Court Opinion

ID: 9668198
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:05:12.158911+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:09:03.745363
License: Public Domain

STUMBO, Justice,
dissenting.
Respectfully, I must dissent from the majority’s holding that Thompkins was not entitled to an instruction on facilitation.
At the close of the evidence, Appellant tendered jury instructions that included an instruction for criminal facilitation as a lesser included offense of complicity to drug trafficking. The trial judge denied the instruction, maintaining that Appellant had not presented evidence for a facilitation instruction. Appellant believes this was error, and I agree. As we stated in Taylor v. Commonwealth, Ky., 995 S.W.2d 355 (1999):
In a criminal case, it is the duty of the trial judge to prepare and give instructions on the whole law of the case, and this rule requires instructions applicable to every state of the case deducible or supported to any extent by the testimony. A defendant has a right to have every issue of fact raised by the evidence and material to his defense submitted to the jury on proper instructions.
(citations omitted). Id. at 360.
Complicity, the offense with which Thompkins was convicted, requires “the intention of promoting or facilitating the commission of the offense” and that the person “(a) Solicits, commands, or engages in a conspiracy with such other person to commit the offense; or (b) Aids, counsels, or attempts to aid such person in planning or committing the offense; or (c) Having a legal duty to prevent the commission of the offense, fails to make a proper effort to do so.” KRS 502.020(1).
On the other hand, a person is guilty of facilitation if, “acting with knowledge that another person is committing or intends to commit a crime, he engages in conduct which knowingly provides such person with means or opportunity for the commission of the crime and which in fact aids such person to commit the crime.” KRS 506.080(1). As we explained in Chumbler v. Commonwealth, Ky., 905 S.W.2d 488, 499 (1995), the main difference between facilitation and complicity is the “state of mind of the defendant.” Citing Luttrell v. Commonwealth, Ky., 554 S.W.2d 75 (1977), we confirmed the belief that a person is guilty of facilitation if he provided another with the means of committing a crime, and also had the knowledge that the other person would commit the crime, but the facilitator had no intent to promote or *154“contribute to its fruition.” Complicity, however, requires a furnishing of the means to commit the crime, plus an intent to aid in its commission. Chumbler, 905 S.W.2d at 499.
The majority acknowledges the differences between facilitation and complicity, but asserts that a facilitation instruction is only proper if a juror could entertain doubt that the defendant was an accomplice to a crime but believes instead that he was a facilitator. Skinner v. Commonwealth, Ky., 864 S.W.2d 290, 298 (1993). Further, the majority argues that since Appellant did not testify, the trial court was limited to instructing the jury on reasonable inferences drawn from the proof and nothing in the evidence suggests that Appellant did not intend for the crime to be committed. In support of this proposition, the majority recites evidence that Appellant and Dancy met Franklin at the Holiday Inn; that Dancy, the alleged supervisor of the drug deal, loaded the suitcase containing cocaine into Appellant’s car; that Appellant arrived at Morrow’s house with Dancy; and that Appellant inspected the cocaine while at Morrow’s house. The majority also finds it relevant that the cocaine was found on the floorboard of Appellant’s vehicle. The majority of this evidence, however, was introduced at trial through the testimony of Michael Franklin, an accomplice who made a deal to testify on behalf of the Commonwealth.
While all these facts may be persuasive that Appellant Thompkins was a co-conspirator, they are not dispositive of the issue. The jury could reasonably disbelieve the testimony of Michael FranMin, especially since he was testifying to reduce his sentence. The other evidence introduced regarding Thompkins’ conspiring to traffic is far from compelling. In fact, Franklin conceded in his testimony that he had never heard of Thompkins, was never given instructions that Thompkins would handle anything, never heard Thompkins refer to the cocaine as his, ask for any money for the sale, or say that he knew someone who would purchase the drugs. I believe the jury could have easily found that Thompkins was merely there to drive some of the co-defendants around, and facilitate the trafficking, but did not care one way or the other if the deal actually happened. If that were the case, the jury should have been able to convict Thomp-kins of facilitation. I would therefore hold that the trial court erred in not admitting an instruction for facilitation, and reverse and remand Thompkins’ conviction to the Jefferson Circuit Court for a new trial consistent with this opinion.