State v. Daniels

853 P.2d 65, 18 Kan. App. 2d 338, 1993 Kan. App. LEXIS 56
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedMay 21, 1993
Docket68,621
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 853 P.2d 65 (State v. Daniels) 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. Daniels, 853 P.2d 65, 18 Kan. App. 2d 338, 1993 Kan. App. LEXIS 56 (kanctapp 1993).

Opinion

Lewis, J.:

This is an appeal by the defendant in a misdemeanor case. The defendant argues that the sentence imposed on him is illegal.

The defendant was charged with the crime of attempted aggravated incest in case No. K-67768 in Johnson County. While on bond awaiting trial on that charge, the defendant was charged with criminal trespass in case No. 68611, also in Johnson County. *339 The defendant then committed a second criminal trespass while on bond for which he was charged in case No. K-69408.

In case No. K-69408, the defendant was sentenced to a term of six months in the county jail to run consecutive to sentences imposed in cases Nos. K-68611 and K-67768.

In case No. K-68611, the defendant was given a sentence of six months in the county jail, to run consecutive to the sentence imposed in case No. K-67768.

In case No. K-67768, the defendant was sentenced to a term of one to five years in the custody of the Secretary of Corrections for the crime of attempted aggravated incest.

The defendant appeals only the sentence imposed in case No. K-69408. He argues that the trial court had no authority to impose a county jail sentence to run consecutive to a felony conviction sentence imposed on an earlier charge. We disagree.

We begin our analysis by noting that the parties to this appeal entered into a plea agreement. This agreement was stipulated to by both parties, who jointly asked the court to impose the sentence which the defendant now claims is illegal.

At the time the defendant entered his plea of guilty in case No. K-69408, his attorney advised the court as follows:

“MR. TURNER: Yes, Your Honor. If I could just provide a brief summary that again, 69155, a criminal trespass case in Judge Cleaver’s Court will be dismissed. Mr. Daniels will enter a plea to both the cases before this Court which constitute criminal trespass, Count I of 69408, and a battery charge will be dismissed. Mr. Daniels will also be entering a plea of guilty to attempted aggravated incest. The parties will recommend one to five years. All cases will run consecutive to one another. The parties are open on the issue of probation.” (Emphasis added.)

At the time of sentencing, the trial court, before sentencing the defendant, announced in open court:

"These matters are before the Court today for sentencing. The case numbered 68611 is a case in which the defendant has entered a plea of guilty to criminal trespass, a Class ‘B’ misdemeanor. In the other case numbered K-69408, the file reflects a plea of guilty to Count II also to the charge of criminal trespass and the Court further notes that a part of the agreement is that the sentence in the higher numbered case is to run consecutive to the plea — the sentence, rather, in the lower numbered case. Is there any other part of the plea disposition agreement that the Court should be made aware of?
*340 “MR. TURNER: Yes, Your Honor, and Mr. Warner has asked me to state the plea agreement in this case. The plea agreement was for six months on each count and the parties are open as to probation.” (Emphasis added.)

We note that there was no negative response from counsel for the defendant to the announcement by the trial court that, pursuant to the plea agreement, the sentences were to run consecutive to one another.

Later on in the sentencing proceedings, the defendant’s attorney, while asking for probation, stated the following:

“I would inform the Court that he is scheduled for sentencing January 29th in Court 3 on an attempted aggravated incest. The sentence in that case will be a one to five years which, will run consecutive to this case. Under the circumstances of these criminal trespasses, Your Honor, I do think that requiring him to serve a lull year would be a harsh penalty.” (Emphasis added.)

It is plain to see that the defendant received the precise sentence for which he bargained and requested the court to impose. The defendant now comes before this court and asks that we determine that the sentence he requested the court to impose is illegal and void. Under these circumstances, the doctrine of invited error seems appropriate: “It is a general rule that a litigant may not invite error and then complain of that error on appeal.” State v. Higgins, 243 Kan. 48, 51, 755 P.2d 12 (1988). See State v. Crawford, 250 Kan. 174, 177, 824 P.2d 951 (1992); State v. Cramer, 17 Kan. App. 2d 623, 633, 841 P.2d 1111 (1992).

However, we do not believe that the court erred on the sentence imposed in this case. For that reason, we do not consider the theory of invited error to be applicable.

The defendant bases his argument on the illegality of the sentence on K.S.A. 1992 Supp. 21-4608(7), which reads as follows: “When a definite and an indefinite term run consecutively, the period of the definite term is added to both the minimum and maximum of the indeterminate term and both sentences are satisfied by serving the indeterminate term.”

The defendant argues that under that provision of 21-4608, the only proper sentence which the defendant could serve in this case would be one year and six months to five years and six months. Thé defendant argues that, because of the existence of 21-4608(7), a defendant cannot be required to serve his term in *341 the custody of the Secretary of Corrections and then serve a consecutive county jail sentence.

It appears to us that 21-4608(7) is an enactment directed to the authorities who determine when a defendant is to be released from his sentence. This is not a function ordinarily imposed upon trial courts. We do not believe that the sentence imposed in this case is illegal. However, it does appear that, absent the requirements of K.S.A. 1992 Supp. 21-4608(3), the Department of Corrections would be required to aggregate the sentence in the manner stipulated by 21-4608(7). This would be required to determine the defendant’s release date and his parole eligibility date. These dates are not determined by the trial court. The fact that the Department of Corrections must administratively aggregate the sentence imposed under certain circumstances does not make that sentence illegal. We believe that 21-4608(7) is nothing more than a factor which must be considered by the Department of Corrections in order to compute the proper release date and parole eligibility date for an inmate.

However, we need not rest our decision on the basis stated above. In this case, the crime of criminal trespass was committed while the defendant was free on bond from a felony charge of attempted aggravated incest.

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Related

Anderson v. Bruce
50 P.3d 1 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2002)
State v. Duncan
956 P.2d 737 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1998)
Blomeyer v. State Ex Rel. Morrison
915 P.2d 790 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
853 P.2d 65, 18 Kan. App. 2d 338, 1993 Kan. App. LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-daniels-kanctapp-1993.