Boyd v. Com.
| Decision Date | 11 March 1977 |
| Citation | 550 S.W.2d 507 |
| Parties | Wallace Oscar BOYD, Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Jack Emory Farley, Public Defender, Allen W. Holbrook, Asst. Public Defender, Frankfort, for appellant.
Robert F. Stephens, Atty. Gen., Mark F. Armstrong, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frankfort, for appellee.
Wallace Oscar Boyd was indicted, tried and convicted in the Greenup Circuit Court of the intentional multiple murders of Alete Gilliam and Edward Howard. The statutes required the jury to fix his punishment at death. KRS 507.020(2) (e) and KRS 532.030(1). He appeals.
The primary question presented for decision is the constitutionality of Kentucky's 1974 mandatory death penalty, vis-a-vis, the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States. Relying on the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976); Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976); Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976); Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976); Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325, 96 S.Ct. 3001, 49 L.Ed.2d 974 (1976), the Attorney General of the Commonwealth candidly concedes the unconstitutionality of Kentucky's mandatory death penalty.
The Supreme Court of the United states is the final interpreter of the Federal Constitution. Article VI, Section 2 of that document provides:
"This Constitution . . . shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
Consequently, we have no choice but to accept the concession and hold the mandatory death penalty to be unconstitutional.
The secondary question presented for decision is that of the punishment to be imposed upon Boyd once the unconstitutionality of the mandatory death penalty is established. The trial court instructed the jury on the intentional simple murder 1 of Gilliam, KRS 507.020(1)(a), the intentional simple murder of Howard, the intentional multiple murders of Gilliam and Howard, KRS 507.020(2) (e), the manslaughter in the first degree 2 of Gilliam, KRS 507.030, and the manslaughter in the first degree of Howard. The jury found Boyd guilty of the intentional multiple murders of Gilliam and Howard. In order for the jury to reach this result it was necessary that it find Boyd guilty of the intentional murders of both Gilliam and Howard under aggravated conditions and reject all possibilities of intentional simple murder or manslaughter convictions.
The jury chose to convict Boyd of the most serious and aggravated offense and invoke the ultimate punishment of death. It...
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