Opinion ID: 2336124
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: prejudicial photographs and statements.

Text: The Commonwealth, in its case in chief, portrayed the life of U.S. Army soldier Ochs as a hero who stopped to render assistance and who was senselessly killed. In this regard, the Commonwealth introduced three photographs of Ochs. One was a large professional photograph of Ochs in his army uniform. The other two showed Ochs's uncovered body at the accident scene. Finally, one witness, Otis Mason, testified that Ochs had pushed him out of the path of Love's vehicle. Only the admission of the life photograph was objected to at trial. Appellant seeks review of the other two matters under RCr 10.26 for palpable error. The thrust of Appellant's argument is that the photographs and testimony are irrelevant and unduly prejudicial. However, we have held many times that life photographs and testimony concerning a victim are admissible to remind the jury that the victim was once a living person and not just a statistic. Templeman v. Commonwealth, Ky., 785 S.W.2d 259, 261 (1990); Talbott v. Commonwealth, Ky., 968 S.W.2d 76 (1998); Bussell v. Commonwealth, Ky., 882 S.W.2d 111 (1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1174, 115 S.Ct. 1154, 130 L.Ed.2d 1111 (1995); McQueen v. Commonwealth, Ky., 669 S.W.2d 519, 523 (1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 893, 105 S.Ct. 269, 83 L.Ed.2d 205 (1984). This situation is no different. Neither of the unpreserved claims of error resulted in manifest injustice. The general rule is that a photograph does not become inadmissible simply because it is gruesome and the crime is heinous. Funk v. Commonwealth, Ky., 842 S.W.2d 476, 479 (1992); see also Brown v. Commonwealth, Ky., 934 S.W.2d 242 (1996). Nor was the testimony of Mason impermissibly prejudicial. He was merely testifying to the fact that Ochs apparently sacrificed his own life to save Mason.