Hood v. Commonwealth

448 S.W.2d 388, 1969 Ky. LEXIS 57
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976)
DecidedDecember 12, 1969
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 448 S.W.2d 388 (Hood v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hood v. Commonwealth, 448 S.W.2d 388, 1969 Ky. LEXIS 57 (Ky. 1969).

Opinion

NEIKIRK, Judge.

The appellant, William Hood, in the Warren Circuit Court on January 23, 1968, was found guilty of the offense of making and delivering a fraudulent check for over $20. He escaped from the custody of a deputy sheriff while enroute to the county jail. William had been brought to the Warren Circuit Court from the state penitentiary where he was serving a two-year sentence imposed by the Allen Circuit Court.

William was returned to jail after about twenty-four hours of apparently ill-used freedom. He was given over to police authorities by two civilians who had apprehended him on a road near a burning barn.

On January 25, 1968, the Warren County grand jury investigated the escapades of William during his absence from custody and returned the following indictments:

Commonwealth of Kentucky v. William Hood, Arson, #11995
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. William Hood, Arson, #11996
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. William Hood, Arson, #11997
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. William Hood, Escape of a Convict from Custody, #11998
Commonwealth of Kentucky v. William Hood, Storehouse Breaking, #11999

The indictments accused William of burning three barns, breaking and entering a grocery store, and escaping from custody.

On September 25, 1968, after two days of trial, William was found guilty on all of the above charges, and the jury imposed the minimum sentence permissible under the instructions on each indictment.

The trial court entered the following judgment:

“ * * * Three Years for the Crime of Escape to be served CONSECUTIVELY with the two year sentence he is now serving from the Allen Circuit Court, for One Year each of the four charges herein of Storehouse Breaking and Arson to be concurrently *390 with each other, but consecutively with the three year Escape sentence.”

William appeals. We affirm.

Complaint is made by the appellant, William Hood, that the trial court erred in failing to set aside the swearing of the jury and to declare a mistrial because of the alleged misconduct of a juror on voir dire examination. This claimed error was brought to the trial court’s attention for the first time in appellant’s motion and grounds for a new trial. Appellant failed to make a motion to set aside the swearing of the jury, or to take steps toward or to make any request for a ruling by the court, at the time of the discovered alleged misconduct. Only six jurors had been selected, and appellant could have, for good reason, been permitted to exercise a peremptory challenge at any time before the jury was sworn. RCr 9.36(3). Being aware of the alleged misleading character of the prospective juror’s answers and actions on voir dire, appellant could not, after the verdict was adverse, raise this question for the first time. RCr 9.22; Hatton v. Commonwealth, Ky., 409 S.W. 2d 818; Young v. Commonwealth, Ky., 421 S.W.2d 857.

Appellant complains that the Commonwealth’s references to his prior felony convictions were prejudicial and of such import as to prevent him from receiving a fair trial.

We have examined the evidence and conclude that the appellant did not preserve the alleged errors for review, in that he did not take timely and appropriate action to assert such errors. Senibaldi v. Commonwealth, Ky., 338 S.W.2d 915.

The appellant was asked by the Commonwealth if he had ever been convicted of a felony. He answered in the affirmative. The trial court then gave proper admonition. Relying on Cowan v. Commonwealth, Ky., 407 S.W.2d 695, the interrogation as to previous felony convictions went no further. This was proper.

Appellant relies on Manning v. Commonwealth, Ky., 328 S.W.2d 421, and Turpin v. Commonwealth, Ky., 352 S.W.2d 66, in support of his contention that it was reversible error for the Commonwealth to introduce evidence showing that he had been guilty of another crime. The appel-laqt can. get little comfort from these cases due to the fact that in them timely objections and appropriate actions to preserve the error were made and thus preserved for appellate review. In the instant case, appellant did not take proper and timely actions to assert and preserve his objections to the introduction of testimony by the Commonwealth relative to the fact that he had committed other crimes.

Appellant was apprehended and taken into custody on a public road in Warren County by irate citizens, one of whom had suffered the loss of a barn which had been burned. Appellant was questioned by them concerning the burning of barns in the immediate vicinity. The citizens then proceeded to take the appellant to Bowling Green, where he was turned over to authorities. Appellant now complains that this amounted to a citizen’s arrest and that the court erred in permitting these citizens to testify to statements made by him after he had been apprehended and placed in custody.

Appellant states that under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 10 A.L.R.3d 974, these citizens should have given him all the warnings and admonitions set forth in this landmark case. Miranda, under its protective umbrella, shields accused persons from the direct rays of heated inquisition and custodial interrogation. Defense attorneys of persons accused of crimes are using the word “Miranda” and its connotations in the trial courts, and in this court, so often that we fear the word “Miranda” will soon be used with more repetition than the article “the.” In spite of the great protection *391 afforded by Miranda, we are convinced that a citizen’s arrest is not covered by this umbrella. We held in Jaggers v. Commonwealth, Ky., 439 S.W.2d 580, that Miranda would not be applicable except in instances involving “law enforcement officers.” A most compelling reason for rejecting the proposition that Miranda applies to a citizen’s arrest lies in the fact that the ordinary citizen, not being a police officer, would not have the faintest notion concerning the matter of advising of rights. The rationale expressed in Stone v. Commonwealth, Ky., 418 S.W.2d 646, cert. denied 390 U.S. 1010, 88 S.Ct. 1259, 20 L.Ed.2d 161, relative to acts of private citizens in search and seizure matters, would, by parity of reasoning, apply to matters of statements made to private citizens.

In 16 Am.Jur.2d, Constitutional Law, Section 557, page 960, it is written:

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Bluebook (online)
448 S.W.2d 388, 1969 Ky. LEXIS 57, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hood-v-commonwealth-kyctapphigh-1969.