Court Opinion

ID: 9479220
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:11:54.729919+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:53.643223
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I am in accord with Part III of Judge Guy’s decision and concur in the reversal of the decision of the district court for the reasons well expressed therein. I am not, however, in agreement with Part II of that decision that Dale necessarily “contravened the Boulder decision.”
I write separately, then, to express my belief that the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision in Boulder v. Commonwealth, 610 S.W.2d 615 (Ky.1980), is factually distinct from this case and should not be controlling on its outcome. The statement of the same court in Dale v. Commonwealth, 715 S.W.2d 227 (Ky.1986), that it was overruling Boulder “to the extent ... [it] is inconsistent” had no ex post facto effect.
In Boulder the prosecution established the charge of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon by using the defendant’s 1976 conviction of first degree assault. This same prior felony was then used in the persistent felony offender (PFO) stage of the trial to enhance the sentence from three to five years. Finally, the same prior conviction was used a third time to enhance the sentence of a separate felony from fifteen to thirty-five years. As the court stated, “[t]he prosecutor bombarded [the defendant] by using his status as a felon against him three times.” In Dale, the court described the Boulder action as “double enhancement” and “error” upon reflection.
In this case, one of Dale’s several prior felony convictions was used as a predicate to establish the offense of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon and then to enhance the sentence on a robbery charge. This use or enhancement of a prior conviction is not addressed by Boulder, because the Commonwealth utilized a prior eonviction not twice, but three times in the Boulder case. Anything expressed in Boulder concerning the kind of use of a prior conviction, such as occurred in the instant case, was therefore dicta, in my view.
The precise holding of Boulder was clearly articulated by the court:
Specifically, this [prior felon] status may not be used to obtain a primary conviction, then re-used to increase the punishment for that conviction, and then reused again to enhance a sentence for another primary conviction.
610 S.W.2d at 618 (emphasis added). Since this is not the situation presented in the case at hand, I would hold that Dale was not deprived of the benefit of former case law when the Kentucky Supreme Court indicated it was overruling Boulder if inconsistent with the Dale decision.
There is another basis on which the district court’s decision might be reversed. There was reference in this case to a number of prior felonies. There was only one prior felony involved in Boulder. In this case, as distinct from the situation in Boulder, a single prior felony committed by the defendant is not being used “to obtain a primary conviction, then re-used to increase the punishment for that conviction, and then re-used again to enhance a sentence for another primary conviction.” 610 S.W.2d at 618 (emphasis added). In Jackson v. Commonwealth, 650 S.W.2d 250 (Ky.1983), the same court indicated an unwillingness to extend Boulder and referred to “unfortunate language” in Boulder.
I would find no ex post facto application of the law, and would reverse on this basis as well.