State v. Funk

349 P.3d 1230, 301 Kan. 925, 2015 Kan. LEXIS 316
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMay 15, 2015
DocketNo. 107,422
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 349 P.3d 1230 (State v. Funk) 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. Funk, 349 P.3d 1230, 301 Kan. 925, 2015 Kan. LEXIS 316 (kan 2015).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Biles, J.:

Cody Steven Funk appeals from the imposition of lifetime postrelease supervision following his guilty plea and con[926]*926viction of one count of attempted indecent solicitation of a cMd. His plea arises from criminal charges filed against him following his sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl. Funk contends lifetime postrelease supervision is disproportionate as applied to him, constituting cruel and/or unusual punishment in violation of Section 9 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights and the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Both the district court and Court of Appeals rejected his arguments. See State v. Funk, No. 107, 422, 2013 WL 1444718 (Kan. App. 2013) (unpublished opinion), rev. granted October 13, 2013. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

In December 2010, Funk was charged with one count of criminal sodomy, a severity level 3 person felony, in violation of K.S.A. 21-3505. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Funk pleaded guilty to one count of attempted indecent solicitation of a child, a severity level 8 person felony, which carried a lower severity level for sentencing purposes. See K.S.A. 21-3510(a)(l) (enticing, commanding, inviting, persuading, or attempting to persuade a child 14 or more years of age but less than 16 years of age to commit or submit to an unlawful sexual act); K.S.A. 2010 Supp. 21-3301 (attempt; overt act towards perpetrating a crime). Funk’s presentence investigation report revealed one prior nonperson felony conviction for burglary and two prior nonperson misdemeanor theft convictions. He was on probation for the burglary conviction when he committed the offense in this case.

Funk filed a motion seeking probation rather than imprisonment. In support of this, he attached a portion of the victim’s testimony at a preliminary hearing in another case pending against a different defendant. Funk had waived a preliminary hearing in his case. The district court sentenced him to 18 months’ probation, with an underlying 10-month prison term and lifetime postrelease supervision. The district court also required Funk to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Funk objected to the imposition of lifetime postrelease supervision, and the district court granted him 30 days to submit a motion challenging the constitutionality of the lifetime postrelease su[927]*927pervision. No evidence was presented at a postsentencing hearing, although Funk’s counsel and the State argued the merits. Funk claimed lifetime postrelease supervision was disproportionate as applied to him and, therefore, constituted cruel and/or unusual punishment under Section 9 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights and the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Importantly, defense counsel noted that appellate courts had declined to review these types of constitutional claims because of inadequate findings and urged the district court to make adequate findings—despite the failure to offer evidence on Funk’s behalf.

In rejecting Funk’s objection, the district court made factual findings based on the preliminaiy hearing transcript attached to Funk’s motion seeking probation, as well as a probable cause affidavit in the case file that contained police accounts of witness statements. From those sources, the district court found:

“1. On the night of November 6, 2010, the Defendant, Cody Funk and at least three other young men, ages 18 to 20, engaged in sexual acts with a 14 year old girl, HD.
“2. On the night in question, two of the young men, Julio Mendoza and Kohlton Kumnick, met HD at a local convenience store. HD had been in a fight with her friends and rode around town with the two young men. Eventually they arrived at Kumnick’s dorm apartment.
“3. Funk and Justin Lord were at Kumnick’s apartment when HD, Mendoza and Kumnick arrived.
“4. Mendoza brought out a bottle of alcohol. All four men consumed the Bacardi and urged HD to drink also. HD drank steadily and quickly from the bottle. HD and Ae four men also ‘huffed’ from an aerosol can.
“5. At Aat point in Ae evening, all four men believed HD to be 16 years old based upon what she told Aem.
“6. Sometime during Ae evening, a friend stopped by Ae dorm apartment and observed HD in Ae bedroom wiA Mendoza, Funk and Lord. This individual told Kumnick she recognized HD as a freshman in high school and warned Kumnick Aat HD was too young to be at Ae dorm apartment.
“7. After drinking alcohol and huffing air duster, HD began kissing Mendoza and Lord. Funk was sitting on a bed opposite of HD wiA a computer on his lap.
“8. Eventually, HD and Mendoza engaged in sexual intercourse on Ae bed opposite of Funk. Funk remained in Ae bedroom working on his computer but could hear HD and Mendoza engaging in sexual acts.
[928]*928“9. After some time, HD approached Funk and undid his pants. HD performed oral sex on Funk while Mendoza penetrated HD from behind either vaginally or anally. HD then performed oral sex on Kumnick
“10. Eventually the group dressed and went to a party where further inappropriate sexual conduct occurred.”

After setting out its findings of fact, the district court acknowledged the legal issues in the case were governed by the three Freeman factors. See State v. Freeman, 223 Kan. 362, 367, 574 P.2d 950 (1978). But despite this, its analysis did not follow the Freeman outline and was limited to the following:

“Based upon a review of the facts, the controlling statutes, and case law, this Court finds it is without authority to grant Funk’s motion to depart from the statutorily required imposition of life time post release supervision. The Court notes, however, drat die facts of this case clearly reflect the injustice of life time post release supervision. An 18 year old young man who allowed a 14 year old girl to voluntarily perform oral sex upon him, widiout request or force, will suffer the consequences of these actions for the remainder of his adult life.”

Parenthetically, we note also that although the district court characterized Funk as an 18-year-old man in its legal conclusion, it made no specific factual finding regarding Funk’s age. Our appellate record contains Funk’s birth year, but it does not identify the month or day, so we cannot confirm whether he was 18 years old when the crime was committed as mentioned by the district court or 18 or 19 as stated by the panel. It is also unclear from the district court’s findings whether Funk believed H.D. was 16 at the time the crime occurred. The court’s only findings were that Funk initially believed H.D. was 16 years old and at least one of the men was later told that she was younger.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
349 P.3d 1230, 301 Kan. 925, 2015 Kan. LEXIS 316, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-funk-kan-2015.