Court Opinion

ID: 9682253
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:08:27.802912+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:38.446166
License: Public Domain

STEPHENS, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Respectfully, I dissent. .1 would agree with the Court of Appeals that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in determining that the forfeiture of appellee’s truck was constitutionally excessive in light of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The majority determines that the trial judge’s findings and conclusions are “clearly erroneous” because he determined that the forfeiture of appellees truck was “unnecessarily punitive.” As the basis for its conclusion, the majority asserts that because the value of the truck at the time of forfeiture was $1,875.00, the forfeiture was not greatly disproportionate to the defense of the theft of the property valued at $18,000, and thus, not excessive. I disagree.
CR 52.01 specifically states:
' Findings of fact shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses.
As mandated in CR 52.01 and many of our previous opinions, this Court should not substitute its own judgment for that of the trial court’s judgment, unless the latter’s judgment was clearly erroneous. Taylor v. Taylor, Ky., 591 S.W.2d 369, 370 (1979). See also Stafford v. Stafford, Ky., 618 S.W.2d 578, 579 (1981). Ultimately, in Taylor we maintained that “[t]he reviewing court’s basic concern is whether there is sufficient evidence, as detailed by the record, to support the decision of the trial court. If so, then the trial court’s decision is not clearly erroneous.” 591 S.W.2d at 370.
Likewise, in Cherry v. Cherry, Ky., 634 S.W.2d 423, 425 (1982), we held that “in reviewing a trial court’s decision the test is not whether the appellate court would have decided it differently, but whether the findings of the trial judge were clearly erroneous or that he abused his discretion.” We have further determined that a trial judge’s determination should not be overturned as clearly erroneous, even where the evidence in support of a judge’s findings is weak. Sharp v. Sharp, Ky., 491 S.W.2d 639, 643 (1973).
Furthermore, as the majority recognizes, in Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 103 S.Ct. 3001, 77 L.Ed.2d 637 (1983), the United States Supreme Court enumerated several factors to use in determining whether a particular penalty violates the Eighth Amendment. In my view, the value of the appel-lee’s truck, like the value of the stolen meat, is not one of those factors. Consequently, it is erroneous for this Court to use such a rationale to overturn the trial judge’s decision.
In the present case, because the trial judge’s determination that it was “unnecessarily punitive” for appellee to forfeit his truck on top of being required to do 100 hours of community service, pay a $500.00 supervision fee, and pay a $500.00 public defender fee, was clearly couched in terms of the Eighth Amendment and Solem, supra, his decision was not clearly erroneous and should not be disturbed.
STUMBO, J., joins this dissenting opinion.