Opinion ID: 2336124
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the suspended license.

Text: One count of the indictment charged Appellant with operating a motor vehicle on a suspended license. KRS 186.620(2). Appellant stipulated to that fact out of the presence of the jury in order to avoid any prejudice stemming from proof of that fact. In this regard, Appellant also requested the court to admonish the jury not to consider driving on a suspended license as evidence of extreme indifference to human life. KRS 507.020(1)(b). The trial court declined to give the proposed admonition. Appellant now claims it was error to refuse to give the admonition, to not exclude comments made by the prosecutor during closing arguments, and to not bifurcate the proceedings. Only the first claim was preserved. The prosecutor did not equate driving on a suspended license with extreme indifference to human life. KRS 507.020(1)(b). The prosecutor merely argued, several times, that Appellant knew he was driving on a suspended license. Remember, Appellant did not plead guilty to this crime; it was necessary for the jury to determine his guilt or innocence of that offense. Therefore, the prosecutor was entitled to discuss that charge during closing argument. The trial court was not required to give the requested admonition to the jury, especially since no effort was made at trial to equate driving on a suspended license with extreme indifference to human life. Nor was the trial court required sua sponte to bifurcate the suspended license charge from the trial of the other offenses.