Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
May 29, 2019 Bridget M. McCormack,
Chief Justice
158746 David F. Viviano,
Chief Justice Pro Tem
Stephen J. Markman
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, Brian K. Zahra
Plaintiff-Appellee, Richard H. Bernstein
Elizabeth T. Clement
v SC: 158746 Megan K. Cavanagh,
Justices
COA: 339389
Kent CC: 16-011299-FC
GERONIMO LUCAS,
Defendant-Appellant.
_________________________________________/
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the October 9, 2018
judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not
persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this Court.
MARKMAN, J. (concurring).
I concur in the order denying leave to appeal. However, I write separately to, once
again, “call to the attention of the Legislature what I believe may be the effective
nullification of its mandatory minimum sentence for certain first-degree criminal sexual
conduct (CSC-I) offenses set forth in MCL 750.520b(2)(b).” People v Keefe, 498 Mich
962, 962 (2015) (MARKMAN, J., concurring). In the present case, defendant was alleged
to have engaged in penetration with a person under 13 years of age. Prior to trial,
defendant waived his right to a jury trial in exchange for the prosecutor’s promise not to
pursue the 25-year mandatory minimum sentence that is required for a conviction under
MCL 750.520b(2)(b). Defendant was subsequently convicted of two counts of CSC-I
and was sentenced to two concurrent prison terms of 10 to 30 years, in accordance with
the agreement between defendant and the prosecutor. I continue to believe that as a result
of prosecutor-defendant agreements such as this one, “there is no longer any real
mandatory minimum sentence for the class of criminal sexual conduct offenses at issue—
those involving interactions between persons 17 years of age or older and those under the
age of 13.” Keefe, 498 Mich at 965 (MARKMAN, J., concurring). Once again, the
Legislature may or may not wish to “review MCL 750.520b(2)(b) to ascertain whether
the outcome of this case is in accordance with its intentions.” Id.
I, Larry S. Royster, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the
foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court.
May 29, 2019
t0522
Clerk