Michigan Trial Court Judge John McBain steps far out of his jurisdiction and abuses discretion during sentencing

Michigan trial judge John McBain has had a bad history of abusing power. He has stormed an attacking defendant in court and has even ordered a court officer to tase a defendant during a hearing.

According to The Washington Post:

In 2016, McBain had a harsh sentence for Dawn Dixon-Bey, who stabbed her boyfriend twice in the heart on valentine’s day in 2015.

“You brutally murdered him in cold blood, and for that, by the power vested in me by the state of Michigan, you’re to serve 35 years to 70 years, ” McBain told Dawn Dixon-Bey at the 2016 hearing.

Dixon-Bey returned back to trial court in 2020 for resentencing.

The Washington Post continues:

Dixon-Bey was to be resentenced by McBain during a hearing in 2020. McBain went completely out of his jurisdiction and sentenced her to 30 to 70 years in prison compared to the 12-20 years that guidelines call for.

“I absolutely intend to sentence her at the very top end at 20 years, except that I just don’t think 20 years is an adequate sentence for this brutal, premeditated murder,” McBain at the July 2020 resentencing said, according to MLive.com. “I think I can still consider that evidence of premeditation and deliberation — even though she didn’t get convicted of it — it was evidence before the court and jury.”

The Washington Post goes on:

The Michigan Court of Appeals was stunned by McBain’s sentencing.

“If a trial judge is unable to follow the law as determined by a higher appellate court, the trial judge is in the wrong line of work,” the appeals court said.

The court of appeals called McBain’s resentencing “an abuse of discretion and a willful violation.”

Source: The Washington Post