Royce v. Commonwealth

OPINION AND ORDER

PALMORE, Chief Justice.

Acey Royce was convicted by the Harlan Circuit Court and sentenced to 20 years in prison for lst-degree manslaughter (KRS 507.030) and lst-degree robbery (KRS 515.-020), following which he appealed the judgment to this court as a matter of right. Const. Sec. 110(2)(b). On January 1, 1979, during the pendency of the appeal but before it had been scheduled for argument, Royce died. His counsel, the Public Advocate, thereupon moved that the judgment of the circuit court be vacated with directions that the indictment be dismissed as void or, in the…