Dale Brucker v. Commonwealth of Kentucky

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedSeptember 24, 2020
Docket2019 CA 000864
StatusUnknown

This text of Dale Brucker v. Commonwealth of Kentucky (Dale Brucker v. Commonwealth of Kentucky) 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
Dale Brucker v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, (Ky. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

RENDERED: SEPTEMBER 25, 2020; 10:00 A.M. NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals

NO. 2019-CA-0864-MR

DALE BRUCKER APPELLANT

APPEAL FROM TAYLOR CIRCUIT COURT v. HONORABLE SAMUEL TODD SPALDING, JUDGE ACTION NO. 18-CR-00257-011

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE

AND NO. 2019-CA-1403-MR

APPEAL FROM TAYLOR CIRCUIT COURT v. HONORABLE ALLAN RAY BERTRAM, JUDGE ACTION NO. 13-CR-00025-001

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE OPINION AFFIRMING

** ** ** ** **

BEFORE: CLAYTON, CHIEF JUDGE; TAYLOR AND L. THOMPSON, JUDGES.

CLAYTON, CHIEF JUDGE: Dale Brucker was involved in a disturbance at the

Taylor County Detention Center while serving an alternative sentence for

manslaughter and being a persistent felony offender. He was convicted by a jury

of inciting to riot and complicity to commit first-degree criminal mischief and his

probation in the manslaughter case was revoked. He brings these related appeals

from the Taylor Circuit Court’s final judgment and sentence in the riot case (18-

CR-00257-011), entered on May 7, 2019, and its order revoking probation in the

manslaughter case (13-CR-00025-001), entered on August 16, 2019. In the first

appeal (2019-CA-0864-MR), Brucker challenges the sufficiency of the evidence

supporting his convictions as well as rulings of the trial court relating to the

admissibility of evidence and cell phone use by jurors; in the second appeal (2019-

CA-1403-MR), he argues that the revocation of probation violated his due process

rights. Having reviewed the record and the applicable law, we affirm in both

appeals.

On January 23, 2013, Brucker was indicted on charges of murder and

being a persistent felony offender in the first degree. Pursuant to an agreement

-2- with the Commonwealth, he entered an Alford1 plea of guilty to amended charges

of manslaughter in the second degree and being a persistent felony offender in the

second degree. On July 24, 2018, the trial court imposed an alternative sentence of

twelve years, probated for five years, with the requirement that he serve seven

months and twenty-one days in jail prior to being released on probation. He was

remanded into custody immediately following the sentencing hearing and was

incarcerated at the Taylor County Detention Center. A written judgment reflecting

the sentence imposed by the trial court was entered on August 31, 2018.

On July 31, 2018, seven days after the entry of his guilty plea,

Brucker was involved in a riot at the detention center. He was convicted by a jury

of inciting a riot, complicity to commit first-degree criminal mischief (wanton),

and being a persistent felony offender in the second degree. A final judgment and

sentence was entered on May 7, 2019. He received a sentence of five years to be

run consecutively with the earlier sentence in the manslaughter case.

The Commonwealth had previously moved to revoke Brucker’s

probation in the manslaughter case on the grounds he had been charged with a new

felony offense in the riot case. Brucker argued he did not have adequate notice

1 A plea pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S. Ct. 160, 27 L. Ed.2d 162 (1970), “permits a conviction without requiring an admission of guilt and while permitting a protestation of innocence.” Wilfong v. Commonwealth, 175 S.W.3d 84, 103 (Ky. App. 2004). “The entry of a guilty plea under the Alford doctrine carries the same consequences as a standard plea of guilty.” Id. at 102 (internal quotation marks omitted).

-3- that the commission of a new felony would be a violation of the conditions of his

probation and the new charge could not serve as the basis for a revocation of

probation. Following a hearing, the trial court entered an order on August 16, 2019,

revoking probation in the manslaughter case, citing Brucker’s conviction for the

offenses connected with the prison riot as the grounds.

Brucker brings these appeals from the final judgment entered

following his jury trial and from the order revoking his probation. Additional facts

will be set forth below as necessary.

2019-CA-0864-MR

At the time Brucker was sent to the Taylor County Detention Center

to serve his alternative sentence in the manslaughter case, the center had recently

implemented new safety measures intended to reduce assaults and drug trafficking

among the inmates. These measures included leaving the lights on permanently in

the cells, rather than switching them off at night, and applying tint to the cell

windows, which allowed the guards to see into the cells but prevented the inmates

from looking out.

The detention center is laid out with aisles branching from a central

command post where the guards monitor the surveillance cameras in the cells.

Brucker was housed in a cell which had beds for 28 inmates but on the day of the

riot housed 35 inmates. According to the testimony of Derek Taylor, one of

-4- Brucker’s cellmates, the lights being left on 24 hours per day interfered with the

inmates’ ability to monitor the passage of time and keep to a routine. On the night

before the riot, a guard came through the cell at around 10:00 p.m. and switched

off the lights at the request of the inmates. The next evening, however, the lights

were not switched off. Taylor said the inmates could not sleep and were feeling

rowdy in the overcrowded cell. Brucker used his blanket to make a curtain around

his bunk, but the cell remained noisy because the lights were on. Brucker woke up

at about 12:30 a.m. and asked why the lights were still on. He became agitated and

upset because he could not sleep.

Captain Adam Burress testified that the surveillance video of the cell

showed the inmates were either sleeping or socializing peacefully in the time

leading up to the riot. The video showed Brucker get out of bed at 12:30 a.m. and

rouse the others by pacing and ranting. Brucker used a broom and his shirt to flag

the surveillance camera to get the attention of the guard in the control room to turn

off the lights. He shouted and cursed at the guards to turn off the lights. The guard

responded over the loudspeaker but could not be heard over the noise in the cell.

According to Deputy Matthew Freer, who was in the control room, Brucker was

the main person deputies were communicating with when the riot started. Deputy

Ashley Dobson testified that she was in the control room and saw Brucker wave

the broom at the camera and demand that the lights be turned off. She heard

-5- Brucker say: “If the lights don’t go off, there’s going to be hell to pay.” Deputy

Tyler Harrod testified that only after Brucker waved the broom at the camera a

second time did the other inmates become irate and aggressive. Sergeant James

Gaddis testified that he watched Brucker pacing the cell and getting all the other

inmates “stirred up.”

Brucker joined a group of inmates trying to cover the surveillance

cameras using wet toilet paper. According to Brucker, he thought the other

inmates were trying to get the officers to respond as no one had come to the cell

when they used the broom. The wet toilet paper fell off the camera at first, but the

men eventually succeeded in covering the camera. The inmates, including

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Related

North Carolina v. Alford
400 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Pell v. Procunier
417 U.S. 817 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Turner v. Safley
482 U.S. 78 (Supreme Court, 1987)
United States v. James David Ross
503 F.2d 940 (Fifth Circuit, 1974)
United States v. John Andrew Dane
570 F.2d 840 (Ninth Circuit, 1978)
State v. McGinnis
243 N.W.2d 583 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1976)
Wilfong v. Commonwealth
175 S.W.3d 84 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2004)
Fairrow v. Commonwealth
175 S.W.3d 601 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2005)
Commonwealth v. Benham
816 S.W.2d 186 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1991)
Newkirk v. Commonwealth
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Commonwealth v. English
993 S.W.2d 941 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1999)
Bray v. Commonwealth
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Graves v. Commonwealth
285 S.W.3d 734 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2009)
People v. Campos
198 Cal. App. 3d 917 (California Court of Appeal, 1988)
Brown v. Commonwealth
564 S.W.2d 21 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1977)
Tiitsman v. Commonwealth
509 S.W.2d 275 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1974)
Elery v. Commonwealth
368 S.W.3d 78 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2012)
Wilson v. Commonwealth
381 S.W.3d 180 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2012)
Chames v. Commonwealth
405 S.W.3d 519 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2012)
R.S. v. Commonwealth
423 S.W.3d 178 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2014)

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