of the motion for relief from judgment as a successive motion, the circuit court's November 21, 2016 order states that an earlier motion for relief from judgment was denied on November 24, 2015. No such order can be found in the record provided to this Court. The Register of Actions states that an order was entered on November 24, 2015, but it does not describe the order and this appears to be a reference to an unrelated order dated November 23, 2015, denying the defendant's request for a copy of the Register of Actions. We further note that the circuit court's description of the procedural history of the case in its January 26, 2016 opinion returning the motion for relief from judgment to the defendant, and in a March 11, 2016 order denying the defendant's request for the appointment of counsel, does not support the conclusion that the defendant's May 24, 2016 motion for relief from judgment is a successive motion.

*623Under these circumstances, we REMAND the case of People v. Jackson to the Wayne Circuit Court for reconsideration of whether the defendant's May 24, 2016 motion for relief from judgment is a successive motion under MCR 6.502(G). On remand, the circuit court shall issue an opinion setting forth its analysis. If the circuit court determines that the defendant's motion for relief from judgment is not a successive motion, as appears to be the case based on the circuit court record provided to this Court, the circuit court shall decide the motion under the standard set forth in MCR 6.508(D). If, however, the court determines that the motion for relief from judgment was correctly denied under MCR 6.502(G) as a successive motion, it shall then rule on the motion for reconsideration that the defendant filed on December 9, 2016. A date-stamped copy of the motion for reconsideration is contained in the circuit court file, but the motion is not listed in the Register of Actions, and there is no order in the circuit court file deciding the motion.

We do not retain jurisdiction.