Joseph S. Masters v. Commonwealth of Kentucky

Summary

The court affirmed Masters’s murder and unlawful-imprisonment convictions and his thirty-five-year sentence, but reversed the first-degree-burglary conviction. It held that Masters was not entitled to self-defense instructions because his own armed, coercive conduct created the deadly confrontation; that improperly admitted rape-kit hearsay was not palpable error; and that the lease copy was admitted contrary to best-evidence requirements in a manner that substantially influenced the burglary verdict. The court also found no abuse of discretion in denying counsel’s withdrawal motion.