Jeffrey Leonard, Appellant v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, Appellee

Summary

The Court affirmed denial of Jeffrey Leonard’s motion to reopen his completed collateral attack. It held that the rule permitting a later ineffective-assistance claim based on an alleged palpable error addressed on direct appeal was a new procedural rule and could not be applied retroactively to a collateral proceeding that had already become final. The Court also held that its jurisdiction was retained because the appeal properly began in the Supreme Court while Leonard was under a death sentence.