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Commonwealth of Kentucky
Court of Appeals

NO. 2012-CA-000082-MR
DERWIN I. NICKELBERRY APPELLANT
APPEAL FROM JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT
v. HONORABLE AUDRA J. ECKERLE, JUDGE ACTION NO. 05-CR-003685
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY APPELLEE
OPINION REVERSING AND REMANDING ** ** ** ** ** BEFORE: ACREE, CHIEF JUDGE; CAPERTON AND NICKELL, JUDGES. CAPERTON, JUDGE:  Derwin Nickelberry appeals from the denial of his Kentucky Rules of Criminal Procedure (RCr) 11.42 motion seeking to vacate his seventy-year sentence of imprisonment for fifteen counts of robbery in the first degree and three counts of theft by unlawful taking over $300 entered by the Jefferson Circuit Court.  Ultimately, we agree with Nickelberry that his claims
this matter for an evidentiary hearing.1
In October 2006, Nickelberry was tried for robbing twelve separate businesses in 2003.  A jury convicted him of seven of these robberies, resulting in fifteen counts, one for each victim at those seven robberies.  Nickelberry was also convicted of three theft charges for stealing three vehicles from three robbery scenes.  Nickelberry was sentenced to seventy years.  Of import, the robbery spree was carried out by a group of conspirators across multiple counties.  The Commonwealth, in convicting Nickelberry in Jefferson County, relied upon the testimony of two co-defendants, Tommy Hardin and Jeannine Spicer, who received plea deals in return for their testimony.  
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