Court Opinion

ID: 9662853
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:20:00.345163+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:41.572039
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion because Ingram has not been put in jeopardy twice for the same offense.
Ingram was convicted of trafficking in marijuana on premises located within 1,000 yards of a school building and for knowingly and unlawfully selling marijuana to a person under 18 years of age. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of imprisonment for selling marijuana to a minor near the school and he also received a sentence of twelve months in jail for possession of less than 8 ounces of marijuana for sale.
The majority attempts to bring this question under the purview of Kentucky Constitution § 13 and reviews a number of Kentucky cases dealing with the question of multiple punishment, the question of merger of the criminal activity and the single criminal impulse or single criminal act when more than one offense is charged.
Traditionally, the test for determining whether one act can be two charges is found in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). This test was developed in the context of multiple punishments imposed in a single prosecution. It has been used for almost 60 years in considering federal as well as state criminal matters. Many crimes have a universal and generic background which is common to all states. The mere fact that the statutory language prohibiting certain conduct designated as criminal may vary from state to state does not change the underlying criminal offense. The rationale of Blockburger, supra, and the eases following it are persuasive to any logical person who considers the impact of the crime on the victim as well as the accused.
Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182, provides in part:
The applicable rule is that, where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not.
Interestingly enough, the majority asserts that the U.S. Supreme Court has not supplemented the Blockburger standard when the issue is multiple punishment imposed in a single trial. The majority further asserts that the double jeopardy clause does no more than prevent the sentencing court from prescribing greater punishment than the legislature intended.
Kentucky has long followed the same reasoning as set forth in Blockburger and subsequent federal cases. See Wilson v. Commonwealth, Ky., 695 S.W.2d 854 (1985); Polk v. Commonwealth, Ky., 679 S.W.2d 231 (1984). Wilson, supra, states that the test focuses on the proof necessary to prove the statutory elements of each offense and that we must determine the minimum facts necessary to establish a completed offense under each statute and determine if an additional fact must be proved for each completed offense.
K.R.S. 218A.990(5) regarding the selling of marijuana to a minor indicates that the minimum facts that would establish a charge are 1) that the seller was over 18; 2) that he sold or transferred marijuana; and 3) that the person he sold or transferred the marijuana to was under 18.
K.R.S. 218A.990(16), trafficking within 1,000 yards of a school, provides in pertinent part that the minimum facts would be 1) that there was trafficking in a controlled substance; 2) that there was a school used primarily for classroom instruction; and 3) that the trafficking was on a premises located within 1,000 yards from the school.
The conviction on each statutory offense requires proof of two additional elements. *326The only elements these offenses have in common is that the jury must have found a sale or transfer of the controlled substance. It is obvious that the addition of the elements in the separate statutes clearly indicates the legislative intent was to impose separate punishments for each offense.
I must respectfully disagree with the analysis of Jordan v. Commonwealth, Ky., 703 S.W.2d 870 (1986) made by the majority. Jordan, supra, said that the guilty plea of theft does not attach jeopardy to further prosecution for robbery because theft would be a lesser-included offense of robbery and it would impermissibly enhance the sentence and should be set aside. The same is true in Jones v. Commonwealth, Ky., 756 S.W.2d 462 (1988) and Jackson v. Commonwealth, Ky., 670 S.W.2d 828 (1984) because one of the charges was considered to be a lesser-included offense of the other.
That is not the case here. One offense is not the lesser-included offense of the other. This case is similar to Polk, supra, and Wilson, supra. The lengthy and learned survey of Kentucky cases made by the majority calls attention to the fact that a majority of the court has been selective in applying a merger or course of action impulse theory. It would appear that the court has employed a case-by-case approach in the cases surveyed by the majority-
The revered Wharton treatise on criminal law indicates that the fifth amendment to the federal constitution has many state constitutional provisions which are comparable and clearly states that the notion of former jeopardy has its basis on the philosophy that “no person shall be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy.” § 54 Wharton’s Criminal Law (14th ed. Vol. 1, p. 274). Wharton further expresses the view that the federal provision is applicable and binding on the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The underlying idea of the protection from double jeopardy is a restraint on courts and prosecutors. “The legislature remains free ... to define crimes and fix punishments; but once the legislature has acted, courts may not impose more than one punishment for the same offense, and prosecutors ordinarily may not attempt to secure that punishment in more than one trial.” § 54, p. 276 of Wharton’s.
The facts of this case, barely noted by the majority opinion, clearly demonstrate why the legislature adopted two different statutes to punish two separate acts of criminal behavior. Ingram admitted to keeping marijuana for his own use but denied ever selling anything to the minor. The minor testified that he went to Ingram’s home and bought two marijuana joints from him. The minor stated that he was asked for and paid $4.00 for the marijuana and that he smoked the joints which were rolled in the same white paper as were the 69 marijuana cigarettes later found by the police in Ingram’s home. The minor testified that he knew the joints were marijuana and that he got high. The police also found cigarette papers, scales and scissors which were used in the production of marijuana cigarettes and a police radio scanner in their search of Ingram’s home. The 69 marijuana cigarettes were found in a china cabinet where, according to police, the minor said Ingram got the marijuana he sold to the minor.
The fact that Ingram was 52 years old and sold marijuana to a 16 year old juvenile was enough to satisfy K.R.S. 218A.990(5). This offense could have happened anywhere but the additional fact that the transaction took place within 1,000 yards of a school established criminal liability for K.R.S. 218A.990(16). Each offense .required additional facts and the multiple convictions were proper.
I must respectfully disagree with the view of the majority that § 13 of the Kentucky Constitution is obviously broader than the included offense approach of the federal case of Blockburger and K.R.S. 505.020 which adopts the Blockburger rationale. The statute and Blockburger speak common sense. It is a theme universal in every state and every society. It is not necessary to seek refuge in a strained interpretation of the language of the Ken*327tucky or federal constitution. These genuinely respected and venerated charters of the law provide both broad guidelines and in some cases specific detail in regulating the conduct of human beings. I do not believe they provide any haven for those who would seek to avoid the consequences of their criminal activity. The Kentucky Constitution, Sec. 13, in pertinent part, clearly and simply provides that “no person shall, for the same offense, be twice put in jeopardy.” (Emphasis added.) The two statutes here are not the same offense.
Kentucky has long held that there can be different parts in a continuing criminal transaction which are separate offenses and may be separately prosecuted. The rule that a single criminal action cannot be split into separate offenses is not necessarily applicable if different parts of a continuous criminal transaction or series of acts are separate offenses and can be separately proved. Newton v. Commonwealth, 198 Ky. 707, 249 S.W. 1017 (1923).
I would affirm the conviction in all respects.