Opinion ID: 2274149
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: rehearing

Text: In the original version of this opinion, rendered April 22, 2010, this Court, sua sponte, noted that Judge James C. Brantley, the Hopkins Circuit judge who presided over Winstead's trial, conducted the trial in Muhlenberg County before a Muhlenberg County jury. This was done apparently without having the case formally transferred to Muhlenberg Circuit Court. Nor did he have himself designated as a special judge by the Chief Justice or chief regional judge. In a petition for rehearing, Winstead argued that Judge Brantley lacked territorial jurisdiction to preside over the case and, as a result, the judgment was void. The parties were ordered to prepare supplemental briefs concerning the issue of territorial jurisdiction and the ongoing application of Wolfenbarger v. Commonwealth, 936 S.W.2d 770 (Ky.App.1996). In Wolfenbarger, the Court of Appeals considered a similar factual situation. Wolfenbarger committed crimes in Boone County and was eventually brought to trial in Boone Circuit Court. On the day of trial, however, he was patient in a Kenton County hospital. With the consent of Wolfenbarger, the Boone Circuit judge conducted the trial on the hospital premises before a Boone Circuit jury. However, the Boone Circuit judge did not properly move the venue of the trial, nor was he sworn in as a special judge in Kenton County. In considering the validity of the judgment, the Court of Appeals noted that the physical location of Wolfenbarger's trial does not directly involve either subject matter jurisdiction or venue. Id. at 773. Rather, the Court of Appeals focused its holding on the concept of territorial jurisdictionthat is, the geographical limitations on a court's authority. Characterizing territorial jurisdiction as akin to subject matter jurisdiction, the Court of Appeals concluded that the trial court lacked authority to conduct the trial in Kenton County because the Boone Circuit judge was never sworn as a special judge. The reasoning in Wolfenbarger is flawed. While acknowledging that the Kentucky Constitution creates one Court of Justice for the entire state, the panel nonetheless adhered to pre-Judicial Amendment cases to conclude that the judgment was void. Indeed, prior to passage of the Judicial Amendment in 1975, a court's jurisdiction was limited by the geographic boundaries of the district. The court of the justice of the peace for a magistral district could no more be lawfully held without the territorial limits of such district, than the county, or quarterly, or circuit courts, for one county could be lawfully held in another county. Wolfenbarger, 936 S.W.2d at 774 (quoting Wheeler v. Schulman, 165 Ky. 185, 176 S.W. 1017, 1019 (1915)). Judges lacked any jurisdiction or authority to conduct proceedings outside of the geographic bounds of the district, and any resulting judgment or order was void ab initio. As other states have done, Kentucky removed this territorial limitation through creation of a unified court system. Ky. Const. § 109. See also Wayne R. Lafave, Jerold H. Israel & Nancy J. King, 4 Crim. Proc. § 16.1(a) (3d ed. 2009). The Judicial Amendment is clear that there is one circuit court for the entire state, and all of its judges are members of the same court with equal power to act throughout the Commonwealth. See Baze v. Commonwealth, 276 S.W.3d 761, 767 (Ky.2008). This Court has explained: [Nothing in the Judicial Amendment] implies that any judge's powers and authority are limited to the district in which he or she is elected.... [There is] an expectation that district and circuit judges will usually and regularly serve within the respective districts or circuits where they are elected, but they are still members of the same court and have equal capacity to act throughout the Commonwealth, subject to the administrative authority of the respective chief judges and the Chief Justice and subject to the rule-making power of the Supreme Court. Richmond v. Commonwealth, 637 S.W.2d 642, 646 (Ky.1982). Thus, since passage of the Judicial Amendment, territorial jurisdiction no longer confines a judge's authority to his or her home district or circuit. Procedural requisites and venue provisions restrict a circuit judge's ability to act outside of the home circuit. However, these limitations do not undermine the judge's basic authority to adjudicate matters that fall within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Circuit Court. See Baze, 276 S.W.3d at 767 ([O]ur statutes and this Court's rules place geographical boundaries on a court's power to hear a case.). Wolfenbarger is erroneous in this regard and, to the extent that it holds otherwise, is hereby overruled. Nevertheless, an error occurred in this case when Judge Brantley was not sworn as a special judge in Muhlenberg County. SCR 1.040(1) provides that [n]o judge shall conduct any judicial proceeding, other than the issuance of warrants, outside his own circuit or district unless designated by the Chief Justice or by the Chief Judge of an administrative region. In asserting a violation of this rule, Winstead is essentially challenging Judge Brantley's qualifications or capacity to act. However, Winstead has raised this argument for the first time in a petition for rehearing. As early as 1860, Kentucky courts recognized that challenges to the qualifications of a judge must be timely made, or they are deemed waived. Vandever v. Vandever, 60 Ky. 137 (1860). In 1899, Kentucky's highest court held: It is true that the record fails to show that the special judge was selected according to statutory provisions ... but it is sufficient answer to say that there appears to have been no objection by any of the parties in the lower court to trial by the special judge. Appellants participated in the trial of the action, filing many pleadings and introducing much proof, and this court will not now for the first time entertain the objection as to the authority of the special judge to render judgment. Salyer v. Napier, 21 Ky. L.Rptr. 172, 51 S.W. 10, 11 (1899). See also Kentucky Utilities Co. v. South East Coal Co., 836 S.W.2d 407, 409 (Ky.1992) (challenge to the appointment of a Special Justice, made for the first time in a petition for rehearing, was rejected, with this Court noting that a party must timely object or be deemed to have any waived any such objection.); Jacobs v. Commonwealth, 947 S.W.2d 416, 418 (Ky.App.1997) (collecting Kentucky authority supporting rule that objection to one acting as special judge cannot be made for the time on appeal). Cf. Helton v. Commonwealth, 256 S.W.2d 14 (Ky.1953) (conviction reversed where defendant's seasonable objections to the authority of the special judge were improperly overruled). Winstead moved the trial court to change the venue of his trial and that motion was properly granted. He raises no other challenge to Judge Brantley's qualifications to preside over the trial in Muhlenberg County, other than this administrative defect, and Winstead has shown absolutely no prejudice stemming from Judge Brantley's presiding over this trial in Muhlenberg County. Neither do we find any. At no time did Winstead bring the defect in appointment to Judge Brantley's attention, nor did he raise the issue on direct appeal. We have no hesitation in concluding that Winstead has waived any objection to Judge Brantley's authority to preside over his trial.