Sufficiency of the evidence; Felonious assault; People v Starks; Ethnic intimidation; MCL 750.147b; People v Stevens; Sentencing; Scoring of OV 1; MCL 777.31(1)(c)

The court held that there was sufficient evidence to support defendant-Mangiapane’s convictions of felonious assault and ethnic intimidation, and that the trial court properly scored 15 points for OV 1 in sentencing him. As to the felonious assault conviction, the record showed that the victim (M) feared an immediate battery due to “gunshots coupled with his interaction with Mangiapane. [M] was walking on the sidewalk across the street from Mangiapane when a green laser beam flashed on his face. After [M] stated, ‘get that beam out of my face,’ Mangiapane directed [M] to continue walking and called him a racial slur. Shortly after their exchange, [M] heard gunshots and started walking faster. When asked why he did not start running, he replied, ‘I didn’t want him to start shooting more at me.’ The surveillance video corroborated [M’s] testimony. It showed that Mangiapane aimed a firearm with a green laser pointer at [M] as he walked down the street. The video depicted a glowing light moving around and focusing on [M]. While there was no evidence that Mangiapane shot directly at [M], the prosecutor presented evidence that Mangiapane fired the rifle and that [M] believed that Mangiapane fired the rifle at him. The police recovered a spent shell casing outside the building, which was fired from the rifle found inside the safe. Mangiapane fired the rifle immediately following his verbal exchange with [M], and [M] testified that he did not run after hearing gunshots because he did not want Mangiapane ‘to start shooting more’ at him.” Thus, the court concluded that “Mangiapane’s actions placed [M] in reasonable apprehension of an immediate battery.” As to the ethnic intimidation conviction, the court noted that Mangiapane directed a racial slur at M and “told his girlfriend after his encounter with [M] that he had ‘to teach a n****r a lesson.’ Mangiapane’s words alone were strong evidence that he acted in the manner he did because of [M’s] race.” As to the scoring of OV 1, the surveillance video showed “the laser beam on [M’s] person and in his immediate vicinity. [M] also testified that a green beam was flashing in his face. It may be reasonably inferred from the evidence that the firearm was pointed at or toward [M] if the mounted laser beam was pointed in his direction.” Affirmed.