People v. Bigelow

In People v. Bigelow, 229 Mich. App. 218; 581 N.W.2d 744 (1998), the Court concluded that separate convictions and sentences for both premeditated murder and felony murder, both of which arose from a single instance of criminal conduct, violated the rule against double jeopardy. Id. at 220 A conflict panel of the Court convened to consider the issue of the proper method of treating dual convictions of first-degree premeditated and felony murder arising out of the death of a single victim. The Court remedied the double jeopardy problem by directing the lower court to amend the judgment of sentence to reflect a single conviction and a single sentence for a crime that was supported by two separate theories. Bigelow, 229 Mich. App. at 221-222. In that case, the defendant had been convicted of both first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree felony murder, as well as breaking and entering an occupied dwelling with intent to commit larceny. The trial court sentenced the defendant to concurrent life sentences on each of the murder convictions, as well as to a term of years for the breaking and entering conviction. On appeal to an earlier panel, the defendant had argued that his convictions of both first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree felony murder violated double jeopardy prohibitions.