Commonwealth v. Cocke

58 S.W.3d 891, 2001 Ky. App. LEXIS 1166, 2001 WL 1471738
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 19, 2001
DocketNo. 1999-CA-002135-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 58 S.W.3d 891 (Commonwealth v. Cocke) 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
Commonwealth v. Cocke, 58 S.W.3d 891, 2001 Ky. App. LEXIS 1166, 2001 WL 1471738 (Ky. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

GUDGEL, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from an opinion and order entered by the Jefferson Circuit Court dismissing several counts of an indictment and declaring KRS 434.845(l)(c), the statute under which appellee Douglas R. Cocke was charged, to be void for vagueness. On appeal, the Commonwealth contends that the court erred by finding that the statute at issue is unconstitutional. We are constrained to disagree. Hence, we affirm.

Appellee was employed by Universal Uniforms, Inc. in 1991 as a computer programmer. He had access to all of the company’s computers, both at work and at home. Several times after appellee notified his employer that he had decided to terminate his employment, Universal’s computer system was accessed and data, software and computer programs were altered, damaged and destroyed. Specifically, it was alleged that after his employment terminated and he had no authority to do so, appellee used the modem on his home computer to access Universal’s computer system, and then to delete certain data from the system, stop an accounting program in progress, and change a password. Shortly after these events occurred, a search warrant was issued for appellee’s residence and police seized ap-pellee’s personal computer as well as certain documents, programs, and disks.

On October 15, 1998, a five-count indictment was returned against appellee. Three counts of the indictment charged that in January 1998 appellee committed the felony offense of first-degree unlawful access to a computer by knowingly and willfully accessing Universal’s computer, as well as related data, programs and systems, for the purpose of altering, damaging or destroying them. KRS 484.845(l)(c). Subsequently, appellee made a motion to dismiss these counts on the ground that KRS 434.845(l)(c) is unconstitutional as being void for vagueness. The trial court granted appellee’s motion, reasoning as follows:

The allegations are basically that Defendant used the modem on his home computer to access Universal’s computer system on the three occasions in question, resulting in certain data being deleted, an accounting program in progress being stopped and a password being changed. As said alleged conduct falls under the prohibition in subsection (l)(c) of KRS 434.845, the vagueness analysis will focus on the language of this subsection.
Defendant maintains that KRS 434.845(l)(c) has too broad a sweep in that a prosecutor could indict any person for most normal activities that are conducted on a computer. Defendant argues that this is so because the statute lacks the essential requirement that the crime be committed without authorization. Defendant gives the example that any time information is added or deleted from a computer, the person has accessed the computer with the intent to alter its data or one of its programs, and thus could be charged with violating [893]*893KRS 434.845(l)(c). Defendant further argues that the statute’s’lack of guidelines as to its application makes possible criminal prosecutions by employers as retribution against an employee.
The Commonwealth argues that while KRS 434.850 (Unlawful Access to a Computer in the Second Degree) contains the language that the access or attempt must be “without authorization,” the legislature intended to leave said language out of KRS 434.845, so it would apply across the board to all persons regardless of whether or not they are authorized users. Defendant, however, is not questioning whether the access to the computer must be “without authorization.” His argument as to “without authorization” relates to the conduct in subsection (l)(c), i.e., altering, damaging, destroying or attempting same.
If an employee with proper access to a work computer accesses it for the purpose of altering a computer program, which for example occurs when an updated version of a program is installed, or for the purpose of destroying data stored in the computer, which occurs for example when an e-mail message is deleted, has KRS 434.845(l)(c) been violated? The conduct of altering, damaging, destroying or attempting same listed in subsection (l)(c) must be considered “unauthorized” or without permission of the owner before it can reasonably [be] said that a violation of the subsection has occurred. The indictment or bill of particulars does not allege that defendant’s conduct under subsection (l)(c) was unauthorized by Universal.
As stated in Commonwealth v. Foley, Ky., 798 S.W.2d 947 (1990):
“We reject the argument that a criminal statute facially unconstitutional can be ‘authoritatively construed’ by the courts to render it constitutional, if this is taken to mean the court can introduce an additional concept not present in the statute as written by the Legislature.” Musselman v. Commonwealth, Ky., 705 S.W.2d 476, 478 (1986).
While our decisions require construction in favor of constitutionality (citations omitted), an oft-quoted admonition from Hatchett v. City of Glasgow, Ky., 340 S.W.2d 248 (1960), remains a guiding principle:
“But where a statute on its face is intelligible, the courts are not at liberty to supply words or insert something or make additions which amount, as sometimes stated, to providing a casus omissus, or cure an omission, however just or desirable it might be to supply an omitted provision.” Id. at 251.
The court finds that the language in KRS 434.845(l)(c), without any differentiation between authorized and unauthorized altering, etc., does not provide explicit standards for the people who must apply the statute (i.e., police officers, prosecuting attorneys, juries and judges), see Foley, 798 S.W.2d at 951, nor does it provide sufficient notice or warning about what conduct is prohibited. An ordinary person could not determine with reasonably [sic] certainty whether his or her contemplated conduct would amount to a violation of subsection (l)(c) of the statute. “Unquestionably, criminal statutes must be sufficiently specific that an individual has fair notice of what conduct is forbidden.” Kash, 967 S.W.2d at 43. Consequently, the Court holds KRS

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 S.W.3d 891, 2001 Ky. App. LEXIS 1166, 2001 WL 1471738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-cocke-kyctapp-2001.