Hammond v. Commonwealth
Hammond v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
In 2014, Joshua T. Hammond first appealed to this Court from a Franklin Circuit Court judgment sentencing him to twenty-five years for first-degree robbery, first-degree assault, reckless homicide, and tampering with evidence. Following the guilt phase of a jury trial, Hammond waived jury sentencing and entered a plea agreement with the Commonwealth as to sentencing, while reserving his right to *407appeal his conviction. The trial court sentenced Hammond to twenty-five years in accordance with the agreement. On Hammond's appeal from the judgment, this Court reversed the first-degree assault conviction and remanded the case to the trial court to enter a new judgment. Hammond v. Commonwealth,
FACTS
To briefly reiterate the underlying facts, Hammond and two other men drove to Lexington to purchase drugs. After making the purchase, Hammond devised a plan to rob Charles Monroe, a Frankfort drug dealer. Hammond set up a meeting with Monroe and the four men drove to a local Wal-Mart. After Hammond and Monroe spent some time in the store, they returned to Hammond's truck but instead of going toward Monroe's home, Hammond drove in a different direction. When Monroe stated that they were going the wrong way, Hammond stopped the truck on the side of an interstate ramp and demanded that Monroe hand over his money and drugs. Hammond then began hitting Monroe in the head with a police baton. Monroe attempted to defend himself, but Hammond walked around to the passenger side while one of the other men held Monroe in a chokehold. Hammond continued striking Monroe on the head with the baton and searched for drugs and money, ultimately collecting $160 and some pills. Hammond pulled Monroe from the truck and left him on the side of the highway. Monroe died as a result of the assault, and the medical examiner stated the death was likely a result of an injury to Monroe's throat, caused by the chokehold.
In 2014, a Franklin Circuit Court jury found Hammond guilty of first-degree robbery, first-degree assault, reckless homicide and tampering with evidence. After the guilt phase, Hammond entered into a plea agreement with the Commonwealth to avoid the jury sentencing phase, and the trial court sentenced Hammond to twenty years for first-degree robbery and twenty years for first-degree assault (to be served concurrently), and five years each for reckless homicide and tampering with evidence (to be served concurrently) for a total sentence of twenty-five years.
After entry of the judgment, Hammond appealed as a matter of right, and this Court rendered an opinion on December 15, 2016, affirming in part, reversing in part, and remanding. Hammond,
In that earlier appeal, Hammond challenged his first-degree assault conviction on three different grounds. He contended that the assault charge merged into the robbery charge, that the assault charge merged into the homicide charge, and that he should have received a directed verdict on the assault charge due to insufficient evidence that he inflicted a serious physical injury on Monroe. Hammond argued that the only physical injury to Monroe serious enough to support an assault charge was the throat injury, and this Court agreed. According to the medical testimony, the head wounds Hammond inflicted *408on Monroe with the baton were superficial and did not cause Monroe's death. Since the head injury could not serve as the basis for the assault charge, the only other viable injury was the throat injury. Justice Venters, writing for a unanimous Court, concluded that a "single injury which proves to be fatal cannot simultaneously serve as the injury in an underlying assault conviction and the fatal wound resulting in the death underlying the homicide conviction." Hammond,
This Court also agreed with Hammond that the first-degree assault charge merged into the reckless homicide charge. The Court determined that "either the trial court erred by submitting to the jury a first degree assault charge based upon evidence insufficient to establish that the head wound was a 'serious physical injury'; or, the jury was improperly permitted to find Appellant guilty of both first degree assault and reckless homicide based upon the serious injury to Monroe's throat."
On October 12, 2017, the trial court conducted a re-sentencing hearing where Hammond moved to withdraw the sentencing plea agreement and to have a jury impaneled for the penalty phase. The trial court denied his motion, stating that the Kentucky Supreme Court ruling contemplated re-sentencing only to clarify that the assault conviction was set aside, and reversal of the assault conviction did not affect Hammond's final sentence. Hammond was re-sentenced to twenty-five years, and now appeals from the trial court's second judgment.
ANALYSIS
Hammond argues that our holding in Hammond v. Commonwealth changed the terms of his plea agreement and because of this change, he should be permitted the right to proceed with a new jury empaneled for the penalty phase. Specifically, he argues that he now faces a new set of circumstances, i.e., he was originally facing a fifty-year sentence for all his charges while the assault charge was still viable, but since the assault conviction has been reversed, the longest sentence he could have received was thirty years.
I. Hammond waived his right to jury sentencing.
After the guilt phase of trial, Hammond entered a guilty plea pursuant to a deal with the Commonwealth and waived his right to have a jury sentence him. To be valid, a guilty plea must be entered "intelligently and voluntarily." Bronk v. Commonwealth,
*409Early v. Commonwealth,
"It has long been held that, when the complete record is not before the appellate court, that court must assume that the omitted record supports the decision of the trial court." Commonwealth v. Thompson,
All defendants have the right to a jury trial in all criminal prosecutions. Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 29A.270(1). This is a fundamental right in our legal system, and Hammond was entitled to, and received, this right. KRS 29A.270 ; U.S. Const, amend. VI. "Cases required to be tried by jury shall be so tried unless the defendant waives a jury trial in writing with the approval of the court and the consent of the Commonwealth." Kentucky Rule of Criminal Procedure (RCr) 9.26(1). KRS 532.055(2) requires that "[u]pon return of a verdict of guilty ... the court shall conduct a sentencing hearing before the jury, if such case was tried before a jury. In the hearing the jury will determine the punishment to be imposed within the range provided elsewhere by law."
By entering a plea agreement, Hammond waived his right to be sentenced by the jury. "Among the rights recognized as requiring the defendant's personal waiver are the rights 'to plead guilty, waive a jury ... or take an appeal.' " Commonwealth v. Simmons,
II. The plea agreement constituted a contract between Hammond and the Commonwealth, but there were no ambiguities.
"Generally, plea agreements in criminal cases are contracts between the accused and the Commonwealth, and are interpreted according to ordinary contract principles." McClanahan v. Commonwealth,
In this appeal, Hammond argues that this Court's opinion reversing the assault conviction changed the terms of the contract and thereby created an ambiguity. Hammond relies on Elmore v. Commonwealth,
"An ambiguous contract is one capable of more than one different, reasonable interpretation." Central Bank & Tr. Co. v. Kincaid,
For an ambiguity to exist in Hammond's plea agreement, the terms would need to be open to multiple interpretations, or contain unclear language. This ambiguity must have existed in the contract at the time it was formed, and that, obviously, is not the nature of his argument on appeal. Although framed as a contract ambiguity, Hammond is essentially seeking a "do-over," with hopes of having a jury sentence him, despite having already waived that right.
We acknowledge that Hammond has had a change in circumstances. Hammond initially faced up to fifty years in prison but the reversal of the assault conviction changed his circumstances. If the assault charge had been dismissed pretrial or by directed verdict, Hammond would have only faced up to thirty years in prison following the guilt phase. But Hammond apparently fails to recognize that he initiated this change in circumstances by appealing his case, a right he specifically reserved in the plea agreement. His successful appeal on the assault conviction does not invalidate the plea agreement.
*411"[P]lea agreements are interpreted by what they say, not what they might have said if the defendants or the government could have foreseen the future." United States v. Melton,
As observed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit:
In a contract (and equally in a plea agreement) one binds oneself to do something that someone else wants, in exchange for some benefit to oneself. By binding oneself one assumes the risk of future changes in circumstances in light of which one's bargain may prove to have been a bad one. That is the risk inherent in all contracts; they limit the parties' ability to take advantage of what may happen over the period in which the contract is in effect.
United States v. Bownes,
Here, Hammond bargained with the Commonwealth for a twenty-year concurrent sentence for both the assault and robbery charge, each of which could have carried a twenty-year sentence independently. Hammond accepted and received the bargained-for sentence. His partially successful appeal does not call the entire plea agreement into question. Simply put, a change in circumstances is a risk inherent in all contracts, including Hammond's plea agreement, and changed circumstances do not permit his withdrawal from the agreement.
Finally, this Court's directive in Hammond v. Commonwealth was clear: "this case is remanded for entry of a new judgment consistent with this opinion."
*412CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the Franklin Circuit Court.
Minton, C.J.; Keller, Lambert, VanMeter, and Wright, JJ., sitting. All concur.
A full recitation of the facts can be found in Hammond v. Commonwealth,
In Commonwealth v. Reneer,
United States v. Melton involved two defendants who entered plea agreements with the government that stated the court would impose a sentence, and that the United States Sentencing Guidelines would apply in an "advisory manner."
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.