State v. Dalton

895 P.2d 204, 21 Kan. App. 2d 50, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 82
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedMay 19, 1995
DocketNo. 71,951
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 895 P.2d 204 (State v. Dalton) 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. Dalton, 895 P.2d 204, 21 Kan. App. 2d 50, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 82 (kanctapp 1995).

Opinion

Rülon J.:

Barry Dalton, defendant, appeals from his jury conviction of obstructing official duty, a class E felony. Defendant contends the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss because under the circumstances surrounding his conviction he could only be convicted of a misdemeanor. We affirm.

The essential facts are undisputed and are as follows:

On April 20, 1993, Olathe police officers received information that defendant had an outstanding felony warrant for his arrest. Two police officers, James Stover and Dennis Purdon, went to defendant’s place of employment. Officer Stover located defendant working at an assembly line. Stover moved toward defendant and motioned for defendant to move towards Stover. Defendant turned and started to run away. One of the police officers yelled at defendant to stop because he was under arrest. Stover chased defendant and eventually apprehended him.

Defendant was charged with felony obstructing official duty. Prior to trial, defense counsel filed a motion asking that the charge be dismissed because the warrant the officers were serving on defendant was for a felony diversion violation. Defense counsel argued that revocation of a diversion agreement was similar to a probation revocation and the Kansas appellate courts had previously concluded that probation revocation proceedings were quasi-civil in nature. Consequently, according to defendant, the provisions of K.S.A. 21-3808 did not provide for a felony charge under existing circumstances. The district court disagreed and denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss. Ultimately, defendant was convicted by a jury, eventually placed on probation, and filed this appeal.

K.S.A. 21-3808 provides: “Obstructing legal process or official duty in a case of felony is a class E felony. Obstructing legal process or official duty in a case of misdemeanor or a civil case is a class A misdemeanor.” The sole question for this court is whether an officer who apprehends an individual following a violation of his or her diversion agreement is conducting duties relating to a civil or a criminal matter.

Resolution of this question depends on this court’s interpretation of K.S.A. 21-3808. Statutoiy interpretation is a question of law, State v. Donlay, 253 Kan. 132, Syl. ¶ 1, 853 P.2d 680 (1993), over [52]*52which an appellate court’s review is unlimited. See Gillespie v. Seymour, 250 Kan. 123, 129, 823 P.2d 782 (1991). The legislature’s intent governs this court’s interpretation of statutoiy language. City of Wichita v. 200 South Broadway, 253 Kan. 434, 436, 855 P.2d 956 (1993). “When a statute is plain and unambiguous, the court[s] must give effect to the intention of the legislature as expressed, rather than determine what the law should or should not be.” Martindale v. Tenny, 250 Kan. 621, Syl. ¶ 2, 829 P.2d 561 (1992).

The parties rely on essentially the same case law to support their divergent positions.

In State v. Miller, 15 Kan. App. 2d 566, 571, 811 P.2d 1256 (1991), this court considered whether the Kansas statute for aggravated failure to appear, K.S.A. 21-3814, applied to a defendant’s failure to appear for a probation revocation hearing. The Miller court concluded that “[b]ecause a probation revocation hearing is a quasi-civil procedure, failure to appear at such a hearing is not a criminal offense and therefore does not meet the statutory requirement of an underlying felony charge for which the defendant failed to appear.” 15 Kan. App. 2d at 571.

Relying upon a statement of our Supreme Court, that a revocation of diversion is closely analogous to a probation revocation, State v. McDaniels, 237 Kan. 767, 772, 703 P.2d 789 (1985), defendant argues that a diversion revocation is a civil proceeding. Therefore, according to defendant, when he was arrested after failing to attend a diversion revocation hearing, he was, at most, guilty of misdemeanor obstruction of official duty.

In McDaniels, our Supreme Court considered the State’s right to an interlocutory appeal of a trial court’s denial of the State’s request to revoke a defendant’s diversion status. The McDaniels court concluded that because denials of diversion were not listed in the statute which authorizes the State to bring interlocutory appeals, K.S.A. 22-3603, and “the potential for a double jeopardy problem which exists in other cases where interlocutory appeals are permitted does not exist” in the revocation of diversion situation, the State would not have the right to appeal the trial court’s ruling. 237 Kan. at 771. We understand the court’s statement that a revocation of probation is analogous to the revocation of diversion [53]*53was limited to the jurisdictional issue before that court and cannot be construed as a broad statement that the two proceedings are analogous in all respects.

One distinction which further disqualifies the McDaniels court’s statement from application to revocations of diversion concerns the existence of a final judgment. “ ‘The final judgment in a criminal case is the sentence and, by placing the defendant on probation, the trial court does not affect the finality of the judgment.’ ” Miller, 15 Kan. App. 2d at 570 (quoting State v. Dubish, 236 Kan. 848, 851, 696 P.2d 969 [1985]). Put a different way, “a ‘[probation revocation ... is not a stage of a criminal prosecution.’ ” Miller, 15 Kan. App. 2d at 569 (quoting Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 782, 36 L. Ed. 2d 656, 93 S. Ct. 1756 [1973]). In that sense, a probation revocation hearing is a separate proceeding which takes place after the criminal case has been terminated and thus obtains its status as quasi-civil in nature. The same cannot be said of a revocation of diversion proceeding.

K.S.A. 22-2911(a) provides:

“If the county or district attorney finds at the termination of the diversion period or any time prior thereto that the defendant has failed to fulfill the terms of the specific diversion agreement, the county or district attorney shall inform the district court of such finding and the district court, after finding that the defendant has failed to fulfill the terms of the specific diversion agreement at a hearing thereon, shall resume the criminal proceedings on the complaint.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
895 P.2d 204, 21 Kan. App. 2d 50, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dalton-kanctapp-1995.