Wylie v. Com.
| Decision Date | 20 May 1977 |
| Citation | 556 S.W.2d 1 |
| Parties | Roy Dean WYLIE, Appellant, v. COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
Jack Emory Farley, Public Defender, J. Vincent Aprile, II, Asst. Public Defender, Frankfort, for appellant.
Robert F. Stephens, Atty. Gen., Martin Glazer, Asst. Atty. Gen., Frankfort, for appellee.
Roy Dean Wylie appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of knowingly receiving stolen property and fixing his punishment at a year's imprisonment.
Wylie, when apprehended by police officers in Lexington, was found to be in possession of a quantity of silver and a stereo set that had previously been stolen from Mrs. R. M. Gay. Wylie testified that he was moving the property from a motel room occupied by Larry Williams, an acquaintance who had directed him to put it "underneath this trailer back behind the Continental Inn."
Wylie asserts that his conviction of the felony offense of receiving stolen property was constitutionally infirm since the indictment charged only the misdemeanor offense of receiving stolen property and thus failed to give him notice of the felony offense.
KRS 514.110 provides:
The indictment returned by the Fayette County Grand Jury read in part as follows:
"On or about the 17th day of September, 1975, in Fayette County, Kentucky, the above named defendant unlawfully received from a person or persons unknown to the Grand Jury a large quantity of silver and a stereo set which had been stolen from Mrs. R. M. Gay, knowing that the property was stolen; * * *."
Wylie asserts that as the indictment charged him with the misdemeanor offense of receiving stolen property he could not be tried on the felony offense, nor was the trial court permitted to instruct the jury on the felony offense of receiving stolen property. He asserts that KRS 514.110 requires that the clause "of the value of $100 or more" be an essential element of an indictment if the felony offense is to be charged.
In Duncan v. Commonwealth, Ky., 330 S.W.2d 419 (1959), the sufficiency of an indictment charging armed robbery was in issue because it stated only that the accused had robbed the victim by force, violence and arms, and by putting the victim in fear of bodily harm. This court, in holding that the indictment was insufficient to support a conviction, stated:
"The indictment will not support a conviction for armed robbery, because it does not state the vital fact, differentiating armed robbery from the lesser offense of simple robbery, that the robbery was committed by use of a 'pistol, gun or other firearm or deadly weapon,' these being the terms by which the offense of armed robbery is specifically defined in the statute. * * *."
Duncan was decided in compliance with those sections of the Criminal Code of Practice concerning the form and requisites of an indictment. Section 124 of the Criminal Code of Practice provided that the indictment must be direct and certain in regard to the offense charged. Duncan, in following this section, stated that a fundamental principle under the Criminal Code of Practice required that the substantive elements of a crime be stated as well as the name of the crime charged, and that a mere stating of the name was not a sufficient compliance with the Criminal Code.
The Rules of Criminal Procedure adopted subsequent to Duncan have substantially liberalized the traditional requirements applicable to indictments. RCr 6.10 requires only that the indictment contain a plain, concise, and definite statement of the essential facts constituting the specific offense. An indictment under this section is sufficient if it informs the accused of the specific...
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...the accused of the specific offense with which he or she has been charged and if it is not misleading. Id. See also Wylie v. Commonwealth, Ky., 556 S.W.2d 1 (1977). Here, Appellant had — and will have for retrial — sufficient notice of with what she is being TAPED PHONE CONVERSATIONS Appell......
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