UPDATES IN MICHIGAN FAMILY LAW

Michigan Court of Appeals Upholds Spousal Rape Charges

In People v Martz, the defendant was convicted by a jury of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC I), MCL 750.520b (force or coercion); unlawful imprisonment, MCL 750.349b; resisting or obstructing a police officer causing serious impairment, MCL 750.81d(3); and two counts of resisting or obstructing a police officer, MCL 750.81d(1). Defendant was sentenced as a second habitual offender, MCL 769.10, to concurrent imprisonment for 15 to 40 years for CSC I, 15 to 221/2 years for unlawful imprisonment, 10 to 15 years for resisting and obstructing a police officer causing serious impairment, and 16 months to 2 years for resisting and obstructing a police officer. He appealed and the Court of Appeals upheld the convictions. One of his claims was he could not be convicted of CSC I because the victim was his wife.

Elizabeth Smart Speaks Out at Human Trafficking Conference

On May 2, 2013, Elizabeth Smart spoke out at a forum on human trafficking at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She addressed the issue why the three young women kidnapped in Ohio may not have spoken out or tried to escape for such a long time.

Smart said that she was raised in a religious household where abstinence was taught and valued. She remembered a school teacher who spoke once about abstinence and compared sex to chewing gum--deriding someone who permitted sexual touching over and over and evoking a sense of shame and lack of worth in a young girl who had been kidnapped, forcibly raped, and held hostage.

Courts Citing to Wikipedia & Online Dictionaries of Slang

In an interesting piece in the New York Times, Leslie Kaufman writes: "The wheels of justice move slowly sometimes, but not, apparently, as slowly as Webster’s New World Dictionary." Given that courts must sometimes resort to dictionaries to define terms--as in, for example, determining legislative intent and the meaning of a statute--it is important to have these resources.

According to Kaufman, lawyers and judges are relying in this age of rap and slang upon a more informal source of definitions: Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced collection of slang words on the Internet. [I challenge you: find "crowdsourced" in Webster's Dictionary!]

Kaufman writes that courts refer so often to Urban Dictionary and Wikipedia in legal cases that the law review of St. John’s University in Queens published an article in its Spring 2010 issue outlining "standardized rules" for the most appropriate uses of crowdsourced Web sites. The St. John's University article notes that it is neither appropriate nor necessary to use urban dictionaries or Wikipedia to define scientific terms and other technical definitions.

Michigan Medical Marijuana Act | Driving Under the Influence

Finally, the decision many family lawyers and criminal lawyers have awaited has been released by the Michigan Supreme Court. The question raised was whether a driver can be arrested for driving while under the influence when the driver has a medical marijuana registry card.

The holding:    Those who have a valid MMMA registry card cannot be prosecuted for having some THC in their system under MCL 257.625(8) – the zero-tolerance statute - because the MMMA provisions control; but they can be prosecuted under the MMMA if it can be shown that they were “under the influence”.

In Koon, the defendant was charged in the 86th District Court with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of THC. When stopped by the police, Koon told the officer that he had a medical marijuana registry card and admitted that he had smoked marijuana five to six hours earlier. THC was found in his bloodstream.

Son of Citation Machine | Easy, Proper Citations of all Kinds of Sources

 

 

 

 

Wow! What a cool item for Jeanne's Toolbox. "Son of Citation Machine" provides lawyers and professional researchers with a very easy way to cite the resources that they use in proper form. You may choose your "style"--MLA, APA or Chicago Book of Style (15th Ed.) Use this online citation creator to cite authorities in briefs, journal articles, books, etc.

Renter Who is Victim of Domestic Violence May Break Lease

A 2010 Michigan statute permits a tenant who is at risk of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking to be released from a rental obligation. The tenant seeking release must provide notice of "intent to seek a release and written documentation that the tenant has a reasonable apprehension of present danger to the tenant or his or her child from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking."

The documentation that may be submitted includes a personal protection order, a criminal "no-contact" order, a police report that resulted in a criminal charge filed within 14 days of the notice to the landlord, or a form submitted by a qualified third party verifying a threat of present danger. A qualified third party includes a domestic violence or sexual assault counselor, health professional (medical or mental health), or clergy member. The statute contains specific definitions of the term "qualified third party."

Once documentation is submitted, the tenant will be released from her obligation to pay rent on the first day of the second month that rent is due after notice is given. The release takes effect when the tenant vacates the premises.