Hillard v. Commonwealth

I respectfully dissent because the majority’s construction of KRS 530.064 violates two fundamental constitutional principles: (1) a criminal defendant’s right to sufficient notice of the charges against him or her, and (2) the requirement that the government must prove every element of the offense charged. These violations require reversal of this case. Besides these constitutional violations, an additional reversible error occurred when the Commonwealth’s Attorney used an unauthorized, extrajudicial subpoena to compel trial witnesses to give pre-trial statements.

I. Notice of Charges

On August…