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NILES The Michigan Supreme Court has ordered the Michigan Court of Appeals to take another look at the conviction of a Mishawaka man for assaulting a Michigan State Police trooper in 2017.

In a ruling released Tuesday, the Supreme Court vacated part of the Michigan Court of Appeals judgment against Michael Scott Barber and remanded that part back to them for further review. They specifically cited the Michigan Supreme Courts 2015 ruling in the People v. Miller casethat concerned double jeopardy issues.

Barber, now 23, was convicted by a Berrien County Trial Court jury in 2017 of six counts including assault by strangulation, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and resisting and obstructing police causing injury as habitual offender.

Barbers convictions stemmed from a Feb. 20, 2017 incident began when trooper Garry Guild attempted to pull Barber over on the U.S. 31 freeway between Buchanan and Berrien Springs on what turned out to be a stolen motorcycle.

Barber ended up crashing the bike and then started attacking Guild. He was helped by half-brother Trevor Wise, who got out of a car trailing them and started choking Guild. Guild was assisted by two good Samaritans, Jerry Burnham of Berrien Springs and Keith Pepple of Plainwell, who helpedGuild regain control of the situation before other police arrived.

Barberwas sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for the two assault counts, five to seven one-half years for receiving, concealing and possession of stolen property, as well as for third degree fleeing police, and two to three years for attempting to disarm a police officer. He received a consecutive prison of four to six years for resisting and obstructing police causing injury.

In its ruling, the Michigan Supreme Court said the Court of Appeals failed to address Barbers argument that the legislature did not intend for a single act to result in convictions for both assault by strangulation and assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder.

The Court of AppealssaidBarber had not raised the issue at trial and thus had failed to preserve his right to appeal that issue.It further stated that the two offenses contained different elements and thus didnt constitute double jeopardy.

The Supreme Court cited the 2015 Miller case which involved a man convicted of both operating while impaired and operating while impaired causing injury. The court said that convicting the man of both charges violated the multiple punishments prong of the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The court noted that the legislature did not intend to allow for multiple convictions and punishments for multiple offenses arising from the same conduct, except when explicitly authorized. It further noted that a concurrent sentence does not necessarily eliminate collateral consequences for being convicted of two charges from the same offense.

In the order regarding the Barber case, the Supreme Court otherwise upheld the 2018 Court of Appeals ruling. That ruling upheld Barbers convictions and the sentences imposed by Berrien County Trial Judge Angela Pasula, which exceeded sentencing guidelines. Barbers request for a new trial was denied.

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Appeals court to take another look at 2017 conviction - Herald Palladium