State v. Allen

131 P.3d 1241, 35 Kan. App. 2d 466, 2006 Kan. App. LEXIS 334
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedApril 7, 2006
DocketNo. 93,940
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 131 P.3d 1241 (State v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Allen, 131 P.3d 1241, 35 Kan. App. 2d 466, 2006 Kan. App. LEXIS 334 (kanctapp 2006).

Opinions

Malone, J.:

Lindon A. Allen pled no contest to one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He appeals his enhanced sentence pursuant to the persistent sex offender statute, K.S.A. 2005 Supp. 21-4704(j). Allen claims the trial court erred by finding his prior juvenile adjudication for aggravated incest constituted a sexually violent crime for the purpose of sentencing him as a persistent sex offender. Allen also claims his enhanced sentence under 21-4704(j) was unconstitutional under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000), and State v. Gould, 271 Kan. 394, 23 P.3d 801 (2001).

On February 20, 2004, Allen was charged with two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with his 4-year-old daughter, In exchange for his no contest plea to Count I, the State agreed to dismiss Count II and recommend tire low number in the appropriate sentencing guidelines grid box. The trial court accepted the plea.

Allen’s presentence investigation report disclosed a 1987 juvenile adjudication for aggravated incest. Due to the prior adjudication, the State sought to have Allen sentenced as a persistent sex offender. Allen responded by filing a motion challenging his criminal history score. Allen argued that his prior juvenile adjudication for aggravated incest did not qualify as a sexually violent crime for the purpose of sentencing him as a persistent sex offender.

The trial court considered Allen’s motion at the sentencing hearing. After hearing arguments from counsel, the trial court found it was clear that Allen’s prior juvenile adjudication for aggravated incest could be determined beyond a reasonable doubt to have been sexually motivated. Accordingly, the trial court concluded that Allen qualified for sentencing as a persistent sex offender. Allen [468]*468was sentenced to a controlling term of 110 months’ imprisonment. He timely appeals his sentence.

Initially, we will summarily address Allen’s constitutional argument. Allen asserts K.S.A. 2005 Supp. 21-4704(j) creates a departure scheme in which facts not proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt are used to exceed the statutory maximum sentence. Accordingly, Allen claims the statute is unconstitutional under Apprendi and Gould.

In State v. Moore, 274 Kan. 639, 654, 55 P.3d 903 (2002), the Kansas Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a trial court’s decision to double an offender’s sentence under 21-4704(j) did not violate Apprendi. Allen acknowledges the Kansas Supreme Court has already decided this issue adversely to his position, but he contends Moore was wrongly decided. However, the Court of Appeals is duty bound to follow Kansas Supreme Court precedent, absent some indication the court is departing from its previous position. State v. Beck, 32 Kan. App. 2d 784, 788, 88 P.3d 1233, rev. denied 278 Kan. 847 (2004). We have no indication the Kansas Supreme Court is departing from its recent decision in Moore, and, accordingly, Allen’s constitutional argument fails.

We now turn to Allen’s argument that the trial court erred by finding his prior juvenile adjudication for aggravated incest constituted a sexually violent crime for the purpose of sentencing him as a persistent sex offender.

We preface our discussion by noting that our analysis of this issue is largely academic in Allen’s particular case. Allen received a sentence of 110 months’ imprisonment as a persistent sex offender. In computing his presumptive sentence under the sentencing guidelines, Allen’s prior juvenile adjudication for aggravated incest was not scored in his criminal history since this offense was used to enhance the sentence. See K.S.A. 21-4710(d)(ll). If Allen had not been sentenced as a persistent sex offender, his full criminal history would have been scored, which would have placed Allen into criminal history category D. In this event, Allen’s presumptive sentence would have been 89-100 months. Thus, in Allen’s particular case, the enhanced sentence he received as a persistent sex offender was not substantially greater than what his presumptive [469]*469sentence would have been without the sentence enhancement. Nevertheless, we will address the merits of Allen’s argument.

The core issue on appeal is whether Allen was subject to a sentence enhancement under K.S.A. 2005 Supp. 21-4704(j) as a persistent sex offender. Interpretation of a statute is a question of law, and an appellate court’s review is unlimited. An appellate court is not bound by the trial court’s interpretation of a statute. State v. Maass, 275 Kan. 328, 330, 64 P.3d 382 (2003).

’When a statute is plain and unambiguous, the court must give effect to the intention of the legislature as expressed, rather than determine what the law should or should not be.” Williamson v. City of Hays, 275 Kan. 300, 305, 64 P.3d 364 (2003).

“While courts must give effect to legislative intent and the plain language of a statute, courts may not ‘ “delete vital provisions or supply vital omissions in a statute. No matter what the legislature may have really intended to do, if it did not in fact do it, under any reasonable interpretation of the language used, the defect is one which the legislature alone can correct.” ’ [Citation omitted.]” State v. Patterson, 25 Kan. App. 2d 245, 248, 963 P.2d 436, rev. denied 265 Kan. 888 (1998).

The legislature is presumed to intend that a statute be construed reasonably so as to avoid absurd or unreasonable results. State v. Fifer, 20 Kan. App. 2d 12, 15, 881 P.2d 589, rev. denied 256 Kan. 996 (1994). However, if the language of a criminal statutory scheme creates any reasonable doubt as to its meaning, it must be strictly construed in favor of the accused. State v. McGill, 271 Kan. 150, 154, 22 P.3d 597 (2001).

Allen’s sentence for his current conviction was enhanced pursuant to K.S.A. 2005 Supp. 21-4704(j), which provides:

“(1) The sentence for any persistent sex offender whose current convicted crime carries a presumptive term of imprisonment shall be double the maximum duration of the presumptive imprisonment term.

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Related

State v. Coman
214 P.3d 1198 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2009)
State v. Allen
153 P.3d 488 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
131 P.3d 1241, 35 Kan. App. 2d 466, 2006 Kan. App. LEXIS 334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-allen-kanctapp-2006.