Parson v. Commonwealth

144 S.W.3d 775, 2004 WL 1361894
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 21, 2004
Docket2002-SC-0103-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 144 S.W.3d 775 (Parson 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
Parson v. Commonwealth, 144 S.W.3d 775, 2004 WL 1361894 (Ky. 2004).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court by

Justice COOPER.

On May 30, 2000, a motor vehicle owned and operated by Appellant, Michael Wayne Parson, crossed the center line of a highway in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and struck a vehicle owned and operated by Lisa Eberle, injuring her and damaging [778]*778her automobile. Appellant was transported to University Hospital where a test of his blood revealed an alcohol concentration of 0.288 grams per deciliter and a test of his urine revealed the presence of an unquantified amount of cocaine and cannabi-noids (marijuana).

Appellant was subsequently convicted by a Jefferson Circuit Court jury of assault in the second degree (wanton) (“assault 2nd”), a Class C- felony, KRS 508.020(l)(c) and (2); operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants (fourth offense) (“DUI 4th”), a Class D felony, KRS 189A.010(1) and (5)(d); operating a motor vehicle while license is revoked or suspended for DUI (third offense) (“OSL/DUI 3rd”), a Class D felony, KRS 189A.090(1) and (2)(c); criminal mischief in the first degree (“criminal mischief 1st”), a Class D felony, KRS 512.020; no motor vehicle liability insurance (“no insurance”), KRS 304.39-080(5), a misdemeanor, KRS 304.99-060(l)(a); and expired vehicle registration, KRS 186.170(1), a violation, KRS 186.990(1).

The jury initially sentenced Appellant to imprisonment for ten years for assault 2nd and five years each for DUI 4th, OSL/DUI 3rd, and criminal mischief 1st, and to fines of $1,000 for no insurance and $100 for expired vehicle registration. The jury recommended that the sentences for assault 2nd, DUI 4th and OSL/DUI 3rd be served consecutively and the sentence for criminal mischief 1st be served concurrently for a total of twenty years, the maximum aggregate sentence allowable under KRS 532.110(l)(c). Young v. Commonwealth, Ky., 968 S.W.2d 670, 675 (1998); Hendley v. Commonwealth, Ky., 573 S.W.2d 662, 668 (1978). However, because the jury also found Appellant to be a persistent felony offender in the first degree (“PFO 1st”), KRS 532.080(3), it recommended enhanced sentences of twenty years each for assault 2nd, DUI 4th, and OSL/DUI 3rd, and fifteen years for criminal mischief 1st. KRS 532.080(6)(b). The jury then recommended that all of the enhanced sentences be served concurrently for a total of twenty years, again the maximum aggregate sentence allowable under KRS 532.110(l)(c). Appellant appeals to this Court as a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).

I. JUROR QUALIFICATION FORMS.

Section 7 of Part II of the Administrative Procedures of the Court of Justice (“Ad.Proc.”) requires that each prospective juror fill out a juror qualification form devised by the Administrative Office of the Courts and submit it to the clerk within five days of the receipt of the juror summons. Part II, Section 7(7) further provides:

The contents of the juror qualification forms shall be made available to the trial judge and to parties or their attorneys of record unless the chief circuit judge or designee determines in any instance in the interest of justice that the information shall be kept confidential or its use limited in whole or in part.

The form is a questionnaire. In addition to identifying data, i.e., name, address, date and place of birth, marital status, and employment, the questionnaire also contains inquiries designed to determine whether the prospective juror is legally disqualified from jury service for any of the reasons set forth in Ad. Proc., Part II, § 8. Finally, it contains questions pertaining to the juror’s experience with the court system, e.g., whether the juror has ever been a party to a lawsuit or been a defendant, witness, or complainant in a criminal case. The very language of Part II, Section 7(7) clarifies that a criminal defendant does not have an absolute right to inspect the completed forms.

[779]*779Thrice, this Court has approved a local rule of the Jefferson Circuit Court that denies a criminal defendant access to the addresses of the jurors who serve on that defendant’s case. Thompkins v. Commonwealth, Ky., 54 S.W.3d 147, 151 (2001); Cornelison v. Commonwealth, Ky., 990 S.W.2d 609, 610 (1999); Samples v. Commonwealth, Ky., 983 S.W.2d 151, 152-53 (1998), overruled on other grounds by Lawson v. Commonwealth, Ky., 53 S.W.3d 534, 544 (2001). Accordingly, instead of copying the larger original forms with the addresses blacked out, the jury pool administrators create a smaller, typewritten (thus fully legible) form containing all of the data provided by the juror except the juror’s address and the juror’s answers to the questions regarding legal qualifications.

Prior to voir dire, defense counsel demanded to see the original qualification forms submitted by the jurors selected for the panel in this case, suggesting that the jury pool administrators may have inaccurately transferred information from the original form to the typewritten form. Instead, the jury pool administrators furnished the forms for all of the 248 jurors who had been impaneled for that month— except one, Juror No. 24366, whose original form apparently had been lost or misplaced. Voir dire lasted approximately two hours and Appellant does not claim that defense counsel’s voir dire was restricted in any fashion. After forty-eight minutes of deliberating over peremptory strikes, and after some prompting by the trial judge, defense counsel submitted his peremptory strike list, complaining that he had not had enough time to examine all 248 juror qualification forms. Examination of the peremptory strike sheets revealed that the prosecutor and defense counsel had both struck the same three jurors.

A jury of twelve, plus two alternate jurors, was sworn and seated and the remainder of the jurors were excused. Four witnesses then testified before court adjourned for the day. On the following morning, defense counsel demanded a mistrial claiming that he had now had a full opportunity to examine all 248 juror qualification forms and that he would have struck four different jurors than he actually struck had he not been forced to prematurely complete the exercise of his peremptory strikes. The jurors he claims he would have struck were Juror No. 24366, whose original form was missing; Juror No.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 S.W.3d 775, 2004 WL 1361894, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parson-v-commonwealth-ky-2004.