## Facts

- Ronnie C. Waters and four companions went to a drive-in theater; earlier that evening, Waters borrowed a handgun and carried it in his waistband.
- At the theater, Joseph and Deborah Porcelli were seated in their parked car when five youths approached and surrounded the vehicle area.
- A youth asked Joseph Porcelli for a light; Joseph declined, stating he could not help.
- As the group began to move away, Waters stayed behind, expressed anger about the refusal, drew the handgun, and aimed using both hands.
- Waters fired a first shot that shattered the driver’s-side window and caused Joseph to fall onto Deborah.
- Several seconds later, Waters fired a second shot that struck Deborah in the head, killing her.
- At the preliminary examination, the magistrate declined to bind over on first-degree murder for lack of shown premeditation and deliberation, but bound over on second-degree murder (as part of open murder), assault with intent to murder, and two felony-firearm counts.
- The circuit court reversed the magistrate and ordered bindover on first-degree murder; after a bench trial, Waters was convicted of first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, and two felony-firearm counts.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence at the preliminary examination established probable cause of premeditation and deliberation sufficient to require bindover on first-degree murder.
2. Whether the trial evidence was sufficient for a rational factfinder to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Waters acted with premeditation and deliberation, supporting first-degree murder.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the circuit court’s order requiring bindover on first-degree murder.
- The court held the magistrate abused discretion by refusing bindover where the record supported a reasonable belief that the killing was premeditated and deliberate.
- The court affirmed the first-degree murder conviction, concluding the evidence permitted a finding beyond a reasonable doubt of premeditation and deliberation.
- The court affirmed the remaining convictions and sentences (assault with intent to murder and two felony-firearm counts).

## Legal Principles

- First-degree murder requires a willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing.
- Premeditation and deliberation may be proven by circumstantial evidence, including conduct before and after the killing and the sequence of events.
- No specific minimum time is required for premeditation; it is enough that the defendant had sufficient time to reflect and “take a second look.”
- At preliminary examination, bindover is required if there is probable cause to believe the defendant committed the charged offense; refusal is an abuse of discretion if the evidence would allow a person of ordinary prudence to conscientiously entertain a reasonable belief of guilt.
- On appellate review of sufficiency at trial, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether a rational trier of fact could find the elements proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

## Conclusion

The court upheld bindover and conviction for first-degree murder, ruling that Waters’s possession of a gun, his reaction to the encounter, deliberate aiming, and the several-second pause between the first and fatal shots supported inferences of premeditation and deliberation, and that both the probable-cause and beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standards were satisfied.


People v. Waters, 118 Mich. App. 176, 324 N.W.2d 564 (Mich. Ct. App. 1982)