Curtis v. Kentucky Bar Ass'n

959 S.W.2d 87
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 18, 1997
DocketNo. 94-SC-1029-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 959 S.W.2d 87 (Curtis v. Kentucky Bar Ass'n) 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
Curtis v. Kentucky Bar Ass'n, 959 S.W.2d 87 (Ky. 1997).

Opinions

STEPHENS, Chief Justice.

Appellant, Hank Meredith, was indicted in the Franklin Circuit Court for capital kidnapping, capital murder and rape in the first degree. Following a fifteen (15) day trial, the first degree rape charge was dismissed due to insufficient evidence and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining charges. On retrial, the jury found appellant guilty of capital kidnapping and capital murder. Appellant received sentences of life without the possibility of parole for twenty-five years on the kidnapping charge and life imprisonment on the murder charge, to run concurrently. Appellant appeals to this Court as a matter of right.

On September 25, 1991, Danville Police Detective Downs received a missing persons report regarding Teresa Larsen, who had not been seen since the morning of September 22, 1991. In the course of investigation, Detective Downs found Larsen’s car parked at a truck stop and learned that the woman driving the car had gotten into a semi-truck with an unidentified man.

During this same time period, Larsen’s sister and several members of Larsen’s church were conducting their own investigation into the disappearance. A search of Larsen’s Danville apartment was conducted and a cigarette butt and a soda can, uúth cigarette butts in it, were collected and turned over to police the next day.

Following the receipt of this evidence and a note from Larsen’s sister stating that “a possible suspect in this case would be Hank Meredith,” Detective Downs contacted appellant. Detective Downs interviewed appellant on September 30, 1991, at which time appellant stated that he had not been in Danville and had not seen Larsen since the beginning of the month when she had moved from Richmond to Danville.

On October 2, 1991, Detective Downs returned to Larsen’s apartment and retrieved three soda cans and five cigarette butts. The following day police collected the bed sheets, hair and napkins from the trash, and hair from the drain and bathtub, and hairbrushes. Again police were told by Larsen’s family members that “there might be some connection” between Larsen’s disappearance and Meredith.

On October 10, 1991, Teresa’s body was found rolled up in a carpet on the side of U.S. 127 south of Frankfort, Kentucky. It was badly decomposed and unclothed from the waist down. A black coaxial cable was wrapped around Larsen’s throat and right wrist. Underneath the cable were several layers of duct tape. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was ligature strangulation.

Two days after Larsen’s body was found, Kentucky State Police Detective, Kenneth Ball, again interviewed appellant who claimed he had never been to Larsen’s Dan-ville apartment but had spent the night in her Richmond apartment. Detective Ball collected two cigarette butts from appellant during the interview. Duct tape and paper towels were also removed from appellant’s truck pursuant to a consent search.

On January 18, 1992, police re-interviewed appellant who again denied ever being in Larsen’s Danville apartment, denied that she was ever in his truck and denied killing her.

On January 22, 1992, the Franklin County Grand Jury indicted appellant for the capital kidnapping, capital murder, and rape of Teresa Larsen. The following day appellant was arrested at Capital Warehouse, the trucking company where he was employed. Pursuant to a search warrant, the company truck that appellant drove was searched and a CB radio and antenna were seized. "A second warrant for the search of appellant’s personal auto resulted in the seizure of additional radios, antennas, and cables.

As previously noted, the first trial ended with dismissal of the rape charge due to insufficient evidence and the jury hung as 'to the remaining charges. Appellant was retried September 12, 1994, and convicted on the murder and kidnapping charges.

Appellant makes various assignments of error in this matter of right appeal. Although we have considered all of the issues presented to this Court, to avoid unnecessarily extending this opinion, we will address only those issues that merit discussion. The testimony of the various witnesses and addi[90]*90tional facts will be further developed, as needed throughout this opinion.

For reasons to be stated, we affirm the trial court on the issue of sufficiency of evidence to sustain the kidnapping conviction. On the issues of the improper admission into evidence of the letter written by Paul Childers, the admission of the out-of-court experiment, the improper use of DNA and statistical probability concepts, and on double jeopardy principles, we reverse and remand for a new trial.

I. EVIDENCE OF KIDNAPPING

Appellant’s first assignment of error is that there was insufficient evidence to convict for kidnapping, as such, his motion for directed verdict should have been sustained. The indictment charged appellant with capital kidnapping “when he unlawfully restrained Teresa C. Larsen, and his intent was to accomplish or to advance the commission of the a [sic] felony and either kept Teresa C. Larsen in Franklin County or brought Teresa C. Larsen into Franklin County....”

Appellant was found guilty pursuant to an instruction which required the jury to believe beyond a reasonable doubt that he restrained Teresa C. Larsen without her consent with the “intention to accomplish or to advance the commission of the attempted rape of the said Teresa C. Larsen or to inflict bodily injury upon her or to terrorize her.... ”

It is appellant’s position that the court erred in denying his directed verdict motions because there was absolutely no evidence that he unlawfully restrained Larsen with the intent to rape her.

KRS 509.040 states, in part:

Kidnapping. — (1) A person is guilty of kidnapping when he unlawfully restrains another person and when his intent is:
(a) To hold him for ransom or reward; or
(b) To accomplish or to advance the commission of a felony; or
(c) To inflict bodily injury or to terrorize the victim or another; or
(d) To interfere with the performance of a governmental or political function; or
(e) To use him as a shield or hostage.

KRS 500.070 states that the Commonwealth has the burden of proving every element of the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The Commonwealth argues that there was sufficient evidence, albeit circumstantial, that appellant unlawfully restrained Larsen with the intent to commit a felony, or to inflict bodily injury, or terrorize Larsen.

The definition of restrain as defined by KRS 509.010(2) is:

[T]o restrict another person’s movements in such a manner as to cause a substantial interference with his liberty by moving him from one place to another or by confining him either in the place where the restriction commences or in a place to which he has been moved without consent.

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Bluebook (online)
959 S.W.2d 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curtis-v-kentucky-bar-assn-ky-1997.