Monroe v. Commonwealth

244 S.W.3d 69, 2008 Ky. LEXIS 10, 2008 WL 199727
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 24, 2008
Docket2005-SC-000312-MR, 2005-SC-000745-TG
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 244 S.W.3d 69 (Monroe 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
Monroe v. Commonwealth, 244 S.W.3d 69, 2008 Ky. LEXIS 10, 2008 WL 199727 (Ky. 2008).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court by

Justice NOBLE.

This case is on appeal from the Jefferson Circuit Court where Appellant, Vicki Monroe and her son, Leslie Emerson, were convicted of robbery and the murder of Monroe’s husband. Emerson was also convicted of tampering with physical evidence. Appellant raises ten claims of error: (1) that the trial court allowed impermissible hearsay; (2) that she was denied her right to confrontation when the trial court allowed the introduction of Emerson’s taped statements; (3) that she was denied her right to confrontation when the [72]*72trial court allowed the introduction of phone records of Appellant and Emerson; (4) that she was denied her right to confrontation when the trial court refused to redact hearsay statements made by officers in her taped statements before they were played in open court; (5) that Appellant’s motion to suppress her statements was improperly overruled; (6) that the jury selection process in Jefferson County failed to comply with proper administrative procedures; (7) that the trial court improperly refused to instruct the jury on facilitation; (8) that the trial court erred by allowing the Commonwealth to call a witness without prior notice to Appellant; (9) that she was denied due process by the refusal of the trial judge to recuse from the case; and (10) that the trial court improperly admitted evidence of prior bad acts.

Finding error in the admission of impermissible hearsay, this court reverses the verdict of the trial court. Issues 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10 have not been addressed as they are unlikely to reoccur on retrial or are without merit. All other issues are addressed accordingly.

I. Background

Appellant’s convictions arose from charges brought against her for murder and complicity to commit robbery in the first degree of her husband, Gerald Monroe. Her son, Emerson, was convicted of murder, robbery, and tampering with evidence. Appellant now appeals to this Court as a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).

Appellant and husband, Gerald Monroe, owned and operated a tavern. On June 1, 2002, Appellant discovered Monroe’s body in the tavern. Testimony indicated that prior to Mr. Monroe’s murder, Appellant often confided in Emerson about how unhappy she was and how badly her husband treated her.

According to the record, about a year before the murder when Appellant was complaining about her husband, Emerson told her there were things that could be done to get rid of him. She asked how much it would cost and Emerson told her $5,000. She claimed that she did give Emerson $2,000 about that time, but believed he planned on using the money for bills. Emerson did in fact spend the money on bills.

This topic was not mentioned again until months later when Appellant had another argument with her husband, and commented to Emerson that she thought she wasn’t going to have to go through this anymore. About two months prior to the murder, she claims she gave Emerson another $1,000 to catch up on his bills, but nothing was mentioned about killing Gerald Monroe. Emerson told others that Appellant had pressured him to find someone to kill Mr. Monroe, and admitted that he used the money Appellant gave him to pay bills. However, because he could not pay her back, he felt he had to “take care of this for her.”

Prior to trial, Appellant filed a motion to suppress statements she had given to police, arguing that the burden was on the Commonwealth to prove the statements were voluntary. A hearing was held on this motion. The trial court found no grounds for suppression of the statements. After a mistrial, Appellant refiled the motion to suppress and it was again denied.

Appellant also filed a motion for the judge to recuse. The first motion was made in response to comments the judge allegedly made to jurors after the mistrial of Appellant’s first trial and for allegedly encouraging the defendant to accept a plea offer. It was denied on the record with the judge noting that he did talk to jurors [73]*73after trials if they have questions about the proceedings, but that he never expressed an opinion on how they should rule. In the case of a mistrial, he thanked them for their work and told them that it is okay not to have reached a verdict. The motion to recuse was denied because the judge did not see any bias in his statements to the jurors or for encouraging resolution of the proceedings. Appellant filed a second motion for recusal which was also denied.

Prior to trial, Appellant also moved to prohibit the use of hearsay statements made by Emerson to Jeffrey Rawlings, Justin Crews and Amanda Decker. The court, at the time of the hearing, had heard the evidence in the case twice and noted by a preponderance of the evidence that there was a conspiracy. The Commonwealth then went through each statement it sought to introduce and argued that each statement was made in furtherance of the conspiracy. The trial court found that the statements were non-testimonial and that there was corroboration. The court noted that while there must be a finding that the statements be in furtherance of a conspiracy, the case law has liberally defined that requirement and thus the proffered statements were admissible. Appellant also made motions to preclude the Commonwealth from introducing phone records of Appellant and Emerson and to preclude hearsay from being admitted during the playing of her taped statements. These motions were denied.

Prior to Appellant’s trial, she moved to discharge the jury panel because the procedure employed in the jury selection process in Jefferson Circuit Court purportedly did not comply with the Administrative Procedures for the Court of Justice, Part II, Section 6(2). A hearing was held and the trial court determined that the selection process was in substantial compliance with applicable law and denied the motion to discharge the jury.

During the presentation of evidence, the jury heard from Jeffrey Rawlings, Justin Crews, and Amanda Decker who testified about the statements made to them by Emerson. Emerson invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and did not testify at Appellant’s trial.

The jury was instructed on the charges in accordance with the evidence. The court denied Appellant’s request for an instruction on the lesser offense of facilitation. Appellant was found guilty of complicity to commit murder and was sentenced to life.

II. Analysis

A. Motion to Suppress Statements

At midnight on June 12, 2002, two members of the Jefferson Co. Police Department arrived at Appellant’s home and asked if she would come to headquarters with them. She agreed, and was interviewed for a few hours, in several small sessions. She was told that her son was being questioned simultaneously. She was not read her rights at this time. Subsequent to the last taped session, Appellant was confronted with her son’s accusations and made some incriminating statements. Appellant was then arrested and read her Miranda rights. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Appellant filed a motion to suppress the statements she made to police based on the fact she was not read her rights until the end of questioning.

The police are required to advise a person of her Miranda rights “only where there has been such a restriction on a person’s freedom as to render him ‘in custody.’”

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Monroe v. Commonwealth
244 S.W.3d 69 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
244 S.W.3d 69, 2008 Ky. LEXIS 10, 2008 WL 199727, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monroe-v-commonwealth-ky-2008.