Court Opinion

ID: 9665149
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:41:50.956071+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:13.431123
License: Public Domain

STUMBO, Justice,
concurring in result only.
I concur in the result reached by the majority, not because I believe the issue has been resolved correctly, but because to do otherwise would violate the need for judicial economy and be an exercise in futility. I believe that Judge McAnulty was absolutely correct in his holding that the 1994 version of KRS 635.020(4) at issue here cannot be harmonized with, KRS 640.010 and is, thus, invalid. That being said, the legislature has amended that subsection of KRS 635 to read as follows:
Any other provision of KRS Chapters 610 to 645 to the contrary notwithstanding, if a child charged with a felony in which a firearm was used in the commission of the offense had attained the age of fourteen (14) years at the time of the commission of the alleged offense, he shall be transferred to the Circuit Court for trial as an adult if, following a preliminary hearing, the District Court finds probable cause to believe that the child committed a felony, that a firearm was used in the commission of that felony, and that the child was fourteen (14) years of age or older at the time of the commission of the alleged felony.
KRS 635.020(4).
This amendment takes effect on July 15, 1997, and appears to take care of the issue discussed in this opinion. I express no opinion as to any other issue that may be raised as to the new statute.