Mini-Oral Argument on Application Granted

Mini-Oral Argument on Application Granted

People v Joseph Lee Jones, MSC No. 164110 (COA No. 353209), MOAA granted July 15, 2022

• Plea Withdrawal When Preliminary Guidelines Evaluation Changes
 
The Court directed the parties to address (1) whether the defendant is entitled to withdraw his plea where the trial court provided an estimated guidelines range with its preliminary evaluation of an appropriate sentence but did not advise the defendant that his final range could be different, see People v Cobbs, 443 Mich 276, 283 (1993); (2) whether the trial court indicated it would consider a sentence within a particular range rather than at the very bottom of the sentencing guidelines; (3) if the trial court did indicate it was looking at a range, whether the range it was considering was sufficiently clear to enable appellate review of whether the trial court imposed a sentence consistent with its preliminary evaluation; and (4) whether the trial court imposed a sentence consistent with its preliminary evaluation.

by John Zevalking
Associate Editor