Stacey L. Wigginton- COA, 11/06/15, to be
published. Reversing.
Stacey L. Wigginton entered a
conditional guilty plea to reckless homicide, a Class D felony, for killing her
ex-husband and was sentenced to serve five years. Pursuant to her plea, she appealed the
Circuit Court’s denial of her assertion of immunity from prosecution under
Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 503.085.
Ms. Wigginton argued that the trial court applied the improper standard
for determining whether she was justified in using physical force and that the
Commonwealth failed to establish probable cause that her use of force was
unlawful.
The Commonwealth argued that the facts before the trial court as
detailed in the discovery, medical records, and statements of Nancye Riley, Ms.
Wigginton’s mother, all show that Stacey was not in imminent danger of “death,
serious physical injury, kidnapping, sexual intercourse compelled by force or
threat, felony involving the use of force, or under those circumstances
permitted pursuant to KRS 503.055.” See
KRS 503.050(2).
The Court of Appeals found, “According to Kentucky Supreme Court
case law, the burden was not on Stacey to come forth with evidence to support
her claim of immunity under the self-defense statute. Rather, ‘[t]he burden [was] on the
Commonwealth to establish probable cause and it may do so by directing the
court’s attention to the evidence of record including witness statements,
investigative letters prepared by law enforcement officers, photographs and
other documents of record.’ Rodgers v. Commonwealth 285 S.W.3d 740,
755 (Ky. 2009).” In addition to the
evidence of record, there is a long line of cases allowing the admission of a
victim’s other acts of violence, if known to the defendant, when self-defense
is claimed. Moreover, a justifiable fear
leading to the use of deadly force can be based on prior assaults or
threats. Cases allowing such evidence
have turned on threats made by the victim, or multiple instances of violence,
or a substantial combination of the two.
The Court of Appeals held, “Herein, the trial court was to
assess the evidence in the record to determine whether the Commonwealth had met
its burden that there was a substantial basis to make a probable cause conclusion
that Staceey’s use of deadly force was not legally justifiable. Absent this, Rodgers holds that the case should be dismissed. The Court of Appeal, having reviewed the
record, concluded that the Commonwealth did not meet its burden in this case
because the statements of Stacey and Nancye certainly did not support the
Commonwealth’s burden of probable cause that the use of deadly force was not
justified.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case to the Graves Circuit Court. Katie L. Benward, formally of the Appeals Branch and Roy A. Durham II of the Appeals Branch represented Ms. Wigginton on appeal. Nathan Goodrich of the Murray office represented Ms. Wigginton in the trial court.
Contributed by Kathleen Schmidt
