Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Darrell Strunk

Issues presented include whether the Court of Appeals erred by vacating the portion of the defendant’s sentence that exceeds the statutory maximum when the defendant’s convictions and illegal sentence resulted from a plea agreement under which the commonwealth agreed to dismiss and reduce charges; this Court’s opinion in McClanahan v. Commonwealth, 308 S.W.3d 694 (Ky. 2010) provides that the proper remedy under similar facts is to set aside the plea agreement, reinstate the original charges, and allow the defendant and commonwealth to restart the case in circuit court; throughout the post-conviction proceedings, the defendant insisted that he did not want to set aside his plea and wished to vacate the excess portion of his sentence; and the commonwealth did not request the remedy provided by McClanahan until it petitioned for rehearing in the Court of Appeals. Oral arguments heard on June 12, 2025.