Opinion ID: 1465529
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Instructions for Three Counts of Assault

Text: Welborn argues that it was a violation of double jeopardy prohibitions to submit his case to the jury on instructions for three counts of first-degree assault. He contends that his behavior was one continuous course of conduct and that there was only one count of assault to submit to the jury. The real question is whether it was the individual acts which are prohibited, or the course of action they constitute. If it is the individual acts, then each act is punishable separately, but if it is a single course of conduct, there is only one punishment. Cf. Commonwealth v. Burge, 947 S.W.2d 805 (Ky.1996). KRS 505.020 allows prosecution for multiple offenses arising from a single course of conduct. However, KRS 505.020(1)(c) does not permit such prosecution if the offense is designed to prohibit a continuing course of conduct and the defendant's course of conduct was uninterrupted by legal process, unless the law expressly provides that specific periods of such conduct constitute separate offenses. Hennemeyer v. Commonwealth, 580 S.W.2d 211 (Ky.1979), distinguished assault from wanton endangerment because of the necessity of intent and held that the purpose of the wanton endangerment statute is to protect each and every person from each act coming within the definition of the statute and not to punish a continuous course of conduct. There is no indication that the assault statute was intended to be interpreted differently. Hennemeyer, supra , sets out the commentary to the 1974 statute noting in particular that the only difference between assault and wanton endangerment is that there is no actual injury from the latter and because this is purely fortuitous, it would affect only the sanction. The assault statute prohibits individual acts and not a course of conduct. Chapter 508 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes is entitled Assault and Related Offenses. KRS 508.010, the assault statute, is expressed in part as follows: A person is guilty of assault in the first degree when: (a) He intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument.... Assault is a result offense. Tharp v. Commonwealth, 40 S.W.3d 356, 360-61 (Ky.2000); KRS 502.020 (1974 Official Commentary). The following three elements comprise the crime: 1) the assailant's mental state; 2) the means of attack; and 3) the resulting injury. See Commonwealth v. Hammond, 633 S.W.2d 73 (Ky.App.1982). Once all three elements are met, the crime is complete. Accordingly, the circuit judge did not err in submitting the case to the jury with instructions for three counts of first-degree assault. The defendant shot the trooper three separate times and inflicted three separate wounds. The indictment specifically identifies each action by the location of the wound. Each shot was preceded by a sufficient period of time in which Welborn could reflect on his conduct and formulate intent to commit another act. Welborn first shot the trooper in the right forearm. Evidently, the recoil of the weapon prevented Welborn from immediately shooting again, and the trooper moved to a doorway and sought cover in the next room. As the trooper left the house, Welborn fired again and the officer was struck in the neck. The trooper then made it to his cruiser, removed a shotgun, and pointed it at Welborn who moved to a corner of the house. Welborn fired again and hit the officer for a third time in the shoulder. Evidence was introduced that the three shots resulted in three separate serious physical injuries. There was a sufficient break in the conduct and time so that the acts constituted separate and distinct offenses. Cf. Van Dyke v. Commonwealth, 581 S.W.2d 563 (Ky.1979), which holds that criminal sexual acts which occurred in a span of approximately 15 minutes on the same day did not prohibit multiple convictions. The unanimous court did not agree with the defendant's contention that the two convictions of rape and the conviction of sodomy should be merged into a single conviction because the offenses occurred during one continuous sexual assault against the same victim. Van Dyke, supra . Writing for the court, Justice Lukowsky stated that the fact that the acts occurred in a brief period of time with the same victim and in a continuum of force does not protect the defendant from prosecution and conviction on each separate offense. Van Dyke . Welborn was properly charged and convicted and he was not subjected to double jeopardy. There is no legislative intent to the contrary, nor is there any Kentucky case law which supports the defendant's position. This is not a question of ambiguity as to legislative intent, and, consequently, any principles of lenity or leniency do not arise.