Cody Bates v. Commonwealth of Kentucky

CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedApril 30, 2020
Docket2019-SC-0121
StatusUnpublished

This text of Cody Bates v. Commonwealth of Kentucky (Cody Bates v. Commonwealth of Kentucky) 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
Cody Bates v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, (Ky. 2020).

Opinion

IMPORTANT NOTICE NOT TO BE PUBLISHED OPINION

THIS OPINION IS DESIGNATED “NOT TO BE PUBLISHED.” PURSUANT TO THE RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE PROMULGATED BY THE SUPREME COURT, CR 76.28(4)(C), THIS OPINION IS NOT TO BE PUBLISHED AND SHALL NOT BE CITED OR USED AS BINDING PRECEDENT IN ANY OTHER CASE IN ANY COURT OF THIS STATE; HOWEVER, UNPUBLISHED KENTUCKY APPELLATE DECISIONS, RENDERED AFTER JANUARY 1, 2003, MAY BE CITED FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COURT IF THERE IS NO PUBLISHED OPINION THAT WOULD ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THE ISSUE BEFORE THE COURT. OPINIONS CITED FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COURT SHALL BE SET OUT AS AN UNPUBLISHED DECISION IN THE FILED DOCUMENT AND A COPY OF THE ENTIRE DECISION SHALL BE TENDERED ALONG WITH THE DOCUMENT TO THE COURT AND ALL PARTIES TO THE ACTION. RENDERED: APRIL 30, 2020 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

Supreme Court of Kentucky 2019-SC-000121-MR

CODY BATES APPELLANT/CROSS-APPELLEE

ON APPEAL FROM JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT V. HONORABLE ANNIE O’CONNELL, JUDGE NO. 17-CR-001730

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT

AND

2019-SC-000141-MR

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLANT/CROSS-APPELLEE

ON APPEAL FROM JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT V. HONORABLE ANNIE O’CONNELL, JUDGE NO. 17-CR-001730

CODY BATES APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT

MEMORANDUM OPINION OF THE COURT

AFFIRMING

A Jefferson County Grand jury indicted Appellant, Cody Bates, of one

count of murder for the death of three-month-old Prestyn Amato. A Jefferson

Circuit Court jury convicted him of wanton murder and recommended a

sentence of thirty-five years’ imprisonment. Bates was sentenced in

1 accordance with the jury’s recommendation, and now appeals to this Court as

a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).

Bates asserts the trial court erred in admitting four of Prestyn’s autopsy

photographs. The Commonwealth, in a cross-appeal, asserts the trial court

erred by excluding portions of Bates’s statements to a co-worker and excluded

portions of his confession. The Commonwealth sought review of these issues

only if Bates’s conviction was overturned and the case remanded for a new

trial. Bates argues the Commonwealth could not file such a cross-appeal. We

need not address either the issues the Commonwealth raises or the propriety of

the cross-appeal, however, as we affirm the trial court and dismiss the

Commonwealth’s cross-appeal as moot.

I. BACKGROUND

Cody Bates and Audryeonna Amato were involved in an on-and-off

relationship for four years. In February 2017, during one of the “off” periods,

Amato gave birth to Prestyn, a healthy baby boy. About a week after Prestyn’s

birth, Bates and Amato resumed their relationship, with Bates eventually

moving into Amato’s apartment with her and Prestyn. Paternity was never

established; however, Bates assumed the role of Prestyn’s father. Amato and

Bates shared parental duties including getting up with the baby for feedings

and diaper changes.

Bates and Amato both worked night shift during the week at their

respective jobs and Amato’s stepmother, Rita Amato, cared for Prestyn while

the couple worked. On a typical workday, Amato would drop Prestyn off at

2 Rita’s home on her way to work and then Bates would pick Prestyn back up in

the early morning hours on his way back home.

On June 9, 2017, Bates picked Prestyn up from Rita’s and he and the

baby were back at the family apartment before 6:00 a.m. when Amato returned

home from work. After arriving home, Amato checked on Prestyn a couple of

times before she and Bates went to bed. According to Amato, Prestyn was

sleeping soundly and breathing normally when she checked on him. At some

point after Amato and Bates went to sleep, Prestyn stirred and Bates got up

and took the baby into the living room to change his diaper and feed him.

Before 8:00 a.m., Bates woke Amato telling her Prestyn had rolled off the couch

and would not wake up. When Amato went to the couch where Prestyn was

lying, the baby appeared to be asleep, but was breathing irregularly.

Bates called 911 and reported Prestyn had fallen and hit his head. When

EMS arrived and performed CPR on the baby, they called for Advanced Life

Support because Prestyn’s heart had begun slowing. Prestyn had gone into

cardiac arrest before being transported to the Norton’s Children’s Hospital

emergency room. Medical personnel continued performing CPR while en route

to the hospital; however, when Prestyn arrived at the emergency room, he had

no pulse and was not breathing. At the hospital, doctors were unable to get a

pulse and declared Prestyn deceased before 9:00 a.m.

Pursuant to a request from the Jefferson County Coroner’s office, Norton

Hospital completed X-rays and a CT scan of Prestyn. The tests revealed a skull

fracture, three sub-scalp injuries, and a subdural hemorrhage with

accompanying brain bleed. Later, Prestyn’s autopsy revealed optic nerve

3 sheath damage not visible in the CT scan. These closed-head injuries were not

externally visible.

The morning Prestyn died, Bates told Amato, the 911 dispatcher, and

EMS personnel that Prestyn rolled off the couch and hit his head. After

Prestyn died, Louisville Metro Police Detective Timothy O’Daniel interviewed

Bates. Bates initially gave Detective O’Daniel the same account. In the

recorded interview (conducted just hours after Prestyn’s death), Bates began

his account of the occurrences the morning in question by telling Detective

O’Daniel that Prestyn had fallen off the couch and possibly hit his head on a

wooden table as he fell. When Detective O’Daniel told Bates that a fall of that

nature would not have caused Prestyn’s skull fracture, Bates changed his

story. In the new explanation of the baby’s injuries, Bates told Detective

O’Daniel he accidentally dropped Prestyn to the floor, tried to pick him up, and

then Bates fell. When he fell, Bates said he threw Prestyn three to four feet

toward the couch. Prestyn missed the couch, fell to the floor, and hit his head.

At trial, Bates denied throwing Prestyn toward the couch. Bates said

when he got up with Prestyn, he tried to comfort him by walking and holding

him. Bates claimed that while walking, his left leg gave out underneath him

and caused him to fall. According to Bates’s new version of events, he landed

on top of Prestyn when he fell. Bates said that when he tried to put Prestyn on

the couch after the fall, he dropped him and Prestyn hit his head on the floor.

At trial, Amato described Prestyn as a healthy three-month-old with only

minor visible injuries including a “ding” on his forehead and a slight cut on his

nose from his own fingernails. Dr. Katherine Nichols, the Norton Hospital

4 emergency room physician who treated Prestyn when he was brought in, noted

in her report and testified at trial that she saw mild scabbing at the base of

Prestyn’s nose, a slight bruise to his forehead, and a chin abrasion. According

to Dr. Jeffrey Springer, the medical examiner who performed Prestyn’s autopsy,

the externally-visible injuries described by Amato and Dr. Nichols did not

cause Prestyn’s death. Dr. Springer testified that the externally-visible injuries

were related to Prestyn’s medical treatment with exception of a slight, healing

bruise on his forehead.

The Commonwealth sought to introduce two photos to show the minor

injuries described by Amato and Dr. Nichols.

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