Wilson v. Commonwealth

381 S.W.3d 180, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 64, 2012 WL 1889718
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 2012
DocketNo. 2010-SC-000573-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 381 S.W.3d 180 (Wilson 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
Wilson v. Commonwealth, 381 S.W.3d 180, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 64, 2012 WL 1889718 (Ky. 2012).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court by

Chief Justice MINTON.

Gregory Wilson received the death sentence in 1988. In 2010, he moved the trial court to prohibit execution of the death sentence because of his mental retardation (mental retardation motion) and to compel deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing of hairs and semen found in the victim’s automobile and used by the prosecution in his 1988 trial (DNA motion). The trial court denied both motions in a single order without holding an evidentiary hearing on either of these motions. Wilson now appeals the trial court’s order as a matter of right,1 raising statutory and constitutional concerns.

Upon review, we hold that

1) the trial court erred in denying Wilson’s mental retardation motion without an evidentiary hearing,
2) Kentucky’s procedures for establishing whether capital offenders are mentally retarded do not violate Wilson’s due process rights,
3) the trial court properly denied Wilson’s motion for DNA testing of the hairs,
4) Wilson is not entitled to an evidentia-ry hearing to determine if the hairs are in existence or were destroyed after a preservation order,
5) the trial court erred by failing to rule on Wilson’s request for DNA testing of the semen, and
6)Wilson is not entitled to DNA testing under the federal or state constitutions.

Accordingly, we

1) affirm the trial court’s ruling on Wilson’s motion denying DNA testing of the hairs,
2) vacate the trial court’s order to the extent that it failed to rule on whether Wilson is entitled to DNA testing of the semen and remand this issue to the trial court for a ruling, and
3) vacate the trial court’s ruling on the mental retardation motion and remand this issue to the trial court to conduct an evidentiary hearing on whether Wilson is exempt from execution because he is a mentally retarded offender.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY.

A circuit court jury convicted Wilson based upon his participation in the 1987 murder, kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree robbery, and criminal conspiracy to commit robbery of Deborah Pooley. The trial court sentenced Wilson to death on the murder and kidnapping convictions and to consecutive prison terms of twenty, twenty, and ten years’ imprisonment, respectively, for the first-degree rape, first-degree robbery, and criminal conspiracy to commit robbery convictions.

On direct appeal, this Court affirmed all of Wilson’s convictions and sentences except for the kidnapping sentence, which this Court vacated and remanded for re-sentencing.2 On remand, the trial court sentenced Wilson to the maximum sen[183]*183tence for kidnapping as a Class A felony, life imprisonment. On the second direct appeal, this Court reversed and remanded the kidnapping sentence for resentencing by a jury unless the trial court imposed the minimum allowable sentence. Again, on remand, the trial court sentenced Wilson to twenty years’ imprisonment.

In 1998, this Court affirmed the trial court’s denial of Wilson’s post-conviction motion to vacate his convictions under Kentucky Rules of Criminal Procedure (RCr) 11.42.3 After exhausting his state remedies, Wilson filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. The federal district court denied Wilson’s petition, and a panel of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed.4

In April 2010, Wilson filed his mental retardation motion and DNA motion. While those motions were pending in the trial court, the Governor signed a warrant in August 2010 for Wilson’s execution to take place in September 2010. And Wilson immediately moved the trial court for a stay of execution. The trial court denied Wilson’s motions and refused to stay his execution. Wilson filed the instant appeal. During the pendency of this appeal, the September 2010 execution warrant expired.

II. ANALYSIS.

A. Mental Retardation Motion.

Wilson moved to set aside the death sentence, citing Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 582.130-140 and the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. KRS 582.140 prohibits the execution of seriously mentally retarded offenders. A seriously mentally retarded offender is defined as having “significant subaverage intellectual functioning existing concurrently with substantial deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period.”5 And significantly subaver-age general intellectual functioning means “an [I.Q.] of [70] or below.”6 Executing mentally retarded offenders is cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.7

Wilson argues (1) he is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his mental retardation motion; (2) Kentucky’s procedures for determining the mental retardation of capital offenders violate his due process rights; and (3) that in lieu of an evidentia-ry hearing, he is entitled to a new penalty phase trial. In response, the Commonwealth contends (1) Wilson waived his mental retardation claim, (2) the statutes KRS 532.130-140 do not apply post-conviction, and (3) Wilson did not carry his burden to require an evidentiary hearing.

We hold that Wilson did not waive his claim and that the statutes KRS 532.130-140 do apply post-conviction to capital offenders tried before the statutes’ effective date of July 13, 1990. So Wilson is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his mental retardation motion because he produced some evidence that he is mentally retarded. We remand the case to the trial court for that purpose. And, in light of that remand, Wilson’s request for alterna[184]*184tive relief in the form of a new penalty phase trial is rendered moot. We also find that Kentucky’s procedures for determining whether a capital offender is mentally retarded do not violate Wilson’s due process rights.

1. Wilson did not Waive his Mental Retardation Claim.

We reject the Commonwealth’s contention that Wilson cannot raise his mental retardation claim because of delay, waiver, or the doctrine of laches.8 Essentially, the Commonwealth asserts that Wilson unreasonably delayed bringing this claim and, therefore, should be barred from presenting it.

Kentucky enacted KRS 532.180-140 in 1990, after Wilson’s 1988 conviction. And KRS 532.140(3) specifically states that the statutory scheme does not apply to trials commenced before July 13, 1990.9

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dustin Allen Anderson v. Kristen Nicole Anderson
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2026
Mona Rhea Basham v. Broderick Nelson Basham
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2025
Nickalus T. Holt v. Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2024
Carl Lee Adkins v. Commonwealth of Kentucky
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2024
Hope White v. Commonwealth of Kentucky
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2022
Deirdre Johnson v. King George Apartments, LLC
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2022
Kevin Nigel Stanford v. Commonwealth of Kentucky
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2021
Mark Joseph Smith v. Heritage Hill Golf Club
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2021
Eugene Collins v. Commonwealth of Kentucky
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2021
Kimberly Johnson v. Stockton B. Wood
Kentucky Supreme Court, 2021
Dale Brucker v. Commonwealth of Kentucky
Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2020
Southern Financial Life Insurance Co. v. Combs
413 S.W.3d 921 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2013)
Turner v. Andrew
413 S.W.3d 272 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2013)
Bowling v. Commonwealth
377 S.W.3d 529 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2012)
Temple v. State
342 S.W.3d 572 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
381 S.W.3d 180, 2012 Ky. LEXIS 64, 2012 WL 1889718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-commonwealth-ky-2012.