Opinion ID: 2284881
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: PFO Instructions

Text: For their final assignment of error, Appellants argue that the first-degree persistent felony offender instruction permitted a conviction on a theory unsupported by the evidence. Specifically, Appellants contend that the Commonwealth failed to produce evidence to support theories set forth in parts five, six, and seven of the jury instructions, in violation of the rule that a criminal conviction must be by a unanimous verdict. At the time the instructions were tendered to the jury, neither Travis nor Dawson made a timely objection. RCr 9.54(2). Since no objection was made to the instructions, the issue of their appropriateness is unpreserved on appeal. See Hopper v. Commonwealth, 516 S.W.2d 855, 857 (Ky.1974). The PFO instruction to the jury provided, in pertinent part, as follows: You will find the defendant, Zelnar Travis, guilty of being a persistent felony offender in the First Degree under this Instruction if, and only if, you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt the following: (1) That prior to August 21, 2007 the Defendant was previously convicted of at least two (2) of the following felony convictions: Theft by Unlawful Taking over $300 by judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court dated March 1, 1999; Possession of a Handgun by a Convicted Felon by judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court dated April 19, 2005. (2) That pursuant to at least two (2) of those prior convictions, he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of one year or more on each; AND (3) That he was 18 years of age or older when he committed at least two (2) of the offenses for which he was so convicted; AND (4) That the defendant is now more than 21 years of age; AND (5) That the defendant completed service of the sentence imposed on at least one of the previous felony convictions within five years prior to the date of the commission of the offenses charged in this indictment; OR (6) That the defendant was on a form of legal release from at least one of the previous felony convictions on the date of the commission of the offenses charged in this indictment; OR (7) That the defendant was legally released or discharged from at least one of the previous felony convictions within five years of the date of the commission of the offenses charged in this indictment. The PFO instruction given for William Dawson was identical to the instruction given to Zelnar Travis, except that paragraph (1) stated: That prior to August 21, 2007 the Defendant was previously convicted of at least two (2) of the following felony convictions: Possession of a Handgun by a Convicted Felon by judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court dated July 20, 2001; Escape in the Second Degree by judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court dated August 18, 2004; Illegal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree by judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court dated September 27, 2004. Both instructions contain superfluous language. In other words, they contain language describing theories of liability that do not relate to any evidence presented or even alluded to at trial. Instead of serving to aid the jury, such language was simply inserted to reflect the various possible theories of statutory liability, notwithstanding their inapplicability to the instant case. Specifically, in regard to Travis, the record shows that the Commonwealth failed to produce any evidence to show that he had completed serving his sentence or was legally released or discharged within five years of the underlying robbery. In fact, in most cases, such proof would be impossible, as the time periods laid out by the PFO categories rarely overlap. A person may have completed service of a sentence or have been legally released or discharged (i.e. on probation or parole) within five years of the current offense, or have actually been on probation or parole at the time of the offense, but rarely would more than one category apply. And in this case, there certainly was no evidence that more than one of the categories applied to Appellant. Therefore, the inclusion of parts five and seven in the instruction was superfluous and in error. In regards to Dawson, the record indicates that the Commonwealth failed to produce evidence to support that he was on some form of legal release at the time of the underlying robbery, or that he was legally released or discharged within five years of the charged offense. Accordingly, the inclusion of parts six and seven was in error as applied to him. Id. As noted above, Boulder and Hayes established that such superfluous instructing on theories insufficiently supported by evidence is error. Twenty years after that pair of cases, this Court held in Burnett v. Commonwealth, 31 S.W.3d 878, 883 (Ky. 2000), that when this type of error is preserved, it must always cause the conviction to be reversed. Burnett's reasoning was based on the fundamental nature of one's right to a unanimous verdict. While holding true to that underlying principle, we now step back from our position in Burnett because the error resulting only from superfluous language does not present a pure unanimity problem. On the contrary, such flawed instructions only implicate unanimity if it is reasonably likely that some members of the jury actually followed the erroneously inserted theory in reaching their verdict. If that can be shown, then a unanimous verdict has been denied and the verdict must be overruled. However, if there is no reasonable possibility that the jury actually relied on the erroneous theoryin particular, where there is no evidence of the theory that could mislead the jurythen there is no unanimity problem. Though such a case presents an error in the instructions, namely, the inclusion of surplus language, the error is simply harmless because there is no reason to think the jury was misled. To the extent Burnett mandates reversal in this latter situation, it is now overruled. Turning back to the case at hand, there was absolutely no evidence to support the two erroneous theories in Travis's and Dawson's PFO instructions. Thus, there was no reason at all for any juror to convict either of them as a PFO under those erroneous theories. To do so would have been utterly irrational. As such, there is no real possibility that jurors followed one of the theories presented by the surplus language and, as a result, no real possibility that a unanimous verdict was denied. Thus, even if these instructional errors had been properly preserved for review, they would likely be deemed harmless. Having not been preserved, and subject only to palpable error review, reversal is certainly not warranted under that higher threshold.