Court Opinion

ID: 9633034
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:31:59.406522+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:27.707435
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Justice SCOTT.
I concur in result with the majority’s opinion, as I am bound to follow precedent as I did in Fugett v. Commonwealth, 250 S.W.3d 604 (Ky.2008). However, I must point out that Shane v. Commonwealth, 243 S.W.3d 336 (Ky.2007) and Thomas v. *775Commonwealth, 864 S.W.2d 252 (Ky.1993), again causes us to reverse a conviction solely on the illusory grounds that the trial was unfair. Remember, the juror we are arguing about and for which we reverse this case, did not even sit on the jury. So, how was the trial unfair or the verdict unreliable? The structural error principle of Thomas, barring applications of harmless error, never made sense to me and still does not. See Morgan v. Commonwealth, 189 S.W.3d 99, 104 (Ky.2006) (overruled by Shane, 243 S.W.3d 336). Hopefully, someday we can put Thomas back where it belongs, R.I.P.