Court Opinion

ID: 9683714
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:35:39.646507+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:49.843509
License: Public Domain

ROACH, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority concludes that cumulative, reversible prejudice resulted from the admission of evidence concerning (i) the sexual abuse of Appellant’s daughter, Lalona Bramble, (ii) Appellant’s previous marriages and abandonment of his children, and (iii) the introduction of firearms owned by Appellant that were not alleged to have been related to the murder of Appellant’s wife, Marlene. Because the majority has refused to properly consider harmless error, I dissent.
To begin with, I am not convinced that the sexual abuse evidence was improperly admitted. After reviewing the trial testimony and proceedings, the evidence at issue appears to be inextricably intertwined with evidence that was rightfully considered. I simply disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the abuse of La-lona does not “supply, or support, any other reasonably related issue.” Ante at 707. The majority finds no error in the admission of sexual abuse evidence relating to Appellant’s son, Donald Oakes. At trial, Donald Oakes testified that Appellant subjected him to daily sexual abuse while he lived in Kentucky. He described fights between his mother and father over his father’s abusive behavior. Donald also testified that the sexual abuse resumed *716shortly alter the move to Rhode Island. He testified that he was molested by Appellant “every chance he got.” The sexual abuse occurred “morning, evening, whenever.” The sexual abuse consisted of fondling, sodomy, and anal penetration. Donald also stated that his father told him that he would kill his sister if he ever told anyone. Ultimately, after years of horrific sexual abuse, Donald’s step-mother called the police and Appellant was convicted in Rhode Island of sexual abuse of both Lalo-na and Donald. The majority states that the sexual abuse of Lalona was “an unconnected crime for which” Appellant served ten years. This is simply inaccurate since Appellant was convicted of sexually abusing both his children.
The real issue before this Court, however, is whether harmless error occurred.1 After reviewing the trial testimony, I can confidently conclude that any error that may have occurred was harmless because the evidence against the Appellant was absolutely overwhelming. In addition to his testimony regarding the abuse, Donald also stated that his father told him that his mother had left the family and that she was a prostitute and drug user. He also said his father questioned him as to whether he saw or heard anything during the last night he saw his mother.
In addition to describing her own sexual abuse at Appellant’s hands, Lalona testified that she called her father and asked him what he had done with her mother’s body. He replied, “if you ever think I will tell you what I did with her body, you’re crazy.”
Appellant’s father testified that his son confessed to the crime during a telephone conversation. He stated that Appellant told him that he had killed his wife, shooting her six times, and then described how he had disposed of her body.
Appellant also confessed to police that he had killed his wife. Detective Kenner testified that Appellant told him at the airport in Providence, Rhode Island, “I know they think I cut her head off — I didn’t.” On the airplane back to Kentucky, the Appellant told the officers accompanying him that when they got back to Kentucky he would show them in Verona where “[he] dumped her.” Appellant also offered the detectives a car and boat to “forget the whole thing.”
At the Boone County Jail, Appellant provided additional details of the murder of his wife. He told the officers that a fight ensued because his wife was trying to leave with the couple’s children. Appellant then told the police that while his wife was in her Ford Pinto, she took out a revolver. He stated that he grabbed the gun and shot her six times, four times in the body and twice in the head. He remarked that he had been “proud” of his tight grouping of shots and that all six bullet holes were within a ten inch diameter. Appellant then described taking the children to a neighbor’s house and dumping his wife’s body in a sinkhole at the Waller farm. He also described, in detail, disposing of his wife’s car in the Ohio River.
In addition to Appellant’s admissions, the majority notes the introduction of the following substantial evidence: (i) a female skull, verified by DNA testing to belong to a maternal relative of Lalona, that had been discovered on the Waller farm just a month after Marlene’s disappearance; (ii) testimony that on the day of her disappearance, Appellant’s wife told her sister *717that she had proof of Appellant’s abusive behavior and that she was going to divorce him; and (iii) testimony that the Appellant had told others that if his wife ever left him he would shoot her, cut off her head, and knock out her teeth.
In short, the jury heard evidence that the Appellant confessed to both his father and the police that he had murdered his wife. Further, he told his daughter that he would never reveal what he had done with his wife’s body, implying his culpability for her disappearance. The jury also heard unchallenged testimony from Donald of the sexual abuse that he was constantly subjected to by Appellant. Evidence of Appellant’s guilt is overwhelming. To claim as the majority does that the cumulative effect of the alleged errors mandates a reversal of Appellant’s conviction, while failing to even consider the possibility that those errors might be deemed harmless, defies all common sense and logic. Thus, I respectfully dissent.
GRAVES and WINTERSHEIMER, JJ., join this dissenting opinion.

. The admission of Appellant's firearms, though possibly impermissible under Gerlaugh v. Commonwealth, 156 S.W.3d 747 (Ky.2005), is also subject to review for harmless error.