Summary
The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed Scottie Roberts’s convictions for manufacturing methamphetamine and related offenses, rejecting his claims that the trial court should have instructed the jury on criminal facilitation and unlawful possession of a methamphetamine precursor. The court held that criminal facilitation was not a lesser included offense and that the unpreserved instruction issue did not warrant palpable-error relief. The court vacated $1,500 in fines imposed for misdemeanor convictions because Roberts was indigent and remanded for entry of a corrected judgment.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether criminal facilitation is a lesser included offense of manufacturing methamphetamine such that the defendant was entitled to a facilitation instruction.
- Whether the trial court committed palpable error by failing sua sponte to instruct on unlawful possession of a methamphetamine precursor as a lesser included offense of manufacturing methamphetamine when the defendant did not request the instruction.
- Whether the trial court could impose misdemeanor fines on a defendant determined to be indigent under Kentucky law.
Holdings
- Criminal facilitation is not a lesser included offense of manufacturing methamphetamine because it requires proof of additional and different facts, including that another person committed or intended to commit the object offense and that the defendant knowingly provided the means or opportunity. Roberts therefore was not entitled to a criminal-facilitation instruction.
- Roberts was not entitled to relief because he did not request an instruction on unlawful possession of a methamphetamine precursor. The failure to instruct on an unrequested lesser included offense is not error, palpable or otherwise, under the applicable preservation rule.
- The trial court clearly erred by imposing $1,500 in misdemeanor fines on Roberts, an indigent defendant. KRS 534.040(4) prohibits fines authorized by that section from being imposed on a person determined to be indigent under KRS Chapter 31.
Key quotations
“Thus, criminal facilitation requires proof not of the same or less than all the facts required to prove the charged offense[] ..., but proof of additional and completely different facts.” (609)
“It is not an error, however, palpable or otherwise, for the trial court not to instruct on a lesser included offense that has not been requested.” (610)
“Fines required by this section shall not be imposed upon any person determined by the court to be indigent pursuant to KRS Chapter 31.” (611)
Factual background
Police arrived at Roberts's home in the early morning, where he and four other people had been using drugs. Roberts admitted that items found in the home were used in manufacturing methamphetamine, but no occupant admitted participating in the manufacturing process. Police found ephedrine, tobacco cans containing salt, and other items consistent with a recent methamphetamine cook in and around the house.
Procedural history
A Leslie Circuit Court jury convicted Roberts on all charged offenses and recommended a total sentence of twenty-two years' imprisonment and $1,500 in fines. The trial court adopted the verdict and sentence. The Supreme Court of Kentucky affirmed the convictions and imprisonment but vacated the fines and remanded for entry of a corrected judgment.
Remand instructions
Vacate the portion of the trial court's judgment imposing fines for Roberts's misdemeanor convictions and remand for entry of a new judgment consistent with the opinion. The convictions and imprisonment sentence are affirmed.