Sluss v. Commonwealth

450 S.W.3d 279, 2014 Ky. LEXIS 621, 2014 WL 7261016
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 18, 2014
Docket2011-SC-000318-MR; 2013-SC-000258-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 450 S.W.3d 279 (Sluss 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
Sluss v. Commonwealth, 450 S.W.3d 279, 2014 Ky. LEXIS 621, 2014 WL 7261016 (Ky. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

JUSTICE CUNNINGHAM

A tragedy all too familiar to our Kentucky communities occurred on June 24, 2010, in Martin County. On that day, eleven year old Destiny Brewer, a passenger in a SUV, was killed by a vehicle driven by the Appellant, Ross Brandon Sluss. Two other occupants of the SUV, driver Blanche Robinson, and passenger Sage Brewer, received physical injuries in the collision. The Appellant was driving in the wrong lane, and failed a sobriety test at the scene. The initial blood screen showed the presence of marijuana and a number of prescription medications. A urine sample also confirmed this result.

Appellant was indicted and convicted of murder, assault in the first degree, two counts of assault in the fourth degree, driving under the influence of intoxicants, [282]*282and tampering with physical evidence. He received a sentence of life in prison.

We reverse, because the trial court did not strike juror Deena Booth for cause.

The Court reviews the trial court’s decision not to strike Juror Booth for cause, under an abuse of discretion standard. Adkins v. Commonwealth, 96 S.W.3d 779 (Ky.2003); Shane v. Commonwealth, 243 S.W.3d 336, 338 (Ky.2007). This standard cannot be applied in a vacuum nor based only upon the words of the juror. When viewed in the entire context of this particular case and in compliance with the Criminal Rule and our case law, the trial court erred by not discharging the juror in question.

Kentucky Criminal Rule (“RCr”) 9.36 states clearly that “when there is reasonable ground to believe that a prospective juror cannot render a fair and impartial verdict on the evidence, that juror shall be excused as not qualified.” We must also adhere to the long standing principle “that objective bias renders a juror legally partial, despite his claim of impartiality.” Montgomery v. Commonwealth, 819 S.W.2d 713, 718 (Ky.1991) (emphasis added). Also, the trial court in this case abused its discretion by disregarding the “probability of bias or prejudice that is determinative in ruling on a challenge for cause.” Id. (citing Pennington v. Commonwealth, 316 S.W.2d 221, 224 (Ky.1958)). (Emphasis added).

In our landmark case Shane, Justice Noble reaffirmed this Court’s commitment to jury selection which is free of bias or prejudice. 243 S.W.3d 336.

“The court must weigh the probability of bias or prejudice based on the entirety of the juror’s responses and demeanor. There is no ‘magical question’ that can rehabilitate a juror as impartiality is not a technical question but a state of mind.” (Id. at 338)

This case was plagued with jury selection problems from the beginning.

A motion for a change of venue was filed by Appellant’s counsel, pursuant to Kentucky Revised Statute (“KRS”) 452.220, along with affidavits by two Martin County citizens attesting that Appellant could not get a fair trial in that county. There were no counter affidavits by the Commonwealth. The matter was passed by the trial court to see if an unblemished jury could be attained. Appellant argues that because his motion for a change of venue met the requirements for a petition under KRS 452.220 and was unopposed by the Commonwealth by either affidavit or witness, his motion should have been summarily granted. As the basis of his argument, he cites Whitler v. Commonwealth, 810 S.W.2d 505 (Ky.1991). The issue of technical compliance is not determinative of reversal. In Stoker v. Commonwealth, 828 S.W.2d 619 (Ky.1992), this Court noted that Whitler “holds, overruling prior authority to the contrary, that the trial court had not abused its discretion in overruling a motion for change of venue, even though the Commonwealth had failed to file counter affidavits or produce witnesses to oppose the motion.” Id. at 623-24. Having disposed of the technicality argument, the analysis then falls into KRS 452.210, and whether “it appears that the defendant or the state cannot have a fair trial in the county where the prosecution is pending.” Therefore, we cannot say thaC'refusal to change the venue on lack of affidavits in and of itself would be an abuse of discretion. We note the statute itself, KRS 452.220, does not require counter affidavits. However, the lack of countervailing proof by the Commonwealth on the motion should always raise the trial judge’s antenna for troubling waters ahead in obtaining [283]*283a fair and impartial jury in that venue. It apparently did in this case as the trial court acknowledged some difficulty might be encountered in choosing a jury.

It became a ponderous and strained process.

Fifty jurors were excused for cause. There is an “implied bias” established in our case law where a vast number of jurors are struck for cause and a majority of those remaining have had wide exposure to the case. Jacobs v. Commonwealth, 870 S.W.2d 412 (Ky.1994) overruled on other grounds in St. Clair v. Commonwealth, No. 2011-SC-000774-MR, 450 S.W.3d 279, 2014 WL 4113014 (Aug. 21, 2014). Here, even those jurors remaining were not wholly unaffected by the tragedy.

This is not. our first look at the jury selection process in this case.

The first appeal involved a novel issue of law in Kentucky relating to possible interaction between jurors and persons closely affiliated with a criminal case over social-media sites such as Facebook. Sluss. v. Commonwealth, 381 S.W.3d 215 (Ky.2012). Ultimately, this Court held that it did not have sufficient information relating to the nature and scope of the social-media interaction between two jurors and the murder victim’s mother to determine its prejudicial effect. Accordingly, the case was remanded to the trial court to conduct a hearing on the matter and to determine whether Sluss was entitled to a new trial. The Court held the remaining issues in abeyance pending the outcome of the trial court’s hearing on remand.

On remand, the trial court conducted two hearings and concluded that the jurors should not have been struck for cause and that Sluss was not entitled to a new trial. That matter is now back before us. However, since we are reversing on a different ground, we deal with it summarily later on in this opinion. Suffice it to say here that one of those jurors did have a Facebook relation with the victim’s mother after the trial. While that removes the influence at trial, it is graphic evidence of how the collective feelings and opinions of this community have reached out to the suffering of the victim’s family.

Furthermore, there was the juror Anthony Preece.

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450 S.W.3d 279, 2014 Ky. LEXIS 621, 2014 WL 7261016, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sluss-v-commonwealth-ky-2014.