State Supreme Court hears cases this week

A long-time prisoner whose commutation request was first granted, then denied by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm will have his case heard this week by the Michigan Supreme Court. Matthew Makowski, who is serving a life sentence without parole for his role in the 1988 robbery and murder of a co-worker, sought to have his sentence modified so that he would be eligible for parole. In her final days as governor, Granholm first commuted his sentence, then, after the victim's family protested, withdrew the commutation. Makowski's constitutional challenge to Granholm's actions has been dismissed by the trial court and Court of Appeals, who concluded that the courts lacked the authority to review a governor's commutation decision. The Supreme Court will also hear In re Hon. Wade H. McCree, in which a judge faces sanctions for having an extramarital affair with a woman who was a complainant in a case before him. The Judicial Tenure Commission charges, among other matters, that the judge used his chambers to have sex with the woman and falsely reported to the Wayne County Prosecutor that the woman was stalking him. Also before the Court is In re COH, ERH, JRG, KBH, Minors, in which the Department of Human Services challenges a Court of Appeals ruling in favor of a woman who sought to be appointed guardian of her three grandchildren and their half-sibling. The children had been with a foster family for a number of months when their mother agreed to terminate her parental rights; the children's fathers' parental rights had been terminated also. The family court denied the grandmother's guardianship petition, finding that the children were doing well with their foster parents, who had petitioned to adopt them, and that it was in the children's best interests to remain there. But the Court of Appeals reversed, directing the family court to grant the grandmother's guardianship petition. One issue in the case is whether the grandmother was entitled to a preference, as the children's relative, over the foster family. The other cases the court is hearing this week involve constitutional, criminal, procedural, shareholder oppression, tort, and Whistleblower Protection Act issues. The court is hearing oral arguments in its courtroom on the sixth floor of the Michigan Hall of Justice on December 10, 11, and 12, starting at 9:30 a.m. each day. The court's oral arguments are open to the public; the court also live streams its hearings at http://www.courts.mi.gov/Courts/MichiganSupremeCourt/oral-arguments/live-streaming/Pages/live-streaming.aspx. The court provides summaries of the cases it will hear at http://www.courts.mi.gov/courts/michigansupremecourt/oral-arguments/pages/default.aspx. Published: Wed, Dec 11, 2013

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