Opinion ID: 1868744
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Trial Court Correctly Limited Application of the 2006 Self-Defense Amendments.

Text: Effective July 12, 2006, after Rodgers's alleged 2004 crime but before his September 2006 trial, the Kentucky General Assembly joined a trend urged by the National Rifle Association and, through Senate Bill 38, extensively amended the self-defense [3] provisions of KRS Chapter 503. See generally Renee Lerner, The Worldwide Popular Revolt Against Proportionality in Self-Defense Law, 2 J.L. Econ. & Pol'y 331 (2006); Daniel Michael, Florida's Protection of Persons Bill, 43 Harv. J. on Legis. 199 (2006). Among other changes Senate Bill 38 created presumptions that one unlawfully and by force entering a dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle does so with the intent to commit an unlawful act involving force or violence, KRS 503.055(4), and that a person encountering such an intruder reasonably fears death or great bodily injury. KRS 503.055(1). It expanded the circumstances in which the use of deadly force is justified to include those instances when one reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent the commission of a felony involving the use of force. KRS 503.050(2). The bill expressly provided that the right to use force, including deadly force, in defense of self or others is not contingent upon a duty to retreat. See, e.g. KRS 503.050(4), KRS 503.070(3). Moreover, the bill declared that one who justifiably used defensive force is immune from criminal prosecution, including arrest, detention, charge, or prosecution in the ordinary sense. KRS 503.085(1). Pursuant to this latter provision, Rodgers claimed immunity from prosecution, moved to have the charges against him dismissed, and sought an evidentiary pre-trial hearing to address the immunity question. Denying Rodgers's motion to dismiss, the trial court ruled that the new immunity statute did not apply retroactively to Rodgers's case but that even if it did a review of the discovery record was sufficient to determine that Rodgers's assertion of self-defense was significantly controverted, precluding his immunity. Rodgers contends that these rulings were incorrect: that the new self-defense legislation does apply retroactively and that he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing to address his assertion of immunity. Although we agree with Rodgers that the immunity statute (KRS 503.085) applied to his trial, the trial court appropriately addressed the immunity question and otherwise correctly determined that the new self-defense laws do not apply retroactively.
As the parties correctly note, our savings statute, KRS 446.110, one of the oldest statutes carried forward into the current Kentucky Revised Statutes, [4] provides in pertinent part that [n]o new law shall be construed to repeal a former law as to any offense committed against a former law, ... or in any way whatever to affect any such offense or act so committed or done, ... before the new law takes effect, except that the proceedings thereafter had shall conform, so far as practicable, to the laws in force at the time of such proceedings. If any penalty, forfeiture or punishment is mitigated by any provision of the new law, such provision may, by the consent of the party affected, be applied to any judgment pronounced after the new law takes effect. This statute marks a departure from the common law, under which the repeal of a statute describing a criminal offense precluded prosecution for outstanding violations of the statute which had occurred prior to repeal. Commonwealth v. Louisville & N.R. Co., 186 Ky. 1, 215 S.W. 938 (1919). Under KRS 446.110, unless the General Assembly unmistakably intends otherwise, substantive changes to criminal statutes will not be retroactively applied and offenses committed against the statute before its repeal, may thereafter be prosecuted, and the penalties incurred may be enforced. Lawson v. Commonwealth, 53 S.W.3d 534, 550 (Ky.2001) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Substantive amendments are those which change and redefine the out-of-court rights, obligations and duties of persons in their transactions with others. Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Agriculture v. Vinson, 30 S.W.3d 162, 168 (Ky. 2000). By contrast, procedural amendments[t]hose amendments which apply to the in-court procedures and remedies which are used in handling pending litigation id. at 168-69 are to be retroactively applied (assuming no separation-of-powers concerns) so that the proceedings shall conform, so far as practicable, to the laws in force at the time of such proceedings. Finally, amendments to penalty provisionsprovisions pertaining to punishment, such as those creating terms of imprisonment, periods of probation or parole, fines, or forfeitures may be retroactively applied if the defendant specifically consents to the application of the new law which is `certainly' or `definitely' mitigating. Lawson, supra, 53 S.W.3d at 550; Commonwealth v. Phon, 17 S.W.3d 106 (Ky.2000). This is consistent with our approach to substantive, procedural, and remedial civil statutes under KRS 446.080. That statute provides in part that [t]here shall be no difference in the construction of civil, penal and criminal statutes and that [n]o statute shall be construed to be retroactive, unless expressly so declared. Pursuant to these provisions, we have held, substantive civil statutes are not to be applied retroactively unless the General Assembly expressly declares otherwise, while procedural and remedial statutes are to be so applied. Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Agriculture, supra ; Peabody Coal Co. v. Gossett, 819 S.W.2d 33 (Ky.1991). With one exception, the new self-defense legislation effects substantive changes to our self-defense law, not changes to penalty provisions or to procedures. As noted above, the new amendments alter the circumstances constituting self-defense and create certain presumptions which will alter the burden of proof in self-defense cases. Those are amendments to the substantive law. University of Louisville v. O'Bannon, 770 S.W.2d 215, 217 (Ky.1989) (Whether a particular circumstance constitutes a cause of action [or conversely a defense] ... is a matter of substantive law.); Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Agriculture, 30 S.W.3d at 169 (The change in the burden of proof was ... a change in substantive law.) Under the savings statute therefore, absent the General Assembly's contrary direction, the changes to substantive law apply prospectively only. Rodgers asserts, nevertheless, that the 2006 amendments to Kentucky's self-defense provisions should apply retroactively in their entirety. He relies on the last sentence of the savings statute, the provision permitting retroactive application of amendments that mitigate punishments, and argues that by liberalizing the law of self-defense the new amendments tend to mitigate the effects of the former law. Clearly, however, this construction of the savings statute would swallow entirely the rule against retroactivity. Under Rodgers's construction, any changes to the criminal laws that either narrowed or repealed an offense or created or enlarged a defenseplainly substantive changes altering the rights and duties of citizens would apply retroactively because by increasing a defendant's chance of either acquittal or conviction of a lesser offense, they mitigate the potential penalty. In the criminal context, at least, such an approach would render KRS 446.110, the savings statute, null. That statute is not needed to prevent the retroactive application of amendments creating new or expanded offenses, because the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution accomplishes that. And under Rodgers's construction the savings statute's rule against retroactivity would have no effect on amendments repealing or narrowing offenses either, leaving the statute with no effect at all. Courts, of course, are to avoid if possible constructions of statutes that read them out of existence. King Drugs, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 250 S.W.3d 643 (Ky.2008). Rodgers's construction of the savings statute would do just that. Rodgers's construction, moreover, has already been rejected by our cases applying the savings statute to legislation that repeals an offense altogether, the ultimate mitigation in Rodgers's sense. Commonwealth v. Louisville & N.R. Co., supra , (prosecution could proceed for violation of repealed statute that had prohibited shipping or transporting liquor into dry territories except in certain limited circumstances). If one remains subject to prosecution for the pre-repeal violation of a repealed criminal statute, then one must also remain subject to the pre-amendment version of a statute amended to strengthen a defense. In short, the new substantive self-defense provisions adopted in 2006 are not mitigating penalty provisions under KRS 446.110 and do not apply retroactively to Rodgers's case. Finally, with respect to the new substantive portions of the self-defense statutes, the rule of lenity does not apply. This rule, often invoked by criminal defendants seeking a more favorable construction of a statute, was recently described by the United States Supreme Court as requiring ambiguous criminal laws to be interpreted in favor of the defendants subjected to them. United States v. Santos, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 2020, 2025, 170 L.Ed.2d 912 (2008). Most recently, in White v. Commonwealth, 178 S.W.3d 470 (Ky.2005), this Court unanimously invoked the rule to construe the intentional killing of a public official statutory aggravator which renders a defendant eligible for the death penalty. See also Haymon v. Commonwealth, 657 S.W.2d 239 (Ky.1983) (applying rule in construing statute governing eligibility for probation for certain offenses involving use of a weapon); Commonwealth v. Stinnett, 144 S.W.3d 829 (Ky. 2004) (applying rule in construing statute regarding jury determination of concurrent/consecutive service of felony sentences). As a rule of construction, the rule of lenity applies only if the statute at issue is genuinely ambiguous and even then only if the ambiguity cannot be resolved by resort to the other traditional rules of construction. United States v. Banks, 514 F.3d 959 (9th Cir.2008); United States v. Gosselin World Wide Moving, N.V., 411 F.3d 502 (4th Cir.2005). The rule of lenity is inapplicable here because there is nothing to construe, i.e., there is no ambiguous language regarding the retroactivity of the new self-defense statutes which requires construction.
The one exception to the bar against retroactive application of the new law is KRS 503.085, the new provision granting immunity to those who justifiably use self-defense: (1) A person who uses force as permitted in KRS 503.050, 503.055, 503.070, and 503.080 is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless the person against whom the force was used is a peace officer, as defined in KRS 446.010, who was acting in the performance of his or her official duties and the officer identified himself or herself in accordance with any applicable law, or the person using force knew or reasonably should have known that the person was a peace officer. As used in this subsection, the term criminal prosecution includes arresting, detaining in custody, and charging or prosecuting the defendant. (2) A law enforcement agency may use standard procedures for investigating the use of force as described in subsection (1) of this section, but the agency may not arrest the person for using force unless it determines that there is probable cause that the force that was used was unlawful.       At least in cases such as this one, that do not involve a peace officer, the immunity provision does not constitute substantive law; it has nothing to do with who is entitled to use self-defense or under what circumstances self-defense is justified. It is, rather, purely procedural, and by prohibiting prosecution of one who has justifiably defended himself, his property or others, it in effect creates a new exception to the general rule that trial courts may not dismiss indictments prior to trial. [5] By declaring that one who is justified in using force is immune from criminal prosecution, and by defining criminal prosecution to include arresting, detaining in custody, and charging or prosecuting the defendant, the General Assembly has made unmistakably clear its intent to create a true immunity, not simply a defense to criminal charges. This aspect of the new law is meant to provide not merely a defense against liability, but protection against the burdens of prosecution and trial as well. With KRS 503.085, the General Assembly has created a new procedural bar to prosecution, and that bar, like other procedural statutes, is to be applied retroactively. Before turning to implementation of the immunity afforded by KRS 503.085, it bears noting that the statute grants immunity to a person who uses force as permitted in KRS 503.050, 503.055, 503.070, and 503.080. But KRS 503.055 is a wholly new substantive statute pertaining to Use of defensive force regarding dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicleExceptions. and, as previously discussed, is not to be applied retroactively. Similarly, the 2006 amendments to KRS 503.050 (self-protection); 503.070 (protection of others); and 503.080 (protection of property) were substantive law changes and are not retroactive. Thus persons whose conduct occurred prior to the July 12, 2006 effective date of these amendments but whose trials were not concluded are entitled to immunity only for actions in conformity with the version of the applicable statute, ( i.e. self-protection, protection of others, protection of property) in effect at the time they acted. Application of the pre-2006 selfdefense statute presents no real issue here, however, because as the trial court found, conflicting evidence of record precluded a pretrial finding that Rodgers was clearly acting in self-defense and thus entitled to immunity. Specifically, the trial court ruled that even if KRS 503.085 applied to Rodgers's case, Rodgers was not entitled to dismissal because the discovery record included conflicting evidence as to whether his use of deadly force was justified. Noting that the immunity statute does not specify who bears the burden of proof or what standard of proof applies, the trial court in effect imposed on the Commonwealth a directed verdict standard, which was met, the court held, because the discovery record, in particular Eubanks's and Palmore's statements accusing Rodgers of pulling a gun and firing several times at McAfee, was sufficient to raise a jury question concerning self-defense. Rodgers contends that the trial court's use of the discovery record and directed verdict standard failed to comport with KRS 503.085. Relying on People v. Guenther, 740 P.2d 971 (Colo. 1987), in which the Supreme Court of Colorado was called upon to fill in the procedural gaps of that state's self-defense immunity provision, Rodgers contends that he was entitled to a pre-trial evidentiary hearing at which he would bear the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that his use of deadly force was justified. We disagree. The trial judge's uncertainty regarding how to implement the immunity provision is understandable because the statute offers little guidance. Indeed, the only express indication of legislative intent is in KRS 503.085(2) which provides that immunity must be granted pre-arrest by the law enforcement agency investigating the crime unless there is probable cause that the force used was unlawful. Because the statute defines the criminal prosecution from which a defendant justifiably acting in self-defense is immune to be arresting, detaining in custody and charging or prosecuting, we can infer that the immunity determination is not confined to law enforcement personnel. Instead, the statute contemplates that the prosecutor and the courts may also be called upon to determine whether a particular defendant is entitled to KRS 503.085 immunity. Regardless of who is addressing the immunity claim, we infer from the statute that the controlling standard of proof remains probable cause. Thus, in order for the prosecutor to bring charges or seek an indictment, there must be probable cause to conclude that the force used by the defendant was not fully justified under the controlling provision or provisions of KRS Chapter 503. Similarly, once the matter is before a judge, if the defendant claims immunity the court must dismiss the case unless there is probable cause to conclude that the force used was not legally justified. Probable cause is a standard with which prosecutors, defense counsel and judges in the Commonwealth are very familiar although it often eludes definition. Recently, in Commonwealth v. Jones, 217 S.W.3d 190 (Ky.2006), this Court noted the United States Supreme Court's definition in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 232, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983): [P]robable cause is a fluid concept-turning on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual contexts-not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules. Just as judges consider the totality of the circumstances in determining whether probable cause exists to issue a search warrant, they must consider all of the circumstances then known to determine whether probable cause exists to conclude that a defendant's use of force was unlawful. If such cause does not exist, immunity must be granted and, conversely, if it does exist, the matter must proceed. Because immunity is designed to relieve a defendant from the burdens of litigation, it is obvious that a defendant should be able to invoke KRS 503.085(1) at the earliest stage of the proceeding. While the trial courts need not address the issue sua sponte, once the defendant raises the immunity bar by motion, the court must proceed expeditiously. Thus a defendant may invoke KRS 503.085 immunity and seek a determination at the preliminary hearing in district court or, alternatively, he may elect to await the outcome of the grand jury proceedings and, if indicted, present his motion to the circuit judge. A defendant may not, however, seek dismissal on immunity grounds in both courts. Once the district court finds probable cause to believe that the defendant's use of force was unlawful, the circuit court should not revisit the issue. In the case of a direct submission or where a defendant has elected to wait and invoke immunity in the circuit court, the issue should be raised promptly so that it can be addressed as a threshold motion. The sole remaining issue is how the trial courts should proceed in determining probable cause. The burden is on the Commonwealth to establish probable cause and it may do so by directing the court's attention to the evidence of record including witness statements, investigative letters prepared by law enforcement officers, photographs and other documents of record. Although Rodgers advocates an evidentiary hearing at which the defendant may counter probable cause with proof by a preponderance of the evidence that the force was justified, this concept finds no support in the statute. The legislature did not delineate an evidentiary hearing and the only standard of proof against which a defendant's conduct must be measured is the aforementioned probable cause. We decline to create a hearing right that the statute does not recognize and note that there are several compelling reasons for our conclusion. First, the pretrial evidentiary hearings that are currently conducted, such as suppression hearings, do not involve proof that is the essence of the crime charged but focus instead on issues such as protection of the defendant's right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, right to be represented by counsel and right to Miranda warnings prior to giving a statement. Similarly, a competency hearing addresses the state of the defendant's mental health and his ability to participate meaningfully in the trial. Neither of these hearings requires proof of the facts surrounding the alleged crime. An evidentiary hearing on immunity, by contrast, would involve the same witnesses and same proof to be adduced at the eventual trial, in essence a mini-trial and thus a process fraught with potential for abuse. Moreover, it would result in one of the elements of the alleged crime (no privilege to act in self-protection) being determined in a bench trial. In RCr 9.26 this Court has evinced its strong preference for jury trials on all elements of a criminal case by providing specifically that even if a defendant waives a jury trial in writing, the court and the Commonwealth must consent to a bench trial. Thus, where probable cause exists in criminal matters the longstanding practice and policy has been to submit those matters to a jury and we find no rational basis for abandoning that stance. As for the Colorado Supreme Court's adoption of an evidentiary hearing approach, there are several fundamental differences in the Colorado statute and KRS 503.085. The Colorado statute in essence, if not in express words, provides there shall be immunity in home invasion cases. People v. Guenther, 740 P.2d at 975. The statute contains no reference to an immunity determination by law enforcement or the prosecutor, no reference to a standard of proof and no reference to how the courts should proceed to determine immunity. Writing on a blank slate and crafting a judicial procedure to be used only in home invasion cases (as opposed to all assaults and homicides wherein self-defense is raised as here in Kentucky), the Colorado court opted for an evidentiary hearing. Given the large volume of Kentucky cases for which immunity may be an issue, the probable cause standard expressly stated in KRS 503.085, and Kentucky's strong preference for jury determinations in criminal matters, we do not find the Colorado court's approach appropriate. Finally, we note that the precise mechanism for judicial implementation of KRS 503.085 is purely academic as to Rodgers because he has been tried and convicted by a properly instructed jury in a trial with no reversible error. In short, his self-defense claim has been thoroughly examined by both the trial judge under the directed verdict standard and the jury under the court's instructions and his entitlement to self-defense has been rejected. While the trial court's approach to the immunity issue was not the one outlined by this Court, it was certainly sufficient and Rodgers suffered no discernible prejudice. Indeed if the trial court had divined the procedure outlined here, applying the probable cause standard would have produced the same conclusion, no entitlement to immunity and denial of Rodgers's motion to dismiss. Accordingly, there was no reversible error in the handling of the immunity determination.
Rodgers also sought jury instructions based upon the substantive 2006 self-defense amendments, but because those substantive amendments do not apply retroactively to his case the trial court correctly declined to base the instructions on them. Rodgers maintains, however, that even under the prior law he was entitled to an instruction specifying that he had no duty to retreat from McAfee's alleged assault, but was authorized to stand his ground and meet force with force. He acknowledges that in Hilbert v. Commonwealth, 162 S.W.3d 921 (Ky. 2005), we rejected this very claim. There we explained that the Penal Code had incorporated prior Kentucky law concerning retreat and under that law a specific retreat instruction was not required: An instruction on self-defense should be in the usual form, leaving the question to be determined by the jury in the light of all the facts and circumstances of the case, rather than in the light of certain particular facts. 162 S.W.3d at 926 (citing and quoting from Bush v. Commonwealth, 335 S.W.2d 324 (Ky.1960)). Hilbert expressly acknowledged the oft-cited Gibson v. Commonwealth, 237 Ky. 33, 34 S.W.2d 936 (1931) wherein the High Court stated: [I]t is the tradition that a Kentuckian never runs. He does not have to. Despite what the Hilbert Court called the defiant attitude toward retreat exhibited by the Gibson opinion, the Court found no sound basis in Kentucky law for giving a no duty to retreat instruction. Rodgers contends, nevertheless, that the 2006 amendments are meant to codify prior law and to correct Hilbert's mistaken reading of it. He cites no prior-law cases which the Hilbert Court overlooked and fails to address any of the several cases the Hilbert Court considered. We decline to revisit Hilbert , therefore, a decision not even four years old, and continue to hold that as enacted in 1975 the Penal Code incorporated the pre-code rule that while Kentucky does not condition the right of self-defense on a duty to retreat, retreat remains a factor amidst the totality of circumstances the jury is authorized to consider and a no duty to retreat instruction is not required. [6] To the extent the General Assembly has altered that rule with its 2006 amendments, a question we need not address at this time, the change affects the out-of-court ... duties of persons in their transactions with others, Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Agriculture, 30 S.W.3d at 168, and so constitutes a change to the substantive law. The trial court correctly did not apply it retroactively to Rodgers's case. Finally, Rogers contends that the no duty to retreat instruction was required to preserve his constitutional right to present a defense. That right may be violated, as he notes, where there is evidence of self-defense but the trial court refuses any instruction on that defense at all. Taylor v. Withrow, 288 F.3d 846 (6th Cir.2002). Here, however, the trial court instructed on self-defense, and Rogers was given an opportunity to argue that theory to the jury, including the no duty to retreat principle. The instructions did not infringe upon his constitutional right to present a defense.