Background
On March 8, 2024, Howe called police to report a fugitive at his home. During the arrest, the fugitive alleged Howe had assaulted him with brass knuckles. As Howe left work, officers stopped and questioned him about the assault allegation. With his consent, they searched his vehicle and discovered ammunition in the center console and trunk. Dispatch confirmed Howe was prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition, and he was arrested.
The case was dismissed on March 26, 2024, when Officer Hoppe became unavailable for the preliminary examination. Two days later, after learning of the dismissal, Detective Rumley ordered the ammunition destroyed as evidence. On April 11, 2024, the prosecutor reissued charges. When defense counsel sought to inspect the ammunition before trial, the evidence was gone. The trial court denied Howe’s motion to dismiss. At trial, Howe claimed the center-console ammunition was filled with sand (from his jewelry and novelty-item business) and that the trunk ammunition was not his property. A jury convicted him of prohibited possession of ammunition as a fourth-offense habitual offender.
The Court’s Holding
The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, holding that the destroyed ammunition was neither exculpatory evidence nor destroyed in bad faith. The court applied the standard from Arizona v. Youngblood, requiring a defendant to prove either that evidence was exculpatory or that destruction occurred in bad faith. Here, even if the center-console ammunition contained sand as Howe claimed, he never argued the trunk ammunition was similarly inoperable. Because the statute requires only possession—not functional or operable ammunition—testing could not have exonerated him.
On the bad-faith question, the court found Detective Rumley acted in compliance with departmental policy. After receiving notice that the case was dismissed, Rumley reasonably believed the dismissal was permanent and was unaware charges would be reissued. He ordered destruction fourteen days after dismissal notification, following routine departmental procedures. The court rejected Howe’s arguments that destruction violated departmental policy or MCL 750.483a(5)(a), finding no evidence of intentional or knowing destruction for a future proceeding. Negligent destruction, the court emphasized, does not constitute bad faith.
Key Takeaways
- Evidence destruction before trial violates due process only if the defendant proves the evidence was exculpatory or destroyed in bad faith; negligent destruction does not suffice.
- For ammunition possession statutes, the statute requires only possession—testing or functionality of the ammunition is irrelevant to guilt and cannot render destroyed evidence exculpatory.
- Law enforcement following routine departmental procedures for evidence destruction after a case dismissal, without knowledge of reissuance, acts without bad faith even if circumstances later change.
- A defendant cannot compel reversal by requesting modification of the Youngblood bad-faith standard when Michigan courts have consistently applied it.
Why It Matters
This decision reinforces the strict Youngblood standard for evidence-destruction claims in Michigan, requiring defendants to shoulder a substantial burden. The ruling clarifies that administrative compliance with evidence-destruction policies following case dismissal protects law enforcement from due-process liability, even when charges are later reinstated. For prosecutors and defense counsel, the decision underscores that timing matters: a defendant’s failure to request evidence preservation before destruction occurs leaves little recourse absent demonstrable bad faith.
More broadly, the opinion narrows potential defenses in ammunition-possession cases by holding that the physical state of ammunition (filled, inoperable, or otherwise) is irrelevant to the crime of possession itself. This may limit factual defenses available to defendants charged under MCL 750.224f(7), focusing trials strictly on the fact of possession rather than the utility or condition of the ammunition.