Edwards v. Com.
| Decision Date | 12 October 1973 |
| Citation | 500 S.W.2d 396 |
| Parties | Morris Richard EDWARDS, Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Edwin F. Kagin, Jr., Donald M. Heavrin, Louisville, for appellant.
Ed W. Hancock, Atty. Gen., Jackson D. Guerrant, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frankfort, for appellee.
Edwards was found guilty by a Jefferson Circuit Court jury on a trial of a multiple-count indictment and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on each of two counts of rape (KRS 435.090); a term of five years' imprisonment on each of two counts of indecent and immoral practices (KRS 435.105); a term of not more than five years' imprisonment on a count of indecent and immoral practices (KRS 435.105); and a term of five years on each of two counts of buggery (KRS 436.050). All sentences are to run concurrently.
The acts with which Edwards was charged were committed on three women. The evidence of guilt was overwhelming. In addition to a positive identification of Edwards by each of the victims, a pistol taken from the apartment of one of the victims was found on Edwards' person at the time of his arrest. Rings taken from the hand of the same victim were found in Edwards' living quarters. Edwards' fingerprints were found on an alarm clock handled by Edwards in the apartment of another of the victims, and a car taken by Edwards from the other victim was found approximately one block from Edwards' living quarters.
Edwards appeals contending (1) the sentences of life imprisonment without parole constitute cruel and unusual punishment; (2) the trial court abused its discretion in denying Edwards' motion to sever the offenses for trial; (3) the failure to remand for a preliminary examination violated Edwards' constitutional rights; (4) there was an abuse of discretion in denying Edwards' motion for a postponement in order to determine his competency to stand trial; (5) it was prejudicial error to permit the husband of one of the victims, in identifying the pistol, to state that he was a police officer; and finally (6) KRS 435.105, which denounces indecent and immoral practices, is void for vagueness and overbreadth.
(1) Edwards was 18 years of age and married at the time these acts were committed. We are not persuade that the decision in Workman v. Commonwealth, Ky., 429 S.W.2d 374 (1968), that life imprisonment without parole in the case of a juvenile constitutes 'cruel and unusual punishment' should be extended to this case.
(2) RCr 6.18 provides: 'Two (2) or more offenses * * * may be charged in the same indictment in a separate count for each offense, if the offenses are of the same or similar character or are based on the same acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan.'
Here two of the victims were attacked on the same day, the other attack occurring about three weeks earlier. According to the evidence, the offenses were similar, the methods of gaining entry to the apartments were similar, and Edwards' actions in each instance before committing the offenses and afterwards were similar. We conclude that the trial court acted propertly in joining the offenses for trial and that there was not a showing of prejudice to require separate trials as provided in RCr 9.16. Here the evidence of guilt in each instance was so clear and convincing that we cannot infer that the jury could have had any disposition to find guilt as to any one offense from the proof introduced as to the other offenses. Nor can we see how the jury here could cumulate the evidence of the various...
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