State v. Englund

329 P.3d 502, 50 Kan. App. 2d 123, 2014 Kan. App. LEXIS 19
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedApril 11, 2014
DocketNo. 108,446
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 329 P.3d 502 (State v. Englund) 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. Englund, 329 P.3d 502, 50 Kan. App. 2d 123, 2014 Kan. App. LEXIS 19 (kanctapp 2014).

Opinion

McAnany, J.:

Mikael Dwayne Englund appeals from his convictions of aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated robbery, arguing that incriminating evidence obtained in a search of his home and his subsequent confession should have been suppressed and not admitted as evidence at his trial. Englund also argues that his sentence violates Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000).

The Lawrence police were investigating two separate robberies that took place at an apartment in Douglas County. Englund lived in Franklin County. Englund became a suspect, so in May 2011 the police obtained a search warrant from a district judge in Douglas County to search Englund’s Franklin County residence. The search yielded incriminating evidence, and Englund was charged in Douglas County with a number of crimes.

Englund filed a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence found during the search of his Franklin County residence and his later confession and other incriminating evidence that were the products of the search. Englund argued the evidence obtained as a result of the search warrant, including Englund’s eventual confession, should be suppressed because the warrant unlawfully authorized a search of a residence outside the territorial jurisdiction of die judge who issued it. See K.S.A. 22-2503.

[125]*125The State argued the territorial restriction on the issuance of search warrants found in K.S.A. 22-2503 applied only to search warrants issued by district magistrate judges, not by district judges.

After the suppression hearing, the district court ruled K.S.A. 22-2503 applied only to district magistrate judges and not to district judges. The court noted that although K.S.A. 22-2202(14) defines “magistrate” as including both district magistrate judges and district court judges, K.S.A. 22-2503 specifically places jurisdictional limits on search warrants issued by a “district magistrate judge.” The evidence sought to be suppressed was admitted at trial, and Englund was convicted of aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated robbery. He appeals, arguing that the evidence obtained as a result of the Douglas County search warrant should have been suppressed.

Englund claims the search warrant was void when issued because the district court judge who signed the warrant had no jurisdiction to issue it for the search of a residence outside of his judicial district under the geographic limits set forth in K.S.A. 22-2503. The State responds that tire jurisdictional limits established in K.S.A. 22-2503 explicitly refer only to district magistrate judges, not district judges.

Standards of Review

When, as here, the material facts are not in dispute, we have unlimited review over the legal question of whether suppression is warranted. State v. Martinez, 296 Kan. 482, 485, 293 P.3d 718 (2013). This case also involves the interpretation and interaction of various statutes, matters of law over which our review is unlimited. State v. Dale, 293 Kan. 660, 662, 267 P.3d 743 (2011). When there is no ambiguity, the court need not resort to statutory construction. Only if the statute’s language is unclear or ambiguous do we resort to the canons of construction or legislative history to construe the legislature’s intent. State v. Urban, 291 Kan. 214, 216, 239 P.3d 837 (2010).

The most fundamental rule of statutory construction is that the intent of the legislature governs if that intent can be ascertained. State v. Arnett, 290 Kan. 41, 47, 223 P.3d 780 (2010). We must [126]*126first attempt to ascertain legislative intent through statutory language enacted, giving common words their ordinary meaning. Urban, 291 Kan. at 216. When construing statutes to determine legislative intent, we must consider various provisions of an act as a whole with a view of reconciling and bringing the provisions into workable harmony if possible. State v. Coman, 294 Kan. 84, 93, 273 P.3d 701 (2012). We must construe statutes to avoid unreasonable or absurd results and presume the legislature does not intend to enact meaningless legislation. State v. Turner, 293 Kan. 1085, 1088, 272 P.3d 19 (2012). In addition, when the legislature revises an existing law, we presume the legislature intended to change the law as it existed prior to the amendment and acted with full knowledge of the existing law. See State v. Snellings, 294 Kan. 149, 157, 273 P.3d 739 (2012); State v. Henning, 289 Kan. 136, 144-45, 209 P.3d 711 (2009). Finally, we are mindful of the rule of lenity, under which criminal statutes are generally construed strictly in favor of the accused. This rule is constrained by the principle that the interpretation of a statute must be reasonable and sensible to effect the legislative design and intent of the law. The rule of lenity arises only when there is a reasonable doubt of the statute’s meaning. State v. Cameron, 294 Kan. 884, 899, 281 P.3d 143 (2012).

Englund’s Arguments

Englund’s contentions have been ably and conscientiously advanced in his appellate brief and in the forceful oral argument of his appellate counsel. K.S.A. 22-2503, enacted in 1970, is at the center of Englund’s argument. It provides: “Search warrants issued by a district magistrate judge may be executed only within the judicial district in which said judge resides or within tire judicial district to which said judge has been assigned pursuant to K.S.A. 20-319.”

Central to Englund’s arguments are Article 3, § 6(b) of the Kansas Constitution which extends to district courts “such jurisdiction in their respective districts as may be provided bylaw,” and K.S.A. 20-301a which limits a judge’s judicial power to the judicial district in which the judge sits. Englund argues that the legislature has

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Related

State v. Baker
475 P.3d 24 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2020)
State v. Robinson
363 P.3d 875 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
329 P.3d 502, 50 Kan. App. 2d 123, 2014 Kan. App. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-englund-kanctapp-2014.