PEOPLE OF MI V SYLVESTER DEWAN NORTH

Court of Appeals, State of Michigan
ORDER
PEOPLE OF MI V SYLVESTER DEWAN NORTH
Docket No. 378471
LC No. 04-007354-01-FC
Sima G. Patel
Presiding Judge
Allie Greenleaf Maldonado
Adrienne N. Young
Judges
The motion to waive fees is GRANTED for this case only.
Pursuant to MCR 7.205(E)(2), in lieu of granting the delayed application for leave to appeal,
we VACATE the trial court’s October 6, 2025 order and REMAND this matter to that court for further
proceedings consistent with this order.
In ruling as it did, the trial court reasoned, in part, as follows: “Whereas this court finds the
affidavit information submitted by Affiants Walker and Landers to be incredulous given the fact that they
were proffered over 20 years after the crime occurred, the information contained therein is highly suspect
and not worthy of belief.” (Emphasis added.) In other words, the trial court again relied on its own unilateral
credibility determinations concerning defendant’s new affiants, thereby repeating one of the errors that this
Court had specifically instructed it to remedy on remand. See People v North, unpublished order of the
Court of Appeals, entered July 18, 2025 (Docket No. 374821). By failing to strictly abide by this Court’s
remand instructions, the trial court erred. See, e.g., People v Blue, 178 Mich App 537, 539; 444 NW2d 226
(1989). On remand, it should again reexamine this matter, this time doing so in compliance with both this
order and our July 18, 2025 order in Docket No. 374821.
This order is to have immediate effect. MCR 7.215(F)(2). We do not retain jurisdiction.
_______________________________
Presiding Judge

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