MELVIN HENRY IGNATOW V. JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT, DIVISION SIX COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
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RENDERED: JANUARY 25,200l
TO BE PUBLISHED
1999-SC-0540-MR
MELVIN HENRY IGNATOW
V.
COURT OF APPEALS OF KENTUCKY
NO. 1999-CA-0077-OA
HONORABLE STEPHEN RYAN, JUDGE
JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT, DIVISION SIX
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY,
REAL PARTY IN INTEREST
APPELLEES
OPINION OF THE COURT BY CHIEF JUSTICE LAMBERT
AFFIRMING
Pursuant to CR 76.36(7)(a), Appellant, Melvin Henry Ignatow, appeals as
a matter of right from an order of the Court of Appeals denying his request for a writ of
prohibition. Thereby, Appellant sought to prevent Judge Stephen P. Ryan from
subjecting him to trial for perjury on grounds of collateral estoppel, as he had been
previously acquitted of a murder charge arising from the same set of factual
circumstances underlying the perjury charge. Appellant also sought to prevent his trial
on the charge of being a second degree persistent felony offender. For the following
reasons, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
The facts of Appellant’s former trial (hereinafter the “murder trial”), which
Appellant now presents as grounds for his collateral estoppel claim, are as follows. On
September 24, 1988, Appellant’s former girlfriend, Brenda Sue Schaefer, disappeared.
In January, 1990, Mary Ann Shore, another former girlfriend, led authorities to
Schaefer’s body, which was buried behind Shore’s home, and Shore implicated
Appellant in Schaefer’s death. Appellant was subsequently tried for murder,
kidnapping, sodomy, sexual abuse, robbery and tampering with evidence in regard to
Schaeffer’s disappearance and death. Appellant was acquitted of all charges. He did
not testify at the trial.
After Appellant’s acquittal, on October 1, 1992, the owners of the home
that Appellant had lived in at the time of Schaefer’s death were having new carpet
installed, and photos depicting the crime as well as Schaefer’s jewelry were found by
the carpet installers. Thereafter, Appellant was charged and pled guilty to federal
perjury charges arising from the federal investigation of Schaefer’s disappearance.
During his plea colloquy in United States District Court, Appellant confessed to abusing
Schaefer, both physically and sexually, and to murdering her. On November 13, 1992,
he received a ninety-seven month federal prison sentence.
Several years later, on October 23, 1997, the Jefferson County Grand
Jury returned an indictment charging Appellant with first degree perjury and with being a
second degree persistent felony offender. The perjury charge arose from events that
occurred prior to Appellant’s murder trial. On March 22, 1989, Appellant received a
letter from Schaefer’s former employer, Dr. William Spalding, alleging that Appellant
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was responsible for Schaefer’s disappearance and threatening to have Appellant killed
if he did not reveal any information he had about Schaefer’s disappearance.
On the day Appellant received the letter, he swore out a warrant against
Dr. Spalding for terroristic threatening. Dr. Spalding was brought to trial, and on August
10, 1989, Appellant testified under oath at Spalding’s trial as follows:
1. That on September 24, 1988, he had been at Captain’s
Quarters with Schaefer;
2. That on that date his relationship with Schaefer was good,
he loved her very much, she loved him, and they were
engaged to be married;
3. That he had no knowledge that there was anything wrong
with their relationship, and that it was an absolutely good,
loving relationship; and
4. That when they parted on September 24, 1988, they were
on good terms, everything was fine, and they had intended
to get together the next day.
This testimony given by Appellant at Dr. Spalding’s trial is the basis for the present
perjury charge.
Appellant sought to have the perjury and the PFO II charges against him
dismissed based upon principles of collateral estoppel. The trial court denied the
motion, and Appellant subsequently filed an original action in the Court of Appeals,
seeking to prohibit enforcement of the trial court’s order denying the motion to dismiss
the indictment.
The Court of Appeals denied Appellant’s request for a writ of prohibition.
In
SO
doing, the Court of Appeals noted that to prove that Appellant committed perjury,
the prosecution will be required to prove that at the Spalding trial Appellant lied about
the status of his relationship with Schaefer on the day he murdered her. The Court of
Appeals reasoned that the quality of Appellant’s relationship was not litigated at the
murder trial, and thus concluded that Appellant’s prosecution for perjury and for being a
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persistent felony offender was not barred by the collateral estoppel doctrine. Appellant
now appeals to this Court as a matter of right.
Under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, “D/v]hen an issue of ultimate fact
has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be
litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.“’ In Ashe v. Swenson,2 the
United States Supreme Court announced the test to be applied in determining whether
a subsequent prosecution should be barred based upon collateral estoppel, stating,
Where a previous judgment of acquittal was based upon a
general verdict, as is usually the case, this approach
requires a court to “examine the record of a prior
proceeding, taking into account the pleadings, evidence,
charge, and other relevant matter, and conclude whether a
rational jury could have grounded its verdict upon an issue
other than that which the defendant seeks to foreclose from
consideration [in the subsequent proceeding].3
Following the Ashe decision, federal courts have announced that an issue must have
been “actually and necessarily determined” in prior litigation for the defendant to use
the issue as the basis for a successful collateral estoppel defense.4
In Kentucky, the doctrine of collateral estoppel is codified at KRS
505.040(2), which states in pertinent part,
Although a prosecution is for a violation of a different
statutory provision from a former prosecution . . . it is barred
by the former prosecution [if] . . . [t]he former prosecution
was terminated by a final order or judgment which has not
subsequently been set aside and which required a
‘Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436,443,90 S.Ct. 1189, 1194,25 L.Ed.2d
469 (1970).
2397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.Zd 469 (1970).
3397 U.S. at 444.
4Benton v. Crittenden, Ky., 14 S.W.3d 1, 5-6 (1999).
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determination inconsistent with any fact necessary to a
conviction in the subsequent prosecution.
In Commonwealth v. Hillebrand,’ this Court examined the Ashe holding in considering
whether evidence of prior criminal activity of which the defendant had been acquitted
was admissible as a ‘prior bad act”j in a subsequent trial for similar conduct and
concluded that only evidence of issues that “must have been decided” against the
Commonwealth at the previous trial was inadmissible.7
Thus, applying the standard announced in KRS 505.050(2) and Hillebrand, the
crucial inquiry in determining whether Appellant’s perjury trial may go forward is whether
the murder trial required a determination inconsistent with any fact necessary to a
conviction in the instant perjury case, i.e., whether the murder trial jury must have
decided against the Commonwealth on an issue that will be necessary to convict
Appellant in the perjury trial. We believe it did not. The issue to be litigated in the
perjury trial will be whether Appellant lied about the status of his relationship with
Schaefer when he testified at Dr. Spalding’s trial, see supra. The quality of Appellant’s
and Schaefer’s relationship on the day he murdered her was never expressly litigated at
the murder trial, and the murder and other crimes will not be facts necessary for
conviction of perjury.
Appellant further contends, however, that the prosecution impermissibly split its
original cause of action against him and thus that he may not be prosecuted for perjury.
%36 S.W.2d 451 (1976).
‘KRE 404(b)(2).
‘1d. at 483; Benton v. Crittenden, KY., 14 S.W.3d 1, 5 (1999).
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In support of this argument, he claims that KRS 505040(1)(a) requires that all related
offenses be tried in the same trial. This statute states, in relevant part, that
Although a prosecution is for a violation of a different statutory provision
from a former prosecution . . . it is barred by the former prosecution [if] . . .
[t]he former prosecution resulted in an acquittal, a conviction which has
not subsequently been set aside, or a determination that there was
insufficient evidence to warrant a conviction, and the subsequent
prosecution is for . . . [a]n offense of which the defendant could have been
convicted at the first prosecution.
The Commentary to KRS 505040(l) is helpful to an understanding of this provision,
explaining that
Under this provision, an acquittal or conviction for murder would bar a
subsequent prosecution for attempted murder, manslaughter or assault.
The prosecution most likely to be barred by this subsection is one for an
“included offense.”
Accordingly, the statutory prohibition is against trial for offenses that naturally flow from
the indictment, such as included offenses. The offense charged here alleges the
occurrence of perjury almost a year after Schaefer’s disappearance and murder and in
a case where Appellant claimed to be the victim. Thus, Appellant’s prosecution for
perjury is not precluded by KRS 505040(1)(a).
Finally, Appellant claims that the Court of Appeals erred by refusing to order the
trial court to exclude evidence of the crimes committed against Schaefer as
inadmissible ‘prior bad acts.’ Unlike a claim of double jeopardy, in which there is no
adequate remedy upon appeal,’ evidentiary errors may be corrected upon appeal.
Thus, the primary requirement for granting a writ of prohibition, that there be no
*Abnev v. United States, 431 U.S. 651,659, 97 S.Ct. 2034,2040, 52
L.Ed. 2d 651 (1977).
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I
adequate remedy upon appeaLg has not been met. As a result, the Court of Appeals
acted within its discretion in refusing to address the merits of this issue.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
Cooper, Graves, Keller, Stumbo and Wintersheimer, JJ., concur. Johnstone, J.,
not sitting.
‘Potter v. Eli Lillv and Co., Ky., 926 S.W.2d 449, 452 (1996).
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COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT:
Jay Lambert
455 S. Fourth Street
Suite 876 - The Starks Building
Louisville, KY 40202
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEES:
Hon. Stephen P. Ryan
Judge, Jefferson Circuit Court
Division Six
Jefferson County Judicial Center
700 West Jefferson Street
Louisvilie, KY 40202
A. B. Chandler III
Attorney General of Kentucky
Criminal Appellate Division
Office of the Attorney General
1024 Capital Center Drive
Frankfort, KY 40601-8204
Carol H. Cobb
Shawn Goodpaster
John A. Dolan
Special Assistant Attorneys General
514 West Liberty Street
Louisville, KY 40202
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