In re Care & Treatment of Easterberg

437 P.3d 964, 309 Kan. 490
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMarch 29, 2019
Docket117933
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 437 P.3d 964 (In re Care & Treatment of Easterberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Care & Treatment of Easterberg, 437 P.3d 964, 309 Kan. 490 (kan 2019).

Opinions

Per Curiam:

**491This is an original proceeding in habeas corpus. Thomas Easterberg argues he must be released from confinement because the State has no statutory basis to civilly commit him under the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act (KSVPA), K.S.A. 2017 Supp. 59-29a01 et seq.

On present showing, we hold that there is a fact question for Riley County District Court to resolve in order to determine whether Easterberg's writ should be granted; therefore, we remand this action to the district court with directions.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL OVERVIEW

In 2007, the State charged Easterberg with multiple crimes that included the sexually violent offenses of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy. As part of a plea agreement, the State dismissed these charges in exchange for Easterberg's plea to kidnapping and aggravated battery. Easterberg was sentenced *967to 114 months' imprisonment for his convictions. On the Sentencing Guidelines Journal Entry of Judgment for these convictions, the district court checked the boxes indicating Easterberg's crimes were not sexually motivated for purposes of the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA), K.S.A. 22-4902(c)(14).

Prior to Easterberg's scheduled release from prison, the Kansas Department of Corrections provided notice to the Kansas Attorney General that Easterberg may meet the criteria of a sexually violent predator under the KSVPA. Subsequently, the Attorney General's Office filed a petition seeking to involuntarily commit Easterberg as a sexually violent predator.

Easterberg moved to dismiss the action, arguing that the State had no statutory basis to file the petition for his commitment. He contends that the State may only initiate proceedings under the **492KSVPA when a person has been: (1) convicted of a sexually violent crime; (2) found incompetent to stand trial; (3) found "not guilty" by reason of insanity; or (4) found "not guilty" by reason of a mental disease or defect. Because none of the statutory means of initiating the commitment process applied to him, Easterberg asserts that his case must be dismissed. Further, Easterberg claims that the fact that the sentencing court in the criminal case specifically found the crimes of conviction were not sexually motivated precludes a contrary finding by the district court in this case.

The district court denied Easterberg's motion to dismiss and found probable cause existed to believe Easterberg was a sexually violent predator. Following that probable cause determination, Easterberg filed this original action. After considering the State's response to the writ of habeas corpus and Easterberg's reply, this court ordered briefing and oral arguments.

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

The State argues that this court lacks jurisdiction to consider Easterberg's habeas corpus petition. Alternatively, the State asserts that, even if this court has jurisdiction, it should decline to exercise it. Given that our acceptance of either argument would end this matter, we consider them first.

We start with the State's contention that this court does not have jurisdiction to entertain Easterberg's petition for writ of habeas corpus. Recently, in State v. Dunn , 304 Kan. 773, 375 P.3d 332 (2016), we sought to rectify the sometimes careless use of jurisdictional arguments. We clarified that subject matter jurisdiction means " 'the power of the court to hear and decide a particular type of action,' " and we declared that "the Kansas Constitution dictates the existence of subject matter jurisdiction." 304 Kan. at 784, 813, 375 P.3d 332. In this instance, our constitution is quite explicit in dictating the existence of our jurisdiction in habeas corpus actions, to-wit: "The supreme court shall have original jurisdiction in proceedings in quo warranto, mandamus, and habeas corpus; and such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law." Kan. Const. art. 3, § 3.

The State acknowledges that constitutional mandate but nevertheless argues that, when our Kansas Constitution was adopted **493in 1859, Easterberg's petition "would not have been considered a proceeding in habeas corpus." Specifically, the State suggests that, in 1859, "habeas corpus was generally not available to challenge a person's detention pursuant to legal process by a court of competent jurisdiction; instead, the writ was primarily limited to illegal executive detention and detention by courts that lacked jurisdiction." (Emphasis added.) Of course, such equivocal notions as "generally" and "primarily" are inconsistent with the foundational concepts of subject matter jurisdiction, e.g., jurisdiction cannot be waived or stipulated to and a judgment without subject matter jurisdiction is void. See Dunn , 304 Kan. at 784, 375 P.3d 332 ("The existence of subject matter jurisdiction cannot be waived .... A conviction obtained in a court without subject matter jurisdiction is void."). If a court can consider a person's challenge to being unlawfully detained-for instance because of exceptional circumstances or for secondary reasons-that court does not lack subject matter jurisdiction over the cause of action. *968The State relies heavily on federal precedent to support its historical argument that this court's original jurisdiction in habeas corpus proceedings is limited to the primary purpose for which that proceeding was used in 1859. For instance, it cites to the dissent in Boumediene v. Bush , 553 U.S. 723, 128 S.Ct. 2229, 171 L.Ed.2d 41 (2008), a case dealing with the Suspension Clause in the United States Constitution.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
437 P.3d 964, 309 Kan. 490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-care-treatment-of-easterberg-kan-2019.