People v. Watkins

On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the August 26, 2015 order of the Court of Appeals is considered and, pursuant to MCR 7.305(H)(1), in lieu of granting leave, we VACATE the August 26, 2015 order of the Court of Appeals and REMAND this case to the Wayne Circuit Court for reconsideration, under MCR 6.508(D), of Issues I and II of the defendant's motion for relief from judgment. The circuit court erred in applying People v. Cress, 468 Mich. 678, 664 N.W.2d 174 (2003), to an analysis of whether the defendant's motion was improperly successive under MCR 6.502(G). See People v. Swain, 499 Mich. 920, 878 N.W.2d 476 (2016). Cress does not apply to the procedural threshold of MCR 6.502(G)(2), as the plain text of the court rule does not require that a defendant satisfy all elements of the test. In Issues I and II, the defendant provided “a claim of new evidence that was not discovered before the