Court Opinion

ID: 9666636
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:23:23.483834+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:31.565364
License: Public Domain

STUMBO, Justice,
dissenting.
Respectfully, I must dissent. During the oral argument of this ease, counsel for the Commonwealth admitted that under the law as it existed in this state prior to the adoption of the Kentucky Rules of Evidence, the statement at issue would not be admissible into evidence. The majority, having held that prior Kentucky law applies (despite the fact that the argument did not arise until the case reached this level of appeal), has both ignored the admission of the Commonwealth and the law it purports to apply. I would hold that there was insufficient, independent evidence of King’s alleged participation in a conspiracy to permit the introduction of the statement “that’s my money man,” without considering the statement itself.
That being said, we should acknowledge that we granted discretionary review in this ease to determine whether, following the adoption of KRE 801A(b)(5), the rule of evidence that provided that a co-conspirator’s challenged hearsay statement could not be used to prove the existence of a conspiracy and the defendant’s participation in it had any continuing vitality. Canada v. Commonwealth, Ky., 262 Ky. 177, 89 S.W.2d 880, 881 (1936). I think it should be stressed that this particular question of evidentiary law remains unresolved and that this Court has not addressed whether we will, or should, follow the lead of the United States Supreme Court as set forth in Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987).
STEPHENS, C.J., joins.