People v. Perez

Defendant appealed his conviction for criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, alleging that the circuit court should have given the missing-witness instruction, CJI2d 5.12. The Court of Appeals properly affirmed defendant’s conviction. In doing so, however, it incorrectly stated that this jury instruction never needs to be given. We write to correct that misstatement.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant was arrested in 1997 and charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, MCL 750.520b. A jury subsequently found him guilty of four counts of a lesser offense, second-degree criminal…