The case of People v. Smith, 470 N.W. 2d 70, Michigan Supreme Court (1991), is a case that deals with the expungement of juvenile court records, and whether or not such records can be used in a pre-sentencing investigation, to enhance the penalty for an adult conviction. This case originated out of Pontiac, Michigan, where the defendant, Smith, was arrested, and subsequently pled guilty to breaking and entering, and to being a habitual offender, fourth offense (People v. Smith, 1991). Smith, upon his conviction and sentencing, appealed his sentence to the Michigan Court of Appeals, arguing that he was entitled to be resentenced, due to the fact that the pre-sentence investigative report, which had been used against him, contained information concerning a juvenile conviction. In Smith’s argument, he claimed that under Michigan state law, in effect at the time of his case, his juvenile record was supposed to have been expunged, and therefore, could not be used against him (People v. Smith, 1991). Smith based this argument on the Michigan state law MCR 5.913. [5], which provided for the mandatory expungement of a juvenile’s record at a certain age. It was not only this law, but other appeals court decisions, on …show more content…
The Michigan Supreme Court looked at several factors. The first of these factors was what had transpired during the sentencing phase of the trial. The pre-sentence report, which was entered during the sentencing phase, included 12 juvenile entries, which encompassed seven felony and three misdemeanor convictions (People v. Smith, 1991). Smith’s own attorney did not object to the entry of this report, and had in fact, agreed that it was accurate. The sentencing judge had set a sentence, which he felt would punish Smith, and protect society from him, and even allowed this sentence to run concurrently with a sentence that Smith was already serving. The next issue for the court to consider was the expungement