Background
Jenna Abnee resolved three Bourbon County criminal cases through plea agreements and received concurrent sentences totaling ten years, probated for five years. One condition of probation required her to complete the Nicholas County Drug Court Program. After she was discharged from that program, a supervision report alleged that she had violated probation by failing to comply with substance-abuse treatment.
At the revocation hearing, Abnee stipulated that her discharge from drug court violated a condition of probation. The Bourbon Circuit Court revoked probation based on the allegation and stipulation, ordering her to serve the previously imposed sentences with credit for time served. Neither its oral ruling nor its written orders found that Abnee posed a significant risk to prior victims or the community or that she could not be appropriately managed in the community.
The Court’s Holding
The Kentucky Court of Appeals vacated all three probation-revocation orders and remanded for further proceedings. Under KRS 439.3106(1), a court may revoke probation only after finding both that the violation constitutes a significant risk to prior victims or the community and that the probationer cannot be appropriately managed in the community. Those findings may be oral or written, but they must be made and supported by the record.
Although Abnee had not preserved the issue below, the court held that omitting the mandatory findings violated due process and constituted palpable error. It rejected the Commonwealth’s invited-error argument, reasoning that defense counsel’s observation that revocation appeared likely did not knowingly waive the required findings, and Abnee’s stipulation established only that she violated probation—not that she presented the required risk or was unmanageable in the community. On remand, the circuit court must make the statutory findings and conduct a new hearing if necessary.
Key Takeaways
- Proof or admission of a probation violation alone does not authorize revocation under KRS 439.3106(1).
- The trial court must expressly find that the probationer poses a significant risk to prior victims or the community and cannot be appropriately managed in the community.
- Failure to make those findings is a due-process violation constituting palpable error, even when the issue was not preserved.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces that Kentucky courts must separately evaluate whether incarceration is warranted after establishing a probation violation. A conclusory order finding “sufficient grounds” for revocation cannot replace the statute’s individualized risk and community-management findings.
It also limits the invited-error doctrine in revocation proceedings: counsel’s expectation that revocation is likely, and a defendant’s admission to the underlying violation, do not waive the court’s obligation to make findings required by statute and due process.