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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v RANDY TROY VLIET, SR., Defendant-Appellant.

UNPUBLISHED January 12, 2001

No. 226759 Saginaw Circuit Court LC No. 96-012893-FH

Before: Markey, P.J., and Whitbeck and J. L. Martlew*, JJ. PER CURIAM. Defendant Randy Vliet claims an appeal from the sentence of forty to sixty months in prison imposed on his plea-based convictions of attempted first-degree child abuse1 and resisting and obstructing a police officer.2 We affirm. We decide this appeal without oral argument pursuant to MCR 7.214(E). I. Basic Facts And Procedural History Vliet was charged in 1996 in connection with an incident that occurred in 1992 in which he videotaped young children, including his six-year-old son, engaging in a physical altercation. The videotape depicted a confrontation that lasted for at least ten minutes and was punctuated by pleas from Vliet's young son that they be allowed to stop fighting. Vliet and another adult male, Vito Wise, could be heard on the videotape encouraging the children to fight and, in fact, Vliet could be heard ordering his son to fight. After viewing the videotape, the trial court rejected a proposed plea agreement, which included a sentencing agreement, and set the matter for trial. Wise pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree child abuse and agreed to testify at Vliet's trial. Because Vliet failed to appear for trial, he was on absconder status for approximately two years. After being apprehended, Vliet made an unsuccessful motion to disqualify the trial court on the ground that the court had determined from viewing the videotape that he was guilty.
1 2

MCL 750.136b(2); MSA 28.331(2)(2); MCL 750.92; MSA 28.287(2). MCL 750.479; MSA 28.747.

* Circuit judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment. -1-

Subsequently, Vliet pleaded nolo contendere to the charges noted above in return for dismissal of other charges, including absconding. The trial court sentenced Vliet to concurrent terms of forty to sixty months for his attempted first-degree child abuse conviction and sixteen to twenty-four months for the resisting and obstructing conviction, with credit for 301 days already served. II. The Child Abuse Sentence A. Standard Of Review Vliet argues that he is entitled to resentencing because the minimum term of forty months for the conviction of attempted child abuse in the first degree is disproportionate to his circumstances and to those surrounding the offense.3 We review the sentence imposed for an abuse of discretion.4 B. Consulting The Guidelines Vliet first attempts to demonstrate that the trial court abused its discretion by showing that, had he been charged with assault with intent to murder, his minimum sentence under the judicial sentencing guidelines would be only zero to twelve months in prison, far lower than the sentence the trial court imposed in this case. Even assuming that that zero-to-twelve-month estimate is accurate, this Court has previously rejected the claim that a sentencing court should consult the guidelines for a similar crime when imposing sentence for a crime that is not included in the guidelines.5 Vliet also points that his minimum sentence for attempted first-degree child abuse under the new legislative sentencing guidelines would be only seven to twenty-three months. However, again assuming that his estimate is correct, the legislative sentencing guidelines apply prospectively6 and, therefore, do not apply to his crime, which was committed before the new guidelines went into effect. Furthermore, as we have noted above, the evidence showed that Vliet required his sixyear-old son to engage in a physical confrontation with another child. He would not allow his son to withdraw from the fight even after the child began to cry and indicated that he was injured. Rather than end the incident, Vliet berated his son for his behavior. This was callous and cruel conduct. On the basis of these facts

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