Aaron Lederer v. Commonwealth - COA,
6/12/15, not to be published
The Court reversed and remanded the trial courts
revocation order revoking Mr. Lederer’s five year sentence for failing to
report. Mr. Lederer was only a few months away from completing his probation at
the time of his revocation. The Court found that the trial court did not follow
“the new state of the law” pursuant to Commonwealth v. Andrews, 448
S.W.3d 773 (Ky. 2014), and KRS 439.3106(1) as to whether the violation
constitutes a significant risk to prior victims or the community or whether the
defendant can be managed in the community. Of particular interest in this case
is footnote 3 where the court found the following:
The Commonwealth
asserts Lederer did not properly preserve his argument that the trial court
failed to make appropriate findings under KRS 439.3106. The record demonstrates
that Lederer’s counsel did ask the court to consider sanctions other than
revocation and incarceration based on the common nature of the violation and
Lederer’s history while on probation. Even assuming this issue was not
properly preserved, the trial court’s failure to consider KRS 439.3106
certainly constitutes palpable error in light of the Supreme Court’s explicit
directive to do so under Andrews. See Kentucky Rule of
Criminal Procedure (RCr) 10.26.
(emphasis
added).
The Court is explicitly saying that even if trial counsel does not
object to such issues it will not be detrimental to the defendant on appeal.
Contributed by Jason Apollo Hart
