Brown v. Commonwealth, 780 S.W.2d 627 (Ky. 1989)

Cases | Brown v. Commonwealth, 780 S.W.2d 627 (Ky. 1989) | 2018

The defendant was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without benefit of parole for 25 years. On appeal, the defendant claimed that victim impact statements should have been excluded. The supreme court held that the defendant was correctly sentenced pursuant to Kentucky law and the question of victim impact statements was not properly preserved for appellate review. The jury that recommended the sentence was not exposed to the victim impact statements. The crucial difference between the instant case and a prior federal case limiting victim impact testimony was that the federal case considered statements during the sentencing phase of trial. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 421.520 provides that the statement is presented to the judge and not to the sentencing jury.