Knox v. Commonwealth

Opinion of the Court by

Justice VENTERS.

Appellant, Michael Knox, entered pleas of guilty, pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970), to eight counts of second-degree robbery, for which he was sentenced to a total term of imprisonment of twenty-years. He now appeals that sentence as a matter of right. Ky. Const. § 110(2)(b). Knox argues that the trial court sentenced him without exercising independent judicial discretion in a manner very similar to the process we found unacceptable in McClanahan v. Commonwealth, 308 S.W.3d 694 (Ky.2010).…