Case Title: Keller v. Com.

Citation: 594 S.W.2d 589

Docket Number: 

State: kentucky

Court: Kentucky Supreme Court

Date: 1980-02-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
594 S.W.2d 589 (1980) Honorable James E. KELLER, Judge, Fayette Circuit Court, Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Appellee. Supreme Court of Kentucky. February 12, 1980. Hon. James E. Keller, Judge, pro se. Robert F. Stephens, Atty. Gen., Elizabeth E. Blackford, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frankfort, for appellee. STERNBERG, Justice. This is an appeal from an order of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky prohibiting the appellant from refusing to assume jurisdiction over certain misdemeanor offenses which had originally been pending in the District Court of Fayette County, Kentucky, and thereafter joined in an indictment for felony offenses. William Bradburn was charged in the district court with four felonies and two misdemeanors. Joyce Bradburn was charged in the district court with two felonies and one misdemeanor. All charges were for offenses which were alleged to have grown out of trafficking in controlled substances. The Bradburns each made appearances in the district court on February 23, April 16, May 4 and June 1, 1976. At the June appearances they were held to the action of the Grand Jury of Fayette County, Kentucky. The grand jury returned Indictment No. 78CR279 charging both William and Joyce with the commission of the same offenses, felonies and misdemeanors for which they had appeared in the district court. On August 2, 1978, the appellant refused to take jurisdiction of the misdemeanor charges and entered an order returning the misdemeanor charges to the district court for trial and disposition. However, on August 24, 1978, an order was entered by appellant staying the August 2nd order pending this appeal. The Commonwealth took steps to bring this action before the Court of Appeals, where the petition for a writ prohibiting appellant from refusing to take jurisdiction was granted. The appellant now proceeds with this appeal as a matter of right. Kentucky Constitution, Section 115. The issue presented is whether the misdemeanor offenses must[1] be tried in the district court or whether, after an indictment *590 had been returned incorporating both the misdemeanor offenses with related felony offenses, the misdemeanor offenses may[2] be tried in the circuit court along with the felony offenses. Several statutes and several criminal practice rules need to be considered in an effort to avoid any inconsistency or repugnancy and to come to a logical conclusion. Kentucky Constitution, Section 112(5): KRS 24 A. 110 was enacted at the 1976 Extraordinary Session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Subsections (1)(a) and (b) appear as Section 10 of Chapter 28. Subsections (2), (3) and (4) appear as Section 2 of Chapter 22. Section 1 of Chapter 22 appears as KRS 24 A. 020. The jurisdiction of the district court and the jurisdiction of the circuit are not set out with crystal clarity. Appellant interprets the statutes and the Rules of *591 Criminal Practice to mean that when the district court once assumes jurisdiction of a proceeding in which both felony and misdemeanor offenses are involved, it continues with sole jurisdiction as to the misdemeanor offenses to the exclusion of the circuit court even though an indictment subsequently was returned by the grand jury which included the same felony and misdemeanor offenses. The Commonwealth, on the other hand, contends that the grand jury having returned an indictment charging both the felony and misdemeanor offenses, the district court lost jurisdiction of the misdemeanor offenses. Somewhere between these two extremes must lie the answer. In Powell v. Walden, Ky., 473 S.W.2d 147 (1971), this court had occasion to construe the phrase "exclusive jurisdiction." We said, "The only plausible interpretation of the phrase `exclusive jurisdiction' is that the circuit court shall be the only tribunal to conduct the trial of [this] case." In Powell v. Commonwealth, Ky., 483 S.W.2d 158 (1972), this court again had occasion to consider the phrase "exclusive jurisdiction." We said: These cases were decided on the "only plausible interpretation theory;" that is to say that any interpretation other than the one which was made would not be plausible. Would the only plausible interpretation of the phrase "exclusive jurisdiction" be that which is argued by appellant, that once the district court assumes jurisdiction of a misdemeanor offense, even though accompanied by a related felony offense, that court retains jurisdiction to the exclusion of all others? We think not.[3] KRS 24A.110(2) recognizes a joinder of the misdemeanor with a felony in an indictment. Since the district court has no jurisdiction over the felony offense, it is logical to assume that KRS 24A.110(1)(a) and (b) meant to rationalize the jurisdiction of the circuit court since it alone had jurisdiction of the felony offenses. We find no fault with joining a felony and a misdemeanor offense in one indictment. RCr 6.18 must have some meaning. It would be a waste of time to recognize the authority of a grand jury to join a felony and a misdemeanor in one indictment and then to hold, as appellant would have us do, that the misdemeanors could not be tried in the circuit court. Such an interpretation would also void any meaning to the exception found in KRS 24A.110(2). The exception must have been put in the statute for some purpose. We deem it to have been so as to permit the circuit court to have jurisdiction of both misdemeanor and felony offenses where they are contained in one indictment, such as in the present case, and related as characterized in RCr 6.18. There is no plausible reason to construe the statutes to place jurisdiction only in the district court. As a matter of fact, the statutes unequivocally place jurisdiction in the circuit court when such an indictment charges both a felony and a misdemeanor. An indictment can join a felony and a misdemeanor. RCr 6.18. The appellant calls our attention to Akers v. Stephenson, Ky., 469 S.W.2d 704 (1970), wherein we said: We do not have the situation of concurrent jurisdiction. The district court had jurisdiction of the misdemeanors but not *592 the felonies. As far as the felony offenses were concerned, the district court could act only as an examining court. The circuit court, and it alone, had jurisdiction of the felony offenses, and by reason of the exception found in KRS 24A.110(2), it also had jurisdiction of the misdemeanor offenses. RCr 1.04 provides: In the event the appellant should succeed in his argument, it would result in a delay of the trial of the misdemeanor charges that are contained in an indictment irrespective of whether the misdemeanors appear alone in the indictment or appear jointly with other related offenses. It further appears that the result of appellant's argument, if accepted, would tend to complicate the procedure in bringing the misdemeanor charges to trial. The circuit judge labored under the erroneous impression that he had no jurisdiction to try the subject misdemeanors and must therefore transfer them to the district court. When we take into consideration that the circuit court is a court of general jurisdiction and that any purported exclusive control that may have been invested by KRS 24A.110(2) is limited to those instances other than where the misdemeanor charges are joined in an indictment for a felony, we are of the opinion that the appellant had jurisdiction to try both the misdemeanor and felony charges. It erred in remanding the case to the district court for trial and final disposition. In view of the disposition that is being made of this action, it will not be necessary for the Commonwealth to file a brief herein. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed. PALMORE, C. J., and AKER, CLAYTON, LUKOWSKY, STEPHENSON and STERNBERG, JJ., sitting. All concur. [1] "Must" is used to denote without discretion. [2] "May" is used to denote a discretion. [3] Unless jeopardy has attached in the district court or unless the circuit court has properly severed the misdemeanor pursuant to RCr 9.14 or RCr 9.16.