Ronald Simpson v. Commonwealth of Kentucky

Summary

The Court reversed Simpson’s murder conviction and remanded for a new trial because the trial court abused its discretion by denying a continuance after finding that an independent expert was necessary, and because the Commonwealth improperly asked Simpson to assess other witnesses’ truthfulness and to draw legal conclusions from a hypothetical. The Court held that the evidence was nevertheless sufficient to survive a directed-verdict motion. It declined to reach the merits of the challenged photographs and cumulative-error claims.