Court Opinion

ID: 9950586
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-14 15:08:23.499428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:37:27.302500
License: Public Domain

IMPORTANT NOTICE
        NOT TO BE PUBLISHED OPINION

THIS OPINION IS DESIGNATED “NOT TO BE PUBLISHED.”
PURSUANT TO THE RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE
PROMULGATED BY THE SUPREME COURT, RAP 40(D), THIS
OPINION IS NOT TO BE PUBLISHED AND SHALL NOT BE
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THE ACTION.
                                                    RENDERED: MARCH 14, 2024
                                                         NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

                Supreme Court of Kentucky
                                  2022-SC-0475-MR

JEFFREY HEATH HALL                                                       APPELLANT

                    ON APPEAL FROM BOYD CIRCUIT COURT
V.                  HONORABLE JOHN F. VINCENT, JUDGE
                              NO. 20-CR-00245

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY                                                   APPELLEE

                   MEMORANDUM OPINION OF THE COURT

                                      AFFIRMING

      This appeal comes before the Court as a matter of right 1 from Boyd

Circuit Court. Jeffrey Hall was tried and convicted for one count of first-degree

sodomy, victim under twelve, continuing course of conduct. He was convicted

and sentenced to thirty years in prison. On appeal, he alleges only one error—

that the trial court erred in allowing testimony of Hall’s suspension from work

as an employee of Kentucky Fried Chicken. He argues this violated KRE 2

404(b). Upon review, however, we agree with the Commonwealth that this

alleged error, if it was error at all, was invited. Therefore, it is not reviewable

upon appeal. Hall’s conviction is affirmed.

      1 Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b).

      2 Kentucky Rules of Evidence.
      The underlying facts are immaterial to our disposition. It suffices to note

that Hall was a father figure to B.R. 3 from the time he was an infant, when he,

his siblings, and mother, moved in with Hall. B.R. testified that Hall began

sodomizing him when he was in kindergarten. In 2020, when B.R. was eight

years old, he reported the abuse to his grandmother. This report led to the

arrest and charges against Hall.

      At trial, B.R., as well as Hall’s aunt and father, mentioned Hall’s

employment at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Hall took the stand in his own defense

and testified that he worked there full-time from February 2020 to the end of

April or beginning of May 2020. On cross-examination, the Commonwealth

asked if Hall had not in fact been suspended from work on February 20.

Counsel objected.

      At the bench conference, defense counsel argued that he was entitled to

notice of the evidence of suspension under KRE 404(c). The Commonwealth

argued that Hall had testified to his own history as full-time employee of KFC,

and it was entitled to impeach him if that testimony was lie, as evidenced by

the employment records noting a suspension on February 20. The

Commonwealth had a physical document of the employment record. The trial

court agreed that if the employment record came in as evidence, it would be for

purposes of impeachment to demonstrate Hall had lied about his employment

      3 We use initials to protect the identity of minor victims.

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history. Defense counsel was allowed to review the document and the following

colloquy occurred:

      Defense: So, you’re not going to bring this up?

      Commonwealth: We don’t have to bring up the details, the content,
      but he’s certainly lying about having been suspended.

      Defense: Okay, I don’t have a problem with asking, that the
      question is ‘was he suspended?’ I have a problem with when this
      [counsel holds up the employment document] comes in [inaudible].

The trial court overruled the objection and cross-examination continued. The

Commonwealth asked if Hall had been suspended on February 20, 2020. Hall

testified he had been asked to go home and did not work for the next ten days,

at which point he was allowed to come back to KFC and was paid for the time

off. He then further explained, without prompting, that the allegation against

him (though he did not detail the allegation) was recanted, and that was why

he was paid for the time off. The physical document was not admitted into

evidence and the Commonwealth moved on.

      Evidentiary rulings are subject to an abuse of discretion review. Mason v.

Commonwealth, 559 S.W.3d 337, 342 (Ky. 2018). Hall maintains on appeal

that he was entitled to notice under KRE 404(c) of this evidence because it is

prior bad acts testimony. We do not agree. It was Hall who testified about his

own employment on direct examination. It was therefore within the trial court’s

discretion to allow cross-examination about the fact that he did not work at

KFC for ten days, even if only a collateral matter. Commonwealth v. Prater, 324

S.W.3d 393, 399-400 (Ky. 2010). But even assuming there was error, it was

invited because defense counsel conceded to the trial court that he had no
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problem with Hall being asked if he was suspended; his only objection was to

the physical employment record, presumably detailing the underlying facts

about that suspension, being admitted.

      “Generally, a party is estopped from asserting an invited error on
      appeal.” Quisenberry v. Commonwealth, 336 S.W.3d 19, 37 (Ky.
      2011) (citing Gray v. Commonwealth, 203 S.W.3d 679 (Ky. 2006)).
      “Invited errors amount to a waiver and are not subject to appellate
      review.” Webster v. Commonwealth, 438 S.W.3d 321, 324 (Ky.
      2014) (citing Thornton v. Commonwealth, 421 S.W.3d 372, 376-77
      (Ky. 2013)).

Kelly v. Commonwealth, 554 S.W.3d 854, 866 (Ky. 2018).

      A final consideration is the simple fact that the underlying details of the

suspension were not solicited upon cross-examination or re-direct, and the

physical document that was the focus of defense counsel’s objection was not

admitted into evidence. Thus, even though Hall’s objection was overruled, the

eventuality he sought to forestall did not occur. There simply is no reversible

error under any appraisal of the facts. Hall’s conviction is affirmed.

      All sitting. All concur.

COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT:

Kayla D. Deatherage
Assistant Public Advocate

COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE:

Russell M. Coleman
Attorney General of Kentucky

Courtney J. Hightower
Assistant Attorney General

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