State v. Buell

377 P.3d 1174, 52 Kan. App. 2d 818, 2016 Kan. App. LEXIS 40
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJune 24, 2016
Docket113881
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 377 P.3d 1174 (State v. Buell) 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. Buell, 377 P.3d 1174, 52 Kan. App. 2d 818, 2016 Kan. App. LEXIS 40 (kanctapp 2016).

Opinion

Powell, J.:

Derrick Buell appeals from his sentences for robbery and attempted kidnapping, arguing the district court erred in classifying his 2002 Florida juvenile adjudications of burglary of a dwelling and burglary of a dwelling while armed as person offenses. Buell claims that by doing so, the district court violated his constitutional rights as articulated in Apprendi and Descamps. We disagree and affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

In Februaiy 2015, pursuant to a plea agreement, Buell pled guilty to robbery and attempted kidnapping. According to the presentence investigation report (PSI), Buell’s criminal history included two 2002 Florida juvenile adjudications, one labeled as burglaiy of a dwelling and one labeled as burglaiy of a dwelling while armed. At his sentencing, Buell objected to the classification of the adjudication for burglary of a dwelling while armed as a person felony, arguing there was no comparable Kansas offense because of the different intent requirements of burglary in Florida and Kansas. After examining the Florida charging document and a deposition, the district court overruled this objection. Buell did not object before the district court to the classification of his adjudication for burglary of a dwelling as a person felony. Accordingly, the district court scored Buell’s criminal history as A and sentenced him on both counts to a total of 122 months’ imprisonment with 24 months’ postrelease supervision.

Buell timely appeals.

Did the District Court Incorrectly Classify Buell’s Prior Florida Juvenile Adjudications When Calculating Buell’s Criminal History Score?

On appeal, Buell argues the district court erred in classifying both of his 2002 Florida burglaiy juvenile adjudications as person offenses. Specifically, Buell argues the district court had to make improper factual determinations in order to find these Florida burglaries comparable to Kansas’ burglary statute, violating his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States *821 Constitution as articulated by Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000), and Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. _, 133 S. Ct. 2276, 186 L. Ed. 2d 438 (2013). In response, the State makes a number of arguments: First, the issue is not properly preserved for appeal; second, Buell waived his right to a jury at sentencing and, therefore, there was no error in the district courts failure to submit any facts to a jury; and third, the district court did not err in calculating Buell’s criminal history score. We will address each argument in turn.

A. Preservation

The State first argues the issue was not properly preserved for appeal because Buell’s failure to object to the inclusion of his Florida adjudication for burglary of a dwelling in calculating his criminal histoiy score was a de facto admission that the prior adjudication was comparable to Kansas’ burglaiy statute to malee it a person felony.

The State is correct that, in general, a party’s failure to raise an issue below precludes appellate review. See State v. Kelly, 298 Kan. 965, 971, 318 P.3d 987 (2014). However, the State’s argument falls short for two reasons. First, Buell did object to the classification of his Florida adjudication for burglary of a dwelling while armed as a person felony before the district court; second, as to the other Florida adjudication, our Supreme Court has recently held that a “legal challenge to the classification of [a] prior burglary adjudication can be raised for the first time on appeal.” State v. Dickey, 301 Kan. 1018, 1021, 350 P.3d 1054 (2015). To this, the State argues that Dickey was wrongly decided. However, we are “duty bound to follow Kansas Supreme Court precedent, absent some indication the court is departing from its previous position.” State v. Belone, 51 Kan. App. 2d 179, 211, 343 P.3d 128, rev. denied 302 Kan. 1012 (2015). As there is no such indication from our Supreme Court that it is departing from Dickey, we are bound to follow it. Therefore, Buell may raise this argument for the first time on appeal.

*822 B. Waiver of Right to Jury at Sentencing

The State next argues that Buell waived his right to a jury trial at sentencing. Specifically, the State argues that because Buell waived his right to a jury trial, he also waived his right to have a juiy determine the existence of facts beyond those to which he pled that increased his sentence. See State v. Williams, 259 Kan. 432, 436, 913 P.2d 587 (1996).

However, our Supreme Court has rejected this argument in the context of upward departure sentences. “[A] defendant’s admission to each of the elements of the criminal offense in conjunction with a guilty plea ‘“is in no way an admission that the sentencing factors used to increase [his or her] sentence were proved beyond a reasonable doubt.’”” State v. Horn, 291 Kan. 1, 10, 238 P.3d 238 (2010) (quoting State v. Cody, 272 Kan. 564, 565, 35 P.3d 800 [2001]). While a defendant may specifically waive the right to have a jury decide sentence-enhancing factors, “[a] waiver of the trial juiy standing alone, does not effectively waive the defendant’s right to have a jury for the upward durational departure sentence proceeding.” 291 Kan. at 11. Accordingly, we reject the State’s contention that Buell’s juiy trial waiver constituted a waiver of his right to require each fact used to enhance his sentence beyond tire statutory maximum to be proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

C. Calculation of Criminal Histoi-y Score

Having dispensed with the State’s procedural roadblocks, we now turn to the merits of Buell’s appeal: whether the district court improperly made findings of fact in order to classify Buell’s prior Florida burglary adjudications as person felonies, thereby increasing his sentence beyond the statutory maximum. The question presented involves the interpretation of three statutes: (1) K.S.A. 2015 Supp. 21-6811, part of the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act (KSGA); (2) K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 21-5807, die Kansas burglary statute in effect at the time Buell’s current crime of conviction (robbery) was committed; and (3) Fla. Stat. § 810.02

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Related

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466 P.3d 434 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2020)
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430 P.3d 996 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2018)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
377 P.3d 1174, 52 Kan. App. 2d 818, 2016 Kan. App. LEXIS 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-buell-kanctapp-2016.