Court Opinion

ID: 9908274
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-08 15:06:13.293503+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:04.690460
License: Public Domain

RENDERED: DECEMBER 1, 2023; 10:00 A.M.
                       NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

                Commonwealth of Kentucky
                         Court of Appeals
                            NO. 2022-CA-1430-MR

BRANDON DAWSON                                                   APPELLANT

                 APPEAL FROM MASON CIRCUIT COURT
v.              HONORABLE STOCKTON B. WOOD, JUDGE
                       ACTION NO. 17-CR-00030

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY                                           APPELLEE

                                   OPINION
                                  AFFIRMING

                                 ** ** ** ** **

BEFORE: THOMPSON, CHIEF JUDGE; ECKERLE AND KAREM, JUDGES.

THOMPSON, CHIEF JUDGE: Brandon Dawson, pro se, appeals from an order of

the Mason Circuit Court which denied his Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure (CR)

60.02(f) motion. We find no error and affirm.
                       FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

                On September 28, 2017, Appellant entered a guilty plea to second-

degree assault1 and being a persistent felony offender in the second degree.2

Appellant agreed to, and received, a term of imprisonment of eighteen years. On

September 2, 2022, Appellant filed the underlying CR 60.02(f) motion. In it, he

requested that his sentence be amended because he was more susceptible to

COVID-19 due to him having Hepatitis C. He also argued that his family was

undergoing some hardships and he would be able to help if he were out of prison.

Finally, he argued that he should be released from prison due to prison

overpopulation and understaffing. The trial court denied the motion and this

appeal followed.

                                        ANALYSIS

                Appellant raises the same issues on appeal. He argues that the trial

court should have granted his motion due to COVID-19, familial hardship, prison

overpopulation, and prison understaffing.

                      CR 60.02 functions as a means by which a party
                may seek relief from a final judgment, based upon any
                reason of an extraordinary nature justifying relief. CR
                60.02(f)[.] We review a trial court’s disposition of a CR
                60.02 motion for an abuse of discretion. The test for
                abuse of discretion is whether the trial judge’s decision

1
    Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 508.020.
2
    KRS 532.080(2).

                                               -2-
             was arbitrary, unreasonable, unfair, or unsupported by
             sound legal principles.

Ramsey v. Commonwealth, 453 S.W.3d 738, 739 (Ky. App. 2014) (internal

quotation marks and citations omitted).

             We find no merit to Appellant’s argument on appeal. Physical

ailments and familial hardships are not grounds to amend or vacate a sentence

pursuant to CR 60.02. Id. Furthermore, CR 60.02 is a mechanism in which a court

can “address significant defects in the trial proceedings.” Id. (citation omitted).

COVID-19, familial hardship, prison overpopulation, and prison understaffing are

not defects in trial proceedings; therefore, CR 60.02 does not apply in this case.

             Appellant also argues that he has recently expunged the prior felony

conviction used to enhance his sentence pursuant to the persistent felony offender

statute. He claims he should not have to serve an enhanced sentence. There is

nothing in the record to confirm this allegation and this argument was not raised in

the trial court; however, at the time of his current conviction, the prior felony

conviction was still a part of his criminal record and was properly used to enhance

his punishment.

                                  CONCLUSION

             Based on the foregoing, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. The

court did not abuse its discretion in denying Appellant’s CR 60.02 motion.

                                          -3-
          ALL CONCUR.

BRIEFS FOR APPELLANT:     BRIEF FOR APPELLEE:

Brandon Dawson, pro se    Daniel Cameron
Burgin, Kentucky          Attorney General of Kentucky

                          J. Grant Burdette
                          Assistant Attorney General
                          Frankfort, Kentucky

                         -4-