Johnson v. Commonwealth

292 S.W.3d 889, 2009 Ky. LEXIS 209, 2009 WL 2706964
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 27, 2009
DocketNo. 2007-SC-000952-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 292 S.W.3d 889 (Johnson v. Commonwealth) 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
Johnson v. Commonwealth, 292 S.W.3d 889, 2009 Ky. LEXIS 209, 2009 WL 2706964 (Ky. 2009).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

Justice SCOTT.

On August 1, 2007, Appellant, Charles Lamar Johnson, was found guilty by a Jefferson Circuit Court jury of five (5) counts of rape in the first degree, two (2) counts of incest, (2) two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, rape in the second degree, rape in the third degree, criminal attempt to commit rape in the first degree, and sodomy in the first degree. For these crimes, Appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment. Appellant now appeals his conviction as a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).

I. Background

At trial, five (5) young females alleged that Appellant had various degrees of sexual contact with them on numerous occasions over the course of a decade. Two (2) of the females were Appellant’s daughters, A.J. and C.J. and two (2) of them were friends of Appellant’s daughters, F.G. and K.H. The fifth, C.R., was a frequent baby[892]*892sitter in Appellant’s house. The relevant testimony at trial was as follows.

Both A.J. and C.J. testified at trial. A.J. testified that Appellant engaged in sexual intercourse with her on several occasions, sodomized her on one occasion, and touched her in a sexual manner more than twenty-five (25) times when she was between the ages of eight (8) and twelve (12).1 C.J testified that Appellant engaged in sexual intercourse with her on at least seven specific occasions when she was between the ages of eleven (11) and fifteen (15).

F.G., K.H., and C.R. testified as well. F.G. testified that she spent the weekend at Appellant’s house in late October 2004, when she was eleven (11) years old, and she stated that Appellant engaged in sexual intercourse with her on each of the two nights she stayed in his home. A.J. witnessed one of the acts of sexual intercourse and corroborated F.G.’s testimony. K.H. frequently spent the night at Appellant’s house on weekends, and testified as to two sexual encounters she had with Appellant when she was eleven (11) years old.2 C.R. testified that she babysat in Appellant’s home when she was eight (8) or nine (9) years old, and recalled several sexual acts between her and Appellant during this time (including oral sex,, sexual intercourse, sodomy, and fondling).

At trial, the parties stipulated that Appellant suffered problems with sleepwalking. Accordingly, Appellant’s primary argument in closing was that he did not possess the mental state required for commission of the crimes. At the conclusion of trial, the jury found Appellant not guilty of rape in the second degree as to A.J., but did find him guilty of: rape in the first degree, incest, and sexual abuse in the first degree as to A.J.; rape in the first degree, rape in the second degree, rape in the third degree, and incest as to C.J; two counts of rape in the first degree as to F.G.; rape in the first degree and criminal attempt to commit rape in the first degree as to K.H.; and rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree, and sexual abuse in the first degree as to C.R. For these crimes, the Jefferson County Circuit Court jury sentenced Appellant to imprisonment for life.

On appeal, Appellant raises five principal allegations of error: (1) that the trial court deviated from the jury selection process in such a way that systematically excluded African Americans from the veni-re from which his petit jury was selected; (2) that African Americans were systematically excluded from sitting on the grand jury that indicted him; (3) that he was convicted of multiple crimes constituting a single course of conduct; (4) that the Commonwealth improperly elicited testimony known to be perjurious and failed to correct such testimony once introduced; and (5) that the Commonwealth failed to prove his age as an essential element of the charges of rape in the second degree and third degree. Finding no cause for reversal, we affirm Appellant’s convictions.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Appellant Does Not Establish A Pri-ma Facie Violation Of The Fair Cross-Section Requirement Or A Prima Facie Case For Purposeful Discrimination Because He Failed To Supplement The Record With Evidence Supporting His Claim.

Appellant argues that his conviction should be reversed because the trial court [893]*893deviated from the jury selection process set forth by KRS 29A.0603 and RCr 9.30,4 resulting in a venire that did not satisfy the fair cross-section requirement as ex[894]*894pressed in Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S.Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975), thereby violating his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. Appellant also argues that his Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection of the law were violated through purposeful discrimination in the jury selection process pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 93, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). We decline to reverse Appellant’s convictions for reasons that Appellant fails to establish either a violation of the fair cross-section requirement or a case for purposeful discrimination.

1. Fair Cross-Section Requirement

Here, Appellant first claims that the process from which the venire was selected was flawed in such a way that systematically excluded African Americans. Indeed, the panel from which a petit jury is selected must be drawn from a representative cross-section of the community in order to satisfy the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee to a fair and impartial jury. Taylor, 419 U.S. at 528-530, 95 S.Ct. 692 (citing Smith v. Texas, 311 U.S. 128, 61 S.Ct. 164, 85 L.Ed. 84 (1940)). However, the burden is upon the Appellant to establish a prima facie violation of the fair cross-section requirement. Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357, 99 S.Ct. 664, 58 L.Ed.2d 579 (1979).

Prior to the venire panel’s appearance on the first day of trial, Appellant requested that the trial court permit testimony from a clerk in the Jefferson Circuit Court regarding the selection of the jury pool. Appellant then introduced statistical information compiled by the Administrative Office of the Courts concerning jury selection procedures in Jefferson County. In response, the Commonwealth argued that the law does not guai'antee that any individual petit jury will reflect the exact racial composition of the community. Ultimately, the trial court disallowed testimony by the clerk absent a showing that the process was flawed in a manner that systematically excluded minority groups. The trial court, however, stated the subpoenaed records would be sealed in the record or made available for purposes of appellate review.

Nevertheless, on appeal, it is apparent that Appellant has failed to supplement the record with this statistical information (or, for that matter, any other evidence that tends to establish a prima facie violation of the fair cross-section requirement). “It is incumbent upon Appellant to present the Court with a complete record for review.” Chestnut v. Commonwealth, 250 S.W.3d 288, 303 (Ky.2008);

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
292 S.W.3d 889, 2009 Ky. LEXIS 209, 2009 WL 2706964, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-commonwealth-ky-2009.