State v. Cheeks

310 P.3d 346, 298 Kan. 1, 2013 WL 5495257, 2013 Kan. LEXIS 1068
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 4, 2013
DocketNo. 104,858
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 310 P.3d 346 (State v. Cheeks) 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. Cheeks, 310 P.3d 346, 298 Kan. 1, 2013 WL 5495257, 2013 Kan. LEXIS 1068 (kan 2013).

Opinions

[2]*2The opinion of tlie court was delivered by

Moritz, J.:

Jerome Cheeks appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for postconviction DNA testing of evidence related to his second-degree murder conviction. The district court denied his request because the relevant statute, K.S.A. 21-2512, does not include individuals convicted of second-degree murder among those permitted to seek such testing. Cheeks argues K.S.A. 21-2512 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution because it permits individuals convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment to petition for DNA testing but denies that opportunity to similarly situated individuals like himself who were convicted of second-degree murder and also sentenced to life in prison. He further asserts he has a right to DNA testing under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution regardless of the scope of K.S.A. 21-2512.

We do not address Cheeks’ Fifth Amendment argument because we hold K.S.A. 21-2512 violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause in that it treats similarly situated individuals differently with no rational basis for doing so. But rather than strike the entirety of the statute, we elect to reform K.S.A. 21-2512 to include persons similar to Cheeks, and we remand to the district court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Factual and Procedural Background

In 1993, a jury convicted Cheeks of malicious second-degree murder, and the district court sentenced him to the maximum possible penalty of 15 years to life imprisonment under the sentencing scheme in place prior to the implementation of the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act (KSGA), K.S.A. 21-4701 et seq. State v. Cheeks, 258 Kan. 581, 908 P.2d 175 (1995). In two separate appeals, this court affirmed Cheeks’ conviction and sentence. See State v. Cheeks, 280 Kan. 373, 374, 121 P.3d 989 (2005) (rejecting motion to correct illegal sentence); Cheeks, 258 Kan. at 595 (affirming conviction).

More than a decade after his conviction; Cheeks filed a pro se petition pursuant to K.S.A. 21-2512, seeking DNA testing of ma[3]*3terial collected from the crime scene. Cheeks’ petition listed approximately 30 items to be tested, including hair and blood found at the scene and samples taken from the victim’s person and clothing. The district court summarily denied Cheeks’ petition because the plain language of K.S.A. 21-2512 permits only individuals convicted of first-degree murder and rape to petition for DNA testing. Cheeks appealed.

Discussion

Cheeks asserts two challenges to the constitutionality of Kansas’ postconviction DNA testing scheme. First, he argues K.S.A. 21-2512 violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause because the statute treats similarly situated individuals differently with no justification for such differing treatment. Next, he contends drat regardless of the scope of K.S.A. 21-2512, he has a Fifth Amendment procedural due process right to postconviction DNA testing, and the district court’s denial of his petition for testing violated that right. Because we conclude K.S.A. 21-2512 violates the Equal Protection Clause, we decline to address Cheeks’ Fifth Amendment challenge. See Wilson v. Sebelius, 276 Kan. 87, 91, 72 P.3d 553 (2003) (stating, “[ajppellate courts generally avoid making unnecessary constitutional decisions”).

K.S.A. 21-2512 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by denying access to postconviction DNA testing to individuals convicted of second-degree murder arid sentenced to life in prison.

The Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause provides that “[n]o state shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Cheeks argues K.S.A. 21-2512 denies him equal protection of the law by restricting his access to postconviction DNA testing based on his conviction of second-degree murder. Cheeks contends he belongs to a class of persons who received a preguidelines sentence of life imprisonment for murder and, unlike individuals serving life sentences for first-degree murder, the statute denies him, without justification, the ability to petition for postconviction DNA testing.

[4]*4On its face, K.S.A. 21-2512 permits only those convicted of first-degree murder or rape the opportunity to petition for postconviction DNA testing. The statute provides in relevant part:

“(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person in state custody, at any time after conviction for murder as defined in K.S.A. 21-3401, and amendments thereto, or for rape as defined by K.S.A. 21-3502, and amendments thereto, may petition the court that entered the judgment for forensic DNA testing (deox-yribonucleic acid testing) of any biological material that:
(1) Is related to the investigation or prosecution that resulted in conviction;
(2) is in the actual or constructive possession of the state; and
(3) was not previously subjected to DNA testing, or can be subjected to retesting with new DNA techniques that provide a reasonable likelihood of more accurate and probative results.” K.S.A. 21-2512.

Before considering Cheeks’ constitutional challenge, we pause to clarify the procedural stature of this case. Because the district court summarily rejected Cheeks’ petition based on the face of the statute, the court made no findings regarding the three statutory requirements of K.S.A. 21-2512(a).

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Bluebook (online)
310 P.3d 346, 298 Kan. 1, 2013 WL 5495257, 2013 Kan. LEXIS 1068, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cheeks-kan-2013.