CAVANAGH, J.
This case requires us to determine whether MCR 6.302 and constitutional due process require a trial court to inform a defendant pleading guilty or no contest to first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-I) or second-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-II) that he or she will be sentenced to mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring, if required by MCL 750.520b(2)(d) or MCL 750.520c(2)(b). We answer this question in the affirmative and hold that mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring is part of the sentence itself. Therefore, at the time a defendant enters a guilty or no-contest plea, the trial court must inform the defendant if he or she will be subject to mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring. In the absence of this information about a direct and automatic consequence of a defendant's decision to enter a plea and forgo his or her right to a trial, no defendant could be said to have entered an understanding and voluntary plea. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals on this issue.
Defendant was charged with two counts of CSC-II under MCL 750.520c(1)(a), for sexual acts involving one of his stepdaughters, who was under the age of 13 at the time of the offenses. Pursuant to an evaluation under People v. Cobbs, 443 Mich. 276, 505 N.W.2d 208 (1993), the trial court agreed not to exceed a five-year minimum term of imprisonment for each charge, with the sentences to run concurrently.
On June 30, 2009, the trial court imposed concurrent sentences of 5 to 15 years on each count, in accordance with the Cobbs evaluation. In addition — and as required by MCL 750.520c(2)(b) — the court ordered that defendant be placed on lifetime electronic monitoring following his release from prison.
Defendant moved to amend the judgment of sentence or permit withdrawal of his plea, arguing in part that the failure to advise him of the mandatory penalty of lifetime electronic monitoring rendered his plea involuntary. The trial court denied the motion, and defendant sought leave to appeal. In a split opinion, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and remanded to allow defendant the opportunity to withdraw his plea. People v. Cole, unpublished opinion per curiam of the Court of Appeals, issued March 15, 2011 (Docket No. 298893), 2011 WL 895243. The majority held that mandatory lifetime monitoring was not a collateral consequence of the plea or sentence, but was part of the sentence itself. We granted the prosecution's application for leave to appeal. 490 Mich. 869, 802 N.W.2d 613 (2011).
A trial court's decision on a motion to withdraw a plea is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. People v. Lang, 381 Mich. 393, 398-399, 162 N.W.2d 143 (1968). The proper interpretation and application of a court rule is a question of law that is reviewed de novo. Haliw v. Sterling Hts., 471 Mich. 700, 704, 691 N.W.2d 753 (2005). To the extent that this case implicates constitutional issues, they are likewise reviewed de novo. People v. Armstrong, 490 Mich. 281, 289, 806 N.W.2d 676 (2011).
We also review de novo issues of statutory interpretation. Klooster v. City of Charlevoix, 488 Mich. 289, 295, 795 N.W.2d 578 (2011). Our primary task when interpreting statutes is to "give effect to the Legislature's intent, focusing first on the statute's plain language." Id. at 296, 795 N.W.2d 578. If the statutory language is unambiguous, we must conclude that the Legislature "intended the meaning clearly expressed" and "[n]o further judicial construction is required or permitted." Sun Valley Foods Co. v. Ward, 460 Mich. 230, 236, 596 N.W.2d 119 (1999).
Guilty- and no-contest-plea proceedings
The prosecution argues that a trial court's compliance with subrules (B) through (D) equates to full compliance with the "understanding, voluntary, and accurate" requirements of subrule (A). In regard to whether a trial court must inform a defendant at a plea hearing that he or she will be subject to mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring, the prosecution argues that because subrule (B)(2) only requires that the court inform the defendant of "the maximum possible prison sentence for the offense and any mandatory minimum sentence required by law," MCR 6.302(B)(2), the trial court did not err when it informed defendant at the plea hearing of only the statutory maximum term of imprisonment and the minimum term the court had previously agreed to, yet did not inform defendant that he would be subject to mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring.
While we agree that MCR 6.302(B) through (E) constitute explicit requirements imposed on a trial court conducting a plea hearing, the broader directive of MCR 6.302(A) that the plea must be "understanding, voluntary, and accurate" might, in a given proceeding, encompass more than the explicit requirements of the remainder of the court rule. Specifically, the "understanding, voluntary, and accurate" components of subrule (A) are premised on the requirements of constitutional due process, which might not be entirely satisfied by compliance with subrules (B) through (D). Therefore, regardless of the explicit wording of the subrules, a court
A no-contest or a guilty plea constitutes a waiver of several constitutional rights, including the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination, the right to a trial by jury, and the right to confront one's accusers. Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 243, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969); People v. Jaworski, 387 Mich. 21, 28-29, 194 N.W.2d 868 (1972).
Given the difficulty of determining which of the numerous consequences of a conviction are encompassed within the meaning of "direct consequences," a distinction has developed in the post-Brady caselaw between "direct" and "collateral" consequences of a plea. See, e.g., Meyer v. Branker, 506 F.3d 358, 367-368 (C.A.4, 2007) ("For a guilty plea to be constitutionally valid, a defendant must be made aware of all the direct, but not the collateral, consequences of his plea."); Steele v. Murphy, 365 F.3d 14, 17 (C.A.1, 2004). While courts have relied on different tests to distinguish direct from collateral consequences, the prevailing distinction relied on by a majority of courts "turns on whether the result represents a definite, immediate and largely automatic effect on the range of the defendant's punishment." Cuthrell v. Patuxent Institution Director, 475 F.2d 1364, 1366 (C.A.4, 1973); see also Roberts, The mythical divide between collateral and direct consequences of criminal convictions: Involuntary commitment of "sexually violent predators", 93 Minn. L.R 670, 689-693 (2008) (discussing the three main tests and listing relevant cases).
"The most obvious `direct consequence' of a conviction is the penalty to be imposed. It is, therefore, well-recognized that the defendant must be apprised of the
While there is considerable debate about the exact placement of the dividing line between the collateral and direct consequences of a plea, see Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 1473, 1481 n. 8, 176 L.Ed.2d 284 (2010), we need not explore this oft-nuanced distinction because we agree with the Court of Appeals that mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring is part of the sentence itself. Because lifetime electronic monitoring is part of the sentence itself, it is a direct consequence of a guilty or no-contest plea to a charge of CSC-I — or CSC-II involving a victim under age 13 and a defendant 17 or older — when the defendant is sentenced to prison.
Our conclusion that mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring is part of the sentence itself rests on the plain text of the relevant statutes. First, we note that our Legislature chose to include the mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring requirement in the penalty sections of the CSC-I and CSC-II statutes, and that both statutes can be found in the Michigan Penal Code, which describes criminal offenses and prescribes penalties.
Second, both electronic-monitoring provisions provide that "the court shall sentence the defendant to lifetime electronic monitoring...." MCL 750.520b(2)(d) and MCL 750.520c(2)(b) (emphasis added). The use of the directive "shall sentence" indicates that the Legislature intended to make lifetime electronic monitoring part of the sentence itself. Third, the CSC-II statute provides that the sentence of lifetime electronic monitoring is "[i]n addition to the penalty specified in subdivision (a)," MCL 750.520c(2)(b), and the CSC-I statute provides similarly that lifetime electronic
Finally, our conclusion that the Legislature intended to make lifetime electronic monitoring a punishment and part of the sentence itself is reinforced by MCL 750.520n(1), which likewise includes the language "shall be sentenced," and MCL 791.285(1) and (2), which use the language "individuals ... who are sentenced ... to lifetime electronic monitoring" and "[a]n individual who is sentenced to lifetime electronic monitoring...."
Accordingly, a plain reading of the relevant statutory text compels our conclusion that the Legislature intended mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring to be an additional punishment and part of the sentence itself when required by the CSC-I or CSC-II statutes. Thus, under Smith's framework, our analysis ends. Smith, 538 U.S. at 92, 123 S.Ct. 1140 ("If the intention of the legislature was to impose punishment, that ends the inquiry."). When a defendant pleads guilty or no-contest and is sentenced to prison for a charge of CSC-I or CSC-II, and the controlling statute mandates lifetime electronic monitoring, the sentence of mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring constitutes a result of the plea that has "a definite, immediate and largely automatic effect on the range of the defendant's punishment." Cuthrell, 475 F.2d at 1366.
We hold, therefore, that mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring is a direct consequence of a plea. Accordingly, when the governing criminal statute mandates that a trial court sentence a defendant to lifetime electronic monitoring, due process requires the trial court to inform the defendant entering the plea that he or she will be subject to mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring. And because MCR 6.302 is premised on constitutional due-process requirements, a defendant who will be subject to mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring must be so advised by the trial court at the time of the plea hearing in order to satisfy the court rule's requirement that the plea be understanding and voluntary.
To hold otherwise would not only offend due process, but would be inconsonant with the practical rationale underlying the requirement that a plea be knowing and voluntary. When a defendant agrees to plead guilty, he or she is making a bargain, giving up trial rights in exchange for some perceived benefit. In order for a defendant to accurately assess the benefits of the bargain being considered, the defendant must be aware of the immediate consequences that will flow directly from his or her decision. Without information about a consequence of a sentence deemed by our Legislature to be punishment, which here entails having to wear a device and be electronically tracked "from the time the individual is released on parole or from prison until the time of the individual's death," MCL 791.285(1)(a), it cannot be said that a defendant was aware of the critical information necessary to assess the bargain being considered.
We hold that mandatory lifetime electronic monitoring for convictions of CSC-I and CSC-II is part of the sentence itself and is therefore a direct consequence of a
YOUNG, C.J., and MARILYN KELLY, MARKMAN, HATHAWAY, MARY BETH KELLY, and ZAHRA, JJ., concurred with CAVANAGH, J.
Pursuant to People v. Kern, 288 Mich.App. 513, 522-523, 794 N.W.2d 362 (2010), only defendants sentenced to prison — not those sentenced to probation or jail — are subject to lifetime electronic monitoring.