Caudill v. Commonwealth

374 S.W.3d 301, 2012 WL 3632002, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 116
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 23, 2012
DocketNo. 2011-SC-000119-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 374 S.W.3d 301 (Caudill v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caudill v. Commonwealth, 374 S.W.3d 301, 2012 WL 3632002, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 116 (Ky. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

This is a matter of right appeal in a case wherein Appellant was convicted of one count of murder and three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree, pursuant to a guilty verdict. Per the jury recommendation, the trial court sentenced the Appellant to twenty years for murder and five years for each of the three counts [303]*303of wanton endangerment, to run consecutively for a maximum term of imprisonment of 35 years.1 This matter of right appeal followed.

Appellant’s primary arguments are that: (1) there was insufficient proof to support a charge of murder because the Commonwealth failed to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Appellant was not privileged to act in self-defense; and (2) that certain conduct of the Commonwealth Attorney during his cross-examination of Appellant amounted to reversible prosecu-torial misconduct. For the reasons set forth herein, we agree that improper conduct during the Commonwealth Attorney’s cross-examination of the Appellant constituted reversible prosecutorial misconduct. Therefore, we vacate the convictions for murder and wanton endangerment and remand the case for further proceedings.

This ease involves a 12-second shoot-out between two neighbors that occurred on August 21, 2009. The Appellant and Randall Carpenter (Carpenter) were neighbors in Breathitt County, Kentucky. Across the street from where Appellant and Carpenter lived, respectively, were the homes of Shirley Hudson and Willena White. The two men harbored animosity toward one another over a longstanding property dispute. As a result, Appellant had installed numerous security cameras throughout his property and frequently kept a tape recorder on his person. On August 21, 2009, the Appellant and Carpenter had two verbal altercations over the location of a cedar log. A third, and final, verbal exchange lead to each man firing a weapon at the other. Appellant was shot twice by Carpenter with a 9mm handgun and he sustained serious injuries to his hip and right upper arm. Carpenter sustained a single, fatal, bullet wound to the head from the Appellant’s rifle. Carpenter died at the scene and Appellant was transported by ambulance for emergency medical care. Appellant was charged with the murder of Carpenter.

Carpenter’s son, Brandon, testified that his father moved to Breathitt County after he retired in 2005 or 2006. He was aware of an ongoing property dispute between his father and the Appellant.

Shirley testified that she had known Carpenter, a first cousin to her late husband, ever since she married. Her family had participated in lawsuits filed by the Appellant for over 10 years regarding the location of property lines and she had been prepared to testify during those proceedings. On the day of the fatal shooting, she first saw the Appellant when he and Carpenter were engaged in a verbal altercation. At the time, Carpenter was on his tractor and the Appellant had a rifle which was cradled across his arms. Appellant was speaking in a muffled voice but she heard Carpenter laughing when he said, “Well you got the gun, are you going to shoot me?” After Carpenter drove away and parked his tractor on her property, the Appellant walked over, carrying his rifle, and got into another argument with Carpenter. The Appellant appeared to be trying to hide the gun from the view of his security cameras. She did not hear Carpenter threaten the Appellant or produce any weapon during these arguments; however, she believed Appellant was threatening Carpenter based on his demeanor and the fact that he had a gun.

Shirley testified that the final encounter occurred later, when the Appellant backed his car down the driveway and started doing something in the ditch. At that time, Carpenter walked over to see what the Appellant was doing. The two men [304]*304exchanged words. When Carpenter got to the edge of the other side of the road, Appellant eased over to the trunk of his car, got a gun out, and started shooting. She did not see Carpenter with a gun at any time.2 She saw Carpenter jumping trying to dodge bullets as he ran over and lay down in the ditch line. After the shootout, the Appellant got into his car and drove back up to his trailer. At that point, Appellant sat on his front porch with the rifle still in his hand. Shirley was afraid to go back outside her home because she thought Appellant would start shooting again. On cross-examination, she reiterated that she never saw Carpenter with a gun. She could not explain her prior statement to the police that Carpenter did have a gun, rather she testified at trial that she did not know Carpenter had a gun and that it was the Appellant who started shooting.

Michael Todd Hudson, Shirley’s son, testified that he was related to Carpenter as a second cousin. He was visiting his mother and helping her clean and maintain her property on the day of the fatal shooting. He did not see any of the prior two altercations between Appellant and Carpenter that day. He had been inside his mother’s house cooling off when he heard Carpenter, his mother, and Willena talking outside. He went outside to join them, but then went into the garage to work on a weed eater. He heard the two men arguing and walked back out to see what was going on. At that time, Carpenter was in front of Willena’s house and Appellant was standing at the back side of his car, near the trunk. He did not see a weapon in the Appellant’s hand. He then went back into the garage. He acknowledged that he did not “see” the first shot, but that he “heard” it, and was standing halfway through his mother’s garage when he heard it. At that point, he immediately ran out to his mother and Willena, grabbed them, and ran into the garage. He did not see any shots being fired, but he saw Carpenter “highstepping” across the driveway as he was pushing his mother and Willena into the garage. He could feel the ricochet of dirt hitting his back while he was running into the house. His mother called “911” and he took over for her on the phone because she was too distraught to talk to emergency personnel. He did not recall what he told them on the phone. When he went back outside, he saw Carpenter in the ditch. The Appellant was getting into his car and going up the hill to his home. He saw Appellant crawl up the stairs into his home and go inside.3 He had never seen Carpenter drink a beer, smoke marijuana, or have a gun.4

Willena testified that she was a first cousin of Carpenter and also a cousin of the Appellant, but that she was uncertain as to what degree. The morning of the fatal shooting, she had coffee with Carpenter when he came to check on her. After-wards, he began mowing grass by the creek on the side of Shirley’s house using a tractor. She saw the Appellant and Carpenter engaged in verbal confrontations on [305]*305two different occasions prior to the fatal shooting. The first time she saw Appellant that day, the Appellant and Carpenter were yelling and cussing at each other while Carpenter was checking the grass seed on his property. Willena was with Shirley when they heard arguing. She saw the Appellant with a rifle behind his leg “so the camera couldn’t pick it up.”5 She saw that Carpenter had a handgun either in his pocket or in a holster. The confrontation lasted five or ten minutes, after which time Carpenter got onto his tractor and the Appellant walked down the hill. She said that she did not hear the Appellant threaten to kill Carpenter.

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Related

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Commonwealth v. Caudill
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
374 S.W.3d 301, 2012 WL 3632002, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caudill-v-commonwealth-ky-2012.