State v. Coman

214 P.3d 1198, 42 Kan. App. 2d 592, 2009 Kan. App. LEXIS 823
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedAugust 28, 2009
Docket100,494
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 214 P.3d 1198 (State v. Coman) 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. Coman, 214 P.3d 1198, 42 Kan. App. 2d 592, 2009 Kan. App. LEXIS 823 (kanctapp 2009).

Opinions

Greene, J.:

Joshua B. Coman appeals his conviction for criminal sodomy under K.S.A. 21-3505(a)(l) and the district court’s order that he register as a sex offender, arguing that his conviction does not require registration under the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA) and that K.S.A. 21-3505(a)(l) is unconstitutional in criminalizing sex between a human and an animal. We reject Co-man’s arguments and affirm his conviction and registration order.

Factual and Procedural Background

Upon entering her garage to access the freezer, the complaining witness reported seeing her ex-boyfriend Coman lying on the floor his shirt pulled up, and her female Rottweiler lying beside him. When she turned on the light, Coman moved his hips away from the dog and quicldy pulled his pants up. Coman then said he loved the dog, Yodi, and he told the witness, “I don’t expect you to understand, but I had to see her one more time.”

When police arrived, a pat-down revealed Coman’s penis remained erect and he had a bottle of personal lubricant in his left front pocket. Coman denied having intercourse with the dog, but he admitted that he tongue-kissed her and digitally penetrated her. A search of Coman’s cell phone revealed several photos of dogs and one video clip of a man engaging in sexual intercourse with a canine.

Coman was charged with one count of criminal sodomy under K.S.A. 21-3505(a)(l), with sexual motivation requiring registration under K.S.A. 22-4902(c)(14). He pled guilty to this offense and was sentenced to 6 months in the county jail, to run consecutive to a Reno County sentence for similar conduct. He was also ordered to receive psychiatric treatment and to register as a sex offender under KORA.

Coman appeals, challenging his conviction and the registration order.

[594]*594Should We Reach Coman’s Challenge to the Constitutionality of K.S.A. 21-3505(a)(l)?

We are unable to reach the merits of Coman’s constitutional challenge to K.S.A. 21-3505(a)(l) due to a host of procedural bars.

First, Coman failed to appeal his conviction. His notice of appeal states that he is appealing the “sentence imposed . . . specifically . . . from that part . . . which requires this Defendant to register.” We obtain jurisdiction to review rulings that are identified in the notice of appeal, and where other rulings or judgments are thereafter challenged, we must dismiss such challenges for lack of appellate jurisdiction. See State v. Huff, 278 Kan. 214, 217, 92 P.3d 604 (2004).

Second, Coman entered a guilty plea to the charge framed under K.S.A. 21-3505(a)(l), the statute that he now seeks to challenge. It is elementaiy that a plea of guilty freely and voluntarily entered after consultation with counsel and with full knowledge of the possible consequences waives any defects or irregularities occurring in any of the prior proceedings. McGoldrick v. State, 33 Kan. App. 2d 466, 473, 104 P.3d 416, rev. denied 279 Kan. 1007 (2005). This rule applies even to alleged defects with constitutional dimensions. State v. Melton, 207 Kan. 700, 712-13, 486 P.2d 1361 (1971).

Finally, Coman has filed no motion to withdraw his plea at the trial court level and is therefore precluded from seeking such relief for the first time on appeal. See State v. Robertson, 30 Kan. App. 2d 639, 641, 44 P.3d 1283 (2002).

For these reasons, and any one of them would suffice, we are obliged to dismiss Coman’s challenge to the constitutionality of K.S.A. 2143505(a)(1).

Did the District Court Err in Ordering Coman to Register as a Sex Offender?

Coman next argues that the district court erred when it ordered him to register as a sex offender after it found that his crime had been sexually motivated. Specifically, Coman contends that the legislature purposefully excluded his crime of conviction, criminal sodomy as defined by K.S.A. 21-3505(a)(l), from the list of specifically described “sexually violent” crimes in K.S.A. 22-[595]*5954902(c)(l)-(ll), and argues that this purposeful exclusion precludes the court from requiring him to register under the catch-all provision in K.S.A. 22-4902(c)(14). Notably, Coman does not dispute on appeal that his offense was motivated by sexual gratification.

Standards of Review

The Kansas Offender Registration Act governs the registration of sex offenders. K.S.A. 22-4901 et seq. Interpretation of a statute is a question of law over which this court has unlimited review. State v. Storey, 286 Kan. 7, 9-10, 179 P.3d 1137 (2008).

The most fundamental rule of statutory construction is that the intent of the legislature governs if that intent can be ascertained. Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska v. Kline, 283 Kan. 64, 77, 150 P.3d 892 (2007). An appellate court’s first task is to “ascertain the legislature’s intent through the statutory language it employs, giving ordinary words their ordinary meaning.” State v. Stallings, 284 Kan. 741, 742, 163 P.3d 1232 (2007).

“When a statute is plain and unambiguous, we do not speculate as to the legislative intent behind it and will not read the statute to add something not readily found in it. We need not resort to státutory construction.”. In re K.M.H., 285 Kan. 53, 79, 169 P.3d 1025 (2007). However, when ambiguity arises because various statutes are in conflict, the canons of statutory construction must be applied and legislative history may be consulted for indications of legislative intent. State v. Valladarez, 288 Kan. 671, 678-79, 206 P.3d 879 (2009).

When construing statutes to determine legislative intent, appellate courts must consider various provisions of an act in pari materia with a view of reconciling and bringing the provisions into workable harmony if possible. State v. Breedlove,

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Related

McCullough v. Wilson
426 P.3d 494 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2018)
State v. Coman
273 P.3d 701 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2012)
State v. Knight
241 P.3d 120 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2010)
State v. Gallardo
224 P.3d 1192 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2010)
State v. Knight
218 P.3d 1177 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2009)
State v. Coman
214 P.3d 1198 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
214 P.3d 1198, 42 Kan. App. 2d 592, 2009 Kan. App. LEXIS 823, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-coman-kanctapp-2009.