State v. Arnett

496 P.3d 928
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 15, 2021
Docket112572
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 496 P.3d 928 (State v. Arnett) 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
State v. Arnett, 496 P.3d 928 (kan 2021).

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

No. 112,572

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,

v.

TAYLOR ARNETT, Appellant.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

1. The current Kansas criminal restitution statutes do not trigger Sixth Amendment protections as contemplated by Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 476, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000), and its progeny.

2. At a minimum, section 5 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights protects as inviolate the procedural right to have a jury decide the contested questions juries historically decided when the Kansas Constitution came into existence.

3. The development of modern criminal restitution statutes in Kansas makes criminal restitution virtually identical to a civil judgment. Since civil damages were historically decided by juries, this virtual identity of criminal restitution and civil judgment violates section 5 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights.

1 4. When confronting a constitutional flaw in a statute, the court will resolve the problem, if possible, by severing the problematic portions and leaving the remainder intact.

5. Severing only the problematic portions of the Kansas criminal restitution statutes preserves the societal goals advanced by a judicial sanction of criminal restitution.

6. The following statutes (or portions of statutes) are unconstitutional: K.S.A. 60- 4301; K.S.A. 60-4302; K.S.A. 60-4303; K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 21-6604(b)(2); and only the last sentence of K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 22-3424(d)(1).

7. A criminal defendant will not be faced with a civil judgment for criminal restitution unless it has been obtained separately through a civil cause of action.

Review of the judgment of the Court of Appeals in an unpublished opinion filed May 4, 2018. Appeal from Wyandotte District Court; MICHAEL A. RUSSELL, judge. Opinion filed October 15, 2021. Judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming the district court is affirmed. Judgment of the district court is affirmed.

Samuel Schirer, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, argued the cause and was on the briefs for appellant.

Ethan Zipf-Sigler, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Alan T. Fogleman, assistant district attorney, Jerome A. Gorman, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.

2 The opinion of the court was delivered by

WILSON, J.: Taylor Arnett petitions this court for review of the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming the restitution ordered against her by the district court. She argues that the restitution violates her right to a jury under both the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and section 5 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights. We find that her right to a jury as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment is unharmed. However, we agree the current structure of criminal restitution in Kansas violates section 5 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights in part, but the offending part of that structure can be severed from the rest, which does not violate section 5. Specifically, insofar as the ordered restitution is given the effect of a civil judgment, it violates section 5. Otherwise, it does not.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The State charged Arnett with one count of conspiracy to commit burglary after she provided the car which her boyfriend used to burglarize two houses. The boyfriend paid Arnett $200 when he returned the car. Arnett pled guilty to that conspiracy charge. Arnett's plea did not include an agreement with the State to pay any amount of restitution.

The district court held a restitution hearing, during which the State explained that it was requesting $33,248.83 in restitution, payable to three individuals who incurred losses due to the burglaries. According to the State, Arnett took no issue with the amounts of restitution ordered for the victims' total losses, but argued she should only be responsible for the $200 she obtained for her part in the burglaries. The district court disagreed and ordered the full amount of $33,248.83, jointly and severally with Arnett's codefendants.

3 In Arnett's first appeal, a Court of Appeals panel held that the State failed to show a sufficient causal connection for restitution between Arnett's plea to and conviction for conspiracy to commit burglary and the financial loss to the victims. As a result, the panel never reached Arnett's alternative arguments. See State v. Arnett, No. 112,572, 2015 WL 6835244 (Kan. App. 2015) (unpublished opinion). This court reversed the panel, holding that restitution may be ordered against a defendant in a criminal case if the loss to the victim was proximately caused by the crime of conviction. State v. Arnett, 307 Kan. 648, Syl. ¶ 7, 413 P.3d 787 (2018). This court remanded the case to the Court of Appeals to consider the constitutional arguments raised by Arnett. That panel found Arnett's arguments unavailing and affirmed the district court's restitution order. State v. Arnett, No. 112,572, 2018 WL 2072804 (Kan. App. 2018) (unpublished opinion). Jurisdiction is proper. See K.S.A. 20-3018(b) (providing for petitions for review of Court of Appeals decisions); K.S.A. 60-2101(b) (Supreme Court has jurisdiction to review Court of Appeals decisions upon petition for review).

Arnett did not raise her constitutional issues before the district court. Generally, a constitutional issue not raised before the district court is considered abandoned. But this court can review issues presented on appeal where: "(1) the newly asserted theory involves only a question of law arising on proved or admitted facts . . . ; (2) consideration of the theory is necessary to serve the ends of justice or to prevent [a] denial of fundamental rights"; or (3) the district court's judgment is correct for the wrong reason. State v. Perkins, 310 Kan. 764, 768, 449 P.3d 756 (2019). But "'[t]he decision to review an unpreserved claim under an exception is a prudential one. Even if an exception would support a decision to review a new claim, [this court has] no obligation to do so.' [Citations omitted.]" State v. Gray, 311 Kan. 164, 170, 459 P.3d 165 (2020).

4 The right to a jury trial is a fundamental right under both section 5 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights and under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. State v. Rizo, 304 Kan. 974, 979-80, 377 P.3d 419 (2016). We elect to reach both questions under the second exception.

ANALYSIS

Our analysis first looks at the statutes which make up the "restitution scheme" being challenged by Arnett. K.S.A. 2017 Supp. 21-6604(b)(1) grants a district court the authority to order the defendant to pay restitution as part of the sentence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
496 P.3d 928, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-arnett-kan-2021.