"KY LAW" is written by the Kentucky Legislature, 
and constructed (tweaked if you will) by the Kentucky 
Supreme Court.
  
 The Kentucky Court of Appeals is charged with the 
"public duty" to compel uniformity and compliance 
with this "KY LAW" upon the many Kentucky Circuits
 (and potentially - District) Courts. This direct 
intervention is often the only defense some minorities
 have when politicians control Ky counties like 
fifedoms. The citizen/taxpayers of Kentucky have
 a right to demand and expect nothing less than
 enforcement of "KY LAW" to the detriment of
 selfish politician's interests.
  
 The Ky Court of Appeals is a "limited resource"
 and this "limited resource" should never be 
squandered in erecting artifical procedural
 technicalities.
  
 Time spent on meaningless procedural technicalities
 to limit meaningful access to the court squanders
 that "limited resource" and appears to be a clear
 violation of the "public duty" because the result
 is both a decrease in the quality of applied Ky
 law by failure to bring a Circuit into compliance
 and a simultaneous increase the cost of enjoyment of
constitutional rights by some citizens.
  
 This equates into a violation of the due process 
and equal protection rights of Ky citizens to benfit
 and enjoy the potection of "KY LAW".
  
 The Ky Court of Appeals should be concerned with
 the appearance of impropriety (an ethics violation)
 in allowing constitutional violations - (never within
jurisdiction); failure to correct errant circuit courts
 -(a violation of a public duty), by spending time on
technicalities -(a violation of stare decisis, also an
 ethics violation).
  
 Do we allow squandering of our TIME, our RESOURCES,
 to the detriment of all citizens/taxpayers.
  
 Let's not allow the choice between protection for
 the many or financial gain for the few to be
 considered a discretion of men pretending to govern.
 Let's preserve Government by Law.
  
 Call your legislator and encourage a legislative
 mandate clarifying the "public duty" of the Ky
 Court of Appeals and
 visit:
    Robert Hedges,  PO Box 384, Lou. KY 40201-0384
 http://www.ecsd.com/~rhhedgz1/legis1.html
       Legislative Cures for certain shortcomings -
  
  e-mail:     rhhedgz1@ulkyvm.louisville.edu
   and       rhhedgz1@ecsd.com

 Recently the Courier-Journal published a list of
 ratings given to 21 Judges by 407 responding Attorneys.
 Voters have little information from which to choose a
 candidate on the ballot in the state elections
 (18 Jefferson Circuit Judges) and probably welcome
 any recommendations. Voters may have little knowledge
 besides name recognition, non-judicial encounters,
 and popular image upon which to cast their one
 precious vote.
  
 There is one area in which we voters cannot trust
 the recommendations of lawyers This difficult area
 concerns the fee patterns and rulings.
  
 State judges who seek political support such as
 contributions and positive ratings FROM lawyers have
 reason to be protective of liberal fees TO lawyers.
  
 This area of legal decisions, which benefit the
 lawyers at the expense of the (uninformed and
 basically helpless) voting public, bears additional
 scrutiny through legislative mandate. Voter 
attention is needed to create legislative scrutiny.
  
 Former KY Supreme Court Justice Nick King called
 attention to one fee ruling which his political
 opponent had written and supported, and he was
 admonished by the Citizens for Better Judges group 
(who are mostly lawyers), before last November's
 election.
  
 How else would any voter know of the actual
 judicial work of any political candidate except
 by hearing of specific cases indicating a certain
 belief pattern by that candidate. Publicity about
 civic involvement or volunteer work does not
 indicate judicial talent, and only publicity about
 real judicial beliefs give the voters incite.
  
 We NEED to let our KY Legislators know that we
 want specific legislative control in competent
 unbiased hands regarding how fees are adjudged
 for lawyers by other "lawyers" (judges).    
 Make your voice heard in Frankfort soon !
  
  Robert Hedges   - (502)363-3286   rhhedgz1@ecsd.com  
rhhedgz1@ulkyvm.louisvil
 le.edu         http://www.ecsd.com/~rhhedgz1/

The CJ recently published a brief article describing
 how a state "judge has power to raise sentence
 in rape case". 
 Judge Winchester of McCreary Circuit retained 
jurisdiction (read that word as "legal authority")
 to modify the sentence of a convicted molester he 
attempted to sentence to probation. 
 If probation for the rape offense violated 
a state statute prohibiting such leniency, then
 Judge Winchester must have been acting without 
authority, (read that jurisdiction) when he 
passed unlawful sentence.  When a court acts 
without jurisdiction, any act would be a nullity, 
and void ad initio. (read that "void from the 
beginning"). Thus the defendant was never actually
 sentenced, and because sentence is mandated by law,
 jurisdiction could never be lost by the McCreary 
Circuit. 
Refusing to set aside a nullity is not a 
discretionary decision (read that choice of yea
 or nay) for any court, and Judge Winchester
 was correct in acting as soon as he realized he 
had placed a nullity in the record, rather than
 a valid ruling.
The problem in this matter seems to be that the
 Court of Appeals has spent its valuable time
 (a valuable resource belonging to every state
 citizens, for which we have a right to expect
 "production"  - read that measurable useful 
results) writing a decision which cannot be 
cited as legal precedent. 
The Kentucky Court of Appeals statistically 
writes fewer published opinions than states 
with similar populations, such as Missouri 
and Arkansas.  Presumably there may be fewer
 Ky state courts being compelled away from 
rulings which conflict with "KY Law". Why 
does a decision based on a substantive basis
 like direct statute violation become one 
more usless, unpublished opinion.?  
The citizens of KY have a right to expect 
more from our Court of Appeals than few 
results, and vague unpublished opinions.

Robert Hedges
http://www.ecsd.com/~rhhedgz1/legis1.html
rhhedgz1@ulkyvm.louisville.edu
(502)363-3286 - do not publish)