Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Judge caught in error

I have not been able to find any information on this problem and I thought maybe you could help me. My son was sentenced in court to 7 months jail time for involuntary manslaughter. He was taken to jail and released 5 days later - he was literally kicked out of jail and told his sentence was served. When he checked the judgment, it said ''serve 7 days'' and signed by the judge. There was also an amendment to the judgment (not for the ''serve 7 days'') and again signed by the judge. When the judge heard that my son was out, he was irate and told my son he had 3 hours to get back in jail or he would file a felony charge on him for fleeing. My son went back to jail and turned himself in. Can the judge get away with this? Technically, my son served the time in the written judgment. The judge apparently looked the judgment over and found one error that needed amending and fixed it. My feeling is that if he signed the judgment twice with ''serve 7 days'', he shouldn't be able to threaten my son with a felony or make him go back to jail after he had served the time that was on the judgment.

Thank you

GR


Asked on 5/18/09, 12:28 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Daniel Hajji Daniel Hajji & Associates

Re: Judge caught in error

The Court/Judge have the ability to correct their error by law and pursuant to the Michigan Court Rules. The rules are pretty flexible to allow corrections as well as administrative errors. Though, the Court speaks through its written orders, something can still be done in certain situations. Contact me if you wish.

Daniel B. Hajji, Esq.

Criminal & Traffic Defense Attorneys

30300 Northwestern Hwy.

Suite 262

Farmington Hills, MI 48334

248.865.4700

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Answered on 5/18/09, 2:26 pm


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