Opinion ID: 2281943
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prior Threats Heard By Other Persons

Text: Avowal testimony was presented that the day before the stabbing Shoulders stated when I see the red bitch [referring to Appellant] I'm going to beat her with this hammer; that on the morning of the stabbing she was twirling a hammer saying I can't wait until this red bitch get up. I'm gonna whoop her ass; that Shoulders frequently threatened people with a hammer; that Shoulders always carried a weaponusually a razor or a hammer; that she threatened to cut people with a razor; that she once smacked a police officer on the back; that she threatened Appellant on a constant basis; that she threatened a hairdresser with a hammer; that she made various other threats to other people; and that she would call children sissy dick bitch. The principles relevant to prior violent acts and threats by the victim in a self-defense case were addressed in Saylor v. Commonwealth, 144 S.W.3d 812, 815-816 (Ky.2004), and are fairly summarized as follows. Generally, a homicide defendant may introduce evidence of the victim's character for violence in support of a claim that he acted in self-defense or that the victim was the initial aggressor. KRE 404(a)(2). Such evidence may only be in the form of reputation or opinion, not specific acts of misconduct. KRE 405(a). An exception exists, however, when evidence of the victim's prior acts of violence, threats, and even hearsay evidence of such acts and threats, is offered to prove that the defendant so feared the victim that he believed it was necessary to use physical force (or deadly physical force) in self-protection, provided that the defendant knew of such acts, threats, or statements at the time of the encounter. Robert G. Lawson, The Kentucky Evidence Law Handbook, § 2.15[4][d] (4th ed.2003). Obviously, such evidence could not be used to prove fear by the accused without accompanying proof that the defendant knew of such matters at the time of the alleged homicide or assault. Id. (citing Baze v. Commonwealth, 965 S.W.2d 817, 824-25 (Ky.1997)). Appellant cites us to no evidence demonstrating that, at the time she stabbed Shoulders, she was aware of the specific acts of violence and the threats of violence described in the avowal testimony. As such, the avowal evidence was properly excluded.