Request By:
Mr. R. Lee Steers, Jr.
Commonwealth's Attorney
49th Judicial Circuit
301 West Kentucky Avenue
P.O. Box 454
Franklin, Kentucky 42134
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
A defendant is charged in an indictment with the offense of trafficking in marijuana, second offense. Incident to the prosecution of that case, you located the record of the defendant's first conviction for trafficking in marijuana in the old city of Franklin Police Court records. The only record in that regard appears on the "order book" of the Franklin Police Court, a copy of which you enclosed.
Your question:
"Since the City of Franklin Police Court is no longer in existence, what is the proper method for certifying the authenticity of the copy of the order which will be introduced at trial? Does the District Court automatically accede to control over judicial records of court, the jurisdiction of which has been merged into the District Court?"
It is our opinion that the old police court records of Kentucky, like all court records, are subject to the control of the Supreme Court of Kentucky. KRS 26A.200 and 26A.220. Also see West's "Kentucky Rules of Court" (1979), p. 507; and Sec. 110, Kentucky Constitution.
Every clerk shall maintain such records as are prescribed by statute or rule. KRS 30A.080. Thus the Supreme Court of Kentucky has the overall control and supervision of court records, including those court records generated by the old police courts.
Under the order of the Supreme Court of Kentucky of May 18, 1979, it is implicit that old police court records are considered available to the circuit court and circuit court clerk of the particular county. Thus the circuit court clerk is considered the custodian of such records for the court. As such custodian, the circuit clerk, or lawful deputy, may authenticate a copy of the order found in the police court order book, as provided by RCr 9.44 and CR 44.01.
In Ex parte Farley, Ky., 570 S.W.2d 617 (1978) 624, the court wrote that "We are firmly of the opinion that the custody and control of the records generated by the courts in the course of their work are inseparable from the judicial function itself, and are not subject to statutory regulation." Elsewhere in Farley, above, the court added: "But the records in the hands of the clerk are the records of the court. He holds them simply as the custodian of the court."