Barnett v. Commonwealth

LAMBERT, Chief Justice.

The issue presented on direct appeal is whether a county attorney may assist the Commonwealth’s Attorney in the prosecution of a criminal case without first having entered into a written agreement pursuant to KRS 15.725. We granted transfer from the Court of Appeals to consider a separate but closely related issue of whether a fiduciary relationship between the county attorney and the crime victim precludes the county attorney in any event from assisting in the prosecution.

On the morning of August 1, 1996, eighty-year-old Fuller Harding entered his garage where he was…