Jury instructions; Lesser included offenses; MCL 768.32(1); Sentencing; Mandatory minimum under MCL 769.12(1)(a); Habitual-offender notice

The court held that defendant was not entitled to a new trial. Also, it concluded that the trial court did not plainly err by sentencing him to a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years under MCL 769.12(1)(a). He was convicted of AWIGBH or by strangulation and domestic assault. Defendant argued “that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on aggravated assault as a lesser included offense of [AWIGBH], and that he” was thus entitled to a new trial. A week before trial, he requested a jury instruction on the lesser offense of aggravated assault. “Following voir dire, the trial court instructed the jury on the charged crimes and did not include the lesser offense. At the conclusion of trial, defense counsel renewed the motion for the requested jury instruction on the lesser offense of aggravated assault. The prosecutor responded that ‘misdemeanors are not necessarily lesser included offenses.’” The court noted that the “trial court denied defendant’s motion, stating: ‘I agree. First of all, they’re asking for a misdemeanor, which is a one year misdemeanor. I don’t believe that it would be appropriate under the facts and circumstances that we heard. Under Michigan law, a misdemeanor is not a required necessary instruction on a lesser included offense.’” The court held the trial court erred. But aggravated assault “is, at most, a cognate lesser offense of” AWIGBH, and “defendants are not entitled to jury instructions on cognate lesser offenses.” As a result, although “the trial court erroneously relied on the common-law restriction against including a misdemeanor as a lesser included offense for a felony charge, we will not reverse when a lower court reaches the right result for the wrong reason.” Affirmed.