Summary
The Kentucky Supreme Court held that the jury instructions for first-degree fleeing or evading police were erroneous because they did not require the jury to determine whether the defendant and the victim were members of an unmarried couple as defined by statute. The court reversed the convictions and sentences for fleeing or evading and first-degree persistent felony offender status and remanded for further proceedings. It affirmed the convictions for fourth-degree assault and possession of marijuana but vacated the fines imposed because the defendant had been found indigent.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the jury instructions for first-degree fleeing or evading police properly stated the statutory domestic-violence and unmarried-couple elements.
- Whether the trial court erred by imposing criminal fines after finding Wright indigent.
- Whether the trial court erred in denying Wright's motion for a directed verdict.
- Whether Wright's convictions and sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
- Whether the Commonwealth violated discovery rules or due process by failing to disclose a material witness.
- Whether the trial court erred by denying Wright's motion for a continuance.
Holdings
- The trial court erred by instructing the jury that it could find the domestic-violence element based on Wright and Covington having shared living quarters, without requiring the jury to determine whether they were members of an unmarried couple as defined by statute. Because the instruction omitted a statutory element and the error was prejudicial, Wright's first-degree fleeing-or-evading and first-degree PFO convictions and sentences were reversed and remanded for retrial.
- The trial court erred by imposing $600 in criminal fines after determining that Wright was indigent under KRS Chapter 31. The fines imposed for fourth-degree assault and possession of marijuana were vacated, while the convictions and other portions of the sentences were affirmed.
- The trial court properly denied the motion for a directed verdict because, viewing the evidence and reasonable inferences in favor of the Commonwealth, it would not have been clearly unreasonable for a jury to find Wright guilty.
Key quotations
“Having reviewed the instructions, we hold that the trial court erred when it did not conform its instructions to the applicable statutory provisions.” (747)
“Absent a finding that the participants in an alleged domestic altercation were an unmarried couple, mere roommates could be charged with having domestically abused one another.” (748)
“Because the jury was not properly instructed as to the domestic violence element (in that the trial court failed to include a definition of an “unmarried couple”) we find the trial court’s error to be prejudicial.” (749)
“Because the trial court found Appellant to be indigent under KRS Chapter 31, it erred when it included fines in its sentencing order.” (751)
Factual background
Wright and Lawanna Covington had dated and allegedly lived together. After an argument escalated into a physical altercation, Covington and another witness called 911, and Covington identified Wright to Officer Brady Buemi as her assailant. Buemi ordered Wright to stop, but Wright continued into an apartment building and exited through the back; he was later found hiding nearby with Covington's cell phone and a bag of marijuana.
Procedural history
A Campbell County grand jury indicted Wright on the charged offenses. A jury found him guilty and recommended a total sentence of twenty years' imprisonment and $600 in fines, which the trial court adopted. The Supreme Court of Kentucky reversed the fleeing-or-evading and first-degree PFO convictions and sentences, vacated the fines imposed for fourth-degree assault and possession of marijuana, and otherwise affirmed the remaining convictions and sentences.
Remand instructions
The Campbell Circuit Court must conduct further proceedings, including retrial of the first-degree fleeing-or-evading and first-degree PFO charges, using instructions that conform to the statutory language and require the jury to determine whether Wright and Covington were members of an unmarried couple. The fines imposed for fourth-degree assault and possession of marijuana are vacated; those convictions and the remaining portions of those sentences are affirmed.