LEROY FRYREAR v. COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
RENDERED: April 23, 1999; 10:00 a.m.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
C ommonwealth O f K entucky
C ourt O f A ppeals
NO.
1997-CA-001692-MR
LEROY FRYREAR
APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT
HONORABLE JAMES M. SHAKE, JUDGE
INDICTMENT NO. 138521
v.
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
APPELLEE
OPINION
AFFIRMING
** ** ** ** **
BEFORE:
DYCHE, EMBERTON, AND MILLER, JUDGES.
DYCHE, JUDGE:
Leroy Fryrear (Fryrear) appeals from the Jefferson
Circuit Court order entered on June 19, 1997, which denied his
motion for relief pursuant to Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure
(CR) 60.02.
We affirm.
In May 1969, Fryrear was convicted by a jury in
Jefferson County for murder and rape.
Fryrear received a
sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the rape
conviction.
In 1973, Fryrear challenged his sentence for the
rape conviction in a Kentucky Rules of Criminal Procedure (RCr)
11.42 motion.
Fryrear was denied relief in Fryrear v.
Commonwealth, Ky., 507 S.W.2d 144 (1974).
Fryrear then sought a
writ of habeas corpus from the Lyon Circuit Court, which granted
the writ but was later overturned by the Supreme Court of
Kentucky for being an improper avenue for relief.
Parker, Ky., 920 S.W.2d 519 (1996).
Fryrear v.
In February 1997, Fryrear
filed a motion for relief pursuant to CR 60.02.
On June 19,
1997, the Jefferson Circuit Court denied Fryrear’s CR 60.02
motion without a hearing.
This appeal followed.
On appeal, Fryrear argues that his sentence of life
without the possibility of parole for rape violates the Fifth,
Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States
Constitution, as well as Sections Two, Three, and Seventeen of
the Kentucky Constitution.
This Court granted Fryrear’s motion
to hold his appeal in abeyance by order entered on August 18,
1998, pending final disposition of Land v. Commonwealth, Ky.,
(No. 989-SC-000427-TG, rendered February 18, 1999).1
S.W.2d
In Land, the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed the
appellant’s sentence of life without the possibility of parole
for a rape conviction rendered prior to the adoption of the penal
code in 1975.
Despite the changes in the law, the Court upheld
the long line of case law which consistently held the sentence of
life without the possibility of parole for rape was
constitutional.
McDonald v. Commonwealth, Ky., 569 S.W.2d 134
(1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1119 (1979); Green v.
Commonwealth, Ky., 556 S.W.2d 684 (1977); and Fryrear v.
Commonwealth, Ky., 507 S.W.2d 144 (1974).
1
In accordance with
The decision became final on March 11, 1999.
-2-
Land, supra, we find that the circuit court did not abuse its
discretion in denying Fryrear’s CR 60.02 motion.
The Jefferson County Circuit Court order denying
Fryrear’s CR 60.02 motion without a hearing is affirmed.
ALL CONCUR.
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT:
BRIEF FOR APPELLEE:
Allison Connelly
Lexington, Kentucky
A. B. Chandler III
Attorney General
Ian G. Sonego
Assistant Attorney General
Frankfort, Kentucky
-3-
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
