Brown v. Commonwealth

326 S.W.3d 469, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 197, 2010 WL 4137422
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedOctober 22, 2010
Docket2009-CA-001272-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 326 S.W.3d 469 (Brown v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Commonwealth, 326 S.W.3d 469, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 197, 2010 WL 4137422 (Ky. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

KELLER, Judge:

In April 2006, Bobby Gene Brown (Brown) pled guilty to several counts of theft by deception and to being a persistent felony offender in the first degree. In August 2006, the trial court sentenced Brown to a total of eleven years’ imprisonment on those charges. In January 2009, the Commonwealth filed a motion asking the court to amend its sentence and to order Brown to pay restitution to his victims. Over Brown’s objection, the trial court granted the Commonwealth’s motion. It is from this order that Brown now appeals. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse and vacate.

FACTS

On June 20, 2005, August 8, 2005, and March 21, 2006, Jefferson County grand juries indicted Brown on nineteen counts of theft by deception of more than $300.00, one count of theft by deception of less than $300.00, and one count of being a persistent felony offender in the first degree (PFO I). The thefts occurred when Brown billed various customers a total of $58,692.00 for construction work that he did not perform.

On April 20, 2006, Brown entered a plea of guilty. In exchange for that plea, the Commonwealth offered a sentence of eleven years’ imprisonment or probation that, if violated, would result in a sentence of thirty-five years’ imprisonment. The agreement also provided that Brown would make restitution and, to the extent he did so, any probationary sentence would be reduced. Brown testified that he understood the agreement, entered into it freely, and that he wanted to make restitution. Brown then asked the court to delay imposing a sentence until August 2006 so that he could earn money to start making restitution.

*471 On April 24, 2006, the court entered three judgments on guilty plea, one for each of Brown’s indictments. We note that the judgments on guilty plea that are associated with case numbers 06-CR-000946 and 05-CR-002478 are essentially the same. The judgment on guilty plea in case number 05-CR-001911 is worded somewhat differently. However, in all three judgments, the court noted the terms of the plea agreement, including the amount of restitution owed. Pursuant to Brown’s request, the court set the sentencing hearing for August 10, 2006.

At the sentencing hearing, Brown stated that he had just obtained employment and had not been able to pay any restitution. He reiterated his intent to do so and asked the court to probate his sentence. The court noted Brown’s prior convictions and that Brown had previously violated probation/parole, and it sentenced him to eleven years’ imprisonment. ' The court’s judgment of conviction and sentence did not contain any reference to restitution.

In 2009, Brown was paroled. Brown’s parole officer noted that the judgment of conviction and sentence did not contain any restitution order. He contacted the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office and asked it to move the court for an amended judgment of conviction and sentence so that restitution could be made a condition of Brown’s parole.

The Commonwealth filed the requested motion. After a hearing and over Brown’s objection, the court amended the judgment of conviction and sentence. In doing so, the court noted that it had some concern that it had lost jurisdiction because the Commonwealth had not sought a restitution order within ninety days of sentencing. Nonetheless, the court, relying on Kentucky Rule of Criminal Procedure (RCr) 10.10, amended the judgment of conviction and sentence and added the following language: “Defendant is ordered to make restitution to any victims identified either in the AOC 491.1 forms, victim impact statements, or restitution applications filed of record herein.” Because the court believed the Parole Board had the authority to determine the exact amounts owed and the appropriate payees, the court did not specify what amount Brown owed or to whom. Therefore, the court “transferred” the Commonwealth’s motion “to the Parole Board for determination of the details of how much restitution is to be paid, to whom, and on what schedule, pursuant to KRS 439.563(2).”

It is from this order that Brown appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Whether the trial court acted outside its jurisdiction in amending the judgment of conviction and sentence is a question of law, which we review de novo. Carroll v. Meredith, 59 S.W.3d 484, 489 (Ky.App.2001).

ANALYSIS

Brown argues that, because the judgment of conviction and sentence had been final for three years, the trial court did not have jurisdiction to amend it. The Commonwealth argues that, under RCr 10.10, the trial court had jurisdiction.

RCr 10.10 provides that:

Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the court at any time on its own initiative or on the motion of any party and after such notice, if any, as the court orders.

As noted by the parties, whether RCr 10.10 applies depends on whether the trial court’s failure to mention restitution in its initial judgment of conviction and sentence *472 was a clerical mistake that arose from oversight or omission.

Both parties cite Cardwell v. Commonwealth, 12 S.W.3d 672 (Ky.2000), as supportive of their positions. Cardwell pled guilty to two charges of operating a motor vehicle under a revoked or suspended license and received a total sentence of five years’ imprisonment on the two convictions. He then stood trial for murder, was found guilty of manslaughter and assault, and received a total sentence of ten years. In open court, with Cardwell present, the trial court ordered the five-year and the ten-year sentences to run consecutively for a total of fifteen years’ imprisonment. However, when the trial court reduced its sentence to writing, it did not specify that the two sentences should run consecutively. Approximately eight months later, the trial court entered an amended judgment stating that the sentences were to run consecutively.

A divided Supreme Court of Kentucky held that the trial court legitimately corrected a clerical error. In doing so, the majority stated that there is a distinction between clerical errors, which are correctable under RCr 10.10, and judicial errors, which are not.

[T]he distinction turns on whether the error “was the deliberate result of judicial reasoning and determination, regardless of whether it was made by the clerk, by counsel, or by the judge.” Buchanan v. West Kentucky Coal Company, Ky., 218 Ky. 259, 291 S.W. 32, 35 (1927). “A clerical error involves an error or mistake made by a clerk or other judicial or ministerial officer in writing or keeping records.... ” 46 Am.Jur.2d, Judgments § 167.

Id. at 674.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
326 S.W.3d 469, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 197, 2010 WL 4137422, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-commonwealth-kyctapp-2010.