RENDERED: JULY 16, 2021; 10:00 A.M.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
Commonwealth of Kentucky
Court of Appeals
NO. 2020-CA-1178-MR
CHRISTOPHER W. LUTTRELL APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM HENDERSON CIRCUIT COURT
v. HONORABLE KAREN LYNN WILSON, JUDGE
ACTION NO. 06-CR-00270
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE
OPINION
AFFIRMING
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BEFORE: CLAYTON, CHIEF JUDGE; ACREE AND LAMBERT, JUDGES.
CLAYTON, CHIEF JUDGE: Christopher Luttrell (“Luttrell”) appeals from the
Henderson Circuit Court’s order denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea
pursuant to Kentucky Rule of Criminal Procedure (RCr) 8.10. Based upon our
review of both the record and applicable law, we affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On November 14, 2006, Luttrell was indicted by the Henderson
County grand jury for murder, first-degree robbery, kidnapping, theft by unlawful
taking over $300, and being a second-degree persistent felony offender.
Specifically, Luttrell was charged with the October 16, 2006 murder of Boni
Frederick, a social worker for the Commonwealth of Kentucky (the
“Commonwealth”), as well as the theft of Boni’s automobile, purse, and jewelry.
Additionally, Luttrell was charged with the kidnapping of a minor child who was
in the custody of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The prosecution
announced its intent to pursue the death penalty against Luttrell, and the trial court
continued the trial pending psychological evaluations of Luttrell. The trial court
ultimately determined that Luttrell was not eligible for the death penalty pursuant
to Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 532.140.
After hearing testimony that Luttrell was competent to enter a guilty
plea, Luttrell was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility
of parole pursuant to a plea deal in which he pled guilty but mentally ill to the
charges contained in the indictment.
Luttrell subsequently filed a pro se motion to vacate his conviction
pursuant to RCr 11.42, claiming twelve bases for relief, including the allegation
that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to advise
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him that he was ineligible for the death penalty due to his intellectual disability.
The trial court appointed counsel and ordered an evidentiary hearing, after which it
denied the RCr 11.42 motion. Specifically, the trial court found that trial counsel
had provided competent advice to Luttrell, that the trial court had advised Luttrell
of his rights, and that Luttrell had knowingly and voluntarily accepted the
Commonwealth’s plea offer. Luttrell appealed, but the appeal was ultimately
dismissed at his request in May of 2012.
Over the next eight years, Luttrell filed three separate motions to
vacate his sentence pursuant to Kentucky Rule of Civil Procedure (CR) 60.02. The
trial court denied all three motions, and each time a panel of this Court affirmed on
appeal.
In September of 2018, Luttrell moved to withdraw his guilty plea
pursuant to RCr 8.10 and to enter a new plea of guilty but mentally ill that would
result in a sentence of twenty-five years. He alleged that his trial counsel falsely
informed him that a plea of guilty but mentally ill would permit him to serve his
sentence in a psychiatric institution or a hospital instead of a prison. The trial court
denied the motion, and this appeal followed.
ANALYSIS
Luttrell contends that the trial court committed reversible error when
it denied Luttrell’s RCr 8.10 motion and failed to provide him with an evidentiary
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hearing. RCr 8.10 provides that a court may allow a guilty plea to be withdrawn
“at any time before judgment[.]” (Emphasis added.) However, a guilty plea
cannot be withdrawn after final judgment unless “it appears that the accused’s
consent to plead guilty was unwillingly given and made under circumstances of
fear, deceit, or coercion.” Blair v. Commonwealth, 479 S.W.2d 643, 644 (Ky.
1972) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
In this case, Luttrell did not move to withdraw his plea prior to the
trial court’s entry of final judgment and sentencing. Thus, the trial court was
tasked with determining whether Luttrell’s guilty plea was “made under
circumstances of fear, deceit, or coercion.” Id. Here, the trial court’s order
denying Luttrell’s RCr 11.42 motion specifically found that Luttrell’s plea was
made knowingly and voluntarily, and Luttrell withdrew his appeal of that order.
Thus, such determination became final and is the law of the case. The “‘[l]aw of
the case’ refers to a handful of related rules giving substance to the general
principle that a court addressing later phases of a lawsuit should not reopen
questions decided by that court or by a higher court during earlier phases of the
litigation.” Brown v. Commonwealth, 313 S.W.3d 577, 610 (Ky. 2010) (citation
omitted) (emphasis added). Indeed, “[w]here multiple appeals occur in the course
of litigation, [the] law-of-the-case rule provides that issues decided in earlier
appeals should not be revisited in subsequent ones.” Id. Thus, the voluntariness of
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Luttrell’s plea cannot be challenged in subsequent litigation, and the trial court
correctly denied Luttrell’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea and for an
evidentiary hearing.
Luttrell also makes arguments concerning the ineffectiveness of his
trial counsel. We agree with the Commonwealth that, to the extent that Luttrell
questions his trial counsel’s effectiveness, such claims are procedurally barred.
Final disposition of an RCr 11.42 motion “shall conclude all issues that reasonably
could have been presented in that proceeding.” Gross v. Commonwealth, 648
S.W.2d 853, 857 (Ky. 1983). Luttrell could have argued in his RCr 11.42 motion
that trial counsel provided deficient advice by failing to inform him that he could
be placed in a correctional institution despite his plea of guilty but mentally ill.
Because he failed to do so, he cannot raise this argument in a subsequent motion
for post-conviction relief.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the order of the Henderson Circuit Court is
affirmed.
ALL CONCUR.
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BRIEF FOR APPELLANT: BRIEF FOR APPELLEE:
Christopher W. Luttrell, pro se Daniel Cameron
LaGrange, Kentucky Attorney General of Kentucky
Robert Baldridge
Assistant Attorney General
Frankfort, Kentucky
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