Commonwealth v. Halsell

CHARLES J. CRONAN, IV, Special Justice.

The 1994 Kentucky General Assembly amended KRS 635.020(4) by adding language to require that a child over the age of 14 charged with a felony involving the use of a firearm “shall be tried in the circuit court as an adult defendant and shall be subject to the same penalties as an adult defendant....” This statutory amendment has led to the two issues raised in these consolidated appeals. First, we must determine whether KRS 635.020(4) is constitutional. The second issue is whether KRS 635.020(4) can be harmonized with KRS 640.010 or whether there is an…