State v. Gatewood

CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 16, 2026
Docket128139
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Gatewood (State v. Gatewood) 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. Gatewood, (kan 2026).

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

No. 128,139

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,

v.

THOMAS GATEWOOD, Appellant.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

1. When a criminal defendant objects to his or her criminal history score before sentencing, the State has the burden to prove the disputed portion by a preponderance of the evidence.

2. When the district court finds that the State met its burden to prove the disputed portion of a defendant's criminal history score, appellate courts review that finding for substantial competent evidence.

Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; JEFFREY E. GOERING, judge. Oral argument held October 30, 2025. Opinion filed January 16, 2026. Affirmed.

Emily Brandt, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, argued the cause and was on the brief for appellant.

Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Kris W. Kobach, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.

1 The opinion of the court was delivered by

WALL, J.: Thomas Gatewood pleaded no contest to nine felony offenses, including felony murder and kidnapping. But in this direct appeal, Gatewood challenges only his sentence and several court-imposed fees.

First, Gatewood challenges the district court's decision to classify his prior Oklahoma child-abuse conviction as a person felony. This decision elevated Gatewood's criminal-history score to a B, subjecting him to a longer sentence. But there are two versions of child abuse under the Oklahoma statute. The State proved at sentencing that Gatewood was convicted of the injuring-torturing-or-maiming version of child abuse. And the elements of that version of the crime included bodily injury and necessarily proved the presence of another—the child victim. When either of those circumstances exists, Kansas' sentencing scheme requires the district court to classify the out-of-state crime as a person felony. So we affirm Gatewood's sentence.

Second, Gatewood challenges some of the court-imposed fees. But he failed to preserve these objections for appeal by raising them in the district court. And under the circumstances, we decline to exercise our prudential authority to reach the merits. We thus affirm the district court's judgment imposing fees.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Gatewood pleaded no contest to one count of first-degree felony murder; two counts of aggravated kidnapping; three counts of aggravated battery; two counts of aggravated endangering a child; and one count of aggravated intimidation of a witness.

2 At the plea hearing, the district court ordered a presentence investigation (PSI) report. The PSI indicated that Gatewood had a criminal-history score of B. That score was based in part on the PSI classifying Gatewood's 2010 Oklahoma child-abuse conviction as a person felony.

Gatewood objected to the classification. He argued that the out-of-state offense was broader than any of the person-felony characteristics listed in K.S.A. 21- 6811(e)(3)(B)(i). So he believed that the conviction should be classified as a nonperson crime when calculating his criminal-history score.

The State argued that Gatewood's Oklahoma child-abuse conviction was properly classified as a person felony because the elements of the out-of-state offense required proof of the circumstances in K.S.A. 21-6811(e)(3)(B)(i)(b) ("threatening or causing fear of bodily or physical harm or violence, causing terror, physically intimidating or harassing any person"); K.S.A. 21-6811(e)(3)(B)(i)(c) ("bodily harm or injury, physical neglect or abuse, restraint, confinement or touching of any person, without regard to degree"); and K.S.A. 21-6811(e)(3)(B)(i)(d) ("the presence of a person, other than the defendant"). The State also argued that the offense necessarily proved the presence of a person during the commission of the offense, so it should be classified as a person felony under K.S.A. 21-6811(e)(3)(B)(ii).

At sentencing, the State produced the journal entry of judgment for Gatewood's Oklahoma child-abuse conviction. That journal entry showed Gatewood pled guilty to "Child Abuse by Injury" under "10 O.S. § 7115(A)" in 2009.

The district court ruled that Gatewood's Oklahoma child-abuse conviction was properly classified as a person felony. And it found that Gatewood's criminal-history score was a B. Based on that criminal-history score, the court sentenced Gatewood to life

3 imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 615 months for his first-degree felony- murder conviction. See K.S.A. 21-6620(b)(2) (providing that when defendant's criminal- history score would result in presumptive imprisonment range exceeding 25 years for severity level 1 crime, mandatory minimum must match that range). It also imposed a consecutive 228-month prison term for one of his kidnapping convictions. The court ran Gatewood's other sentences concurrent.

The district court also ordered Gatewood to pay several fees, including a forensic services fee of $3,600, a Children's Advocacy Center assessment fee of $3,600, and a fee of $725 for a sexual assault evidence collection kit.

Before turning to Gatewood's issues, we have an independent duty to examine our jurisdiction. We do so in three steps. First, we clarify why our court is the proper jurisdictional forum. Second, we explain why our court has subject-matter jurisdiction over Gatewood's sentencing appeal. Finally, we explain why our court has subject-matter jurisdiction over the fee disputes.

First, as to the forum, Gatewood appealed directly to our court. This is the proper appellate forum because Gatewood received a life sentence and was convicted of an "off- grid" crime, meaning his sentence for that crime was not imposed under the grids that set out the presumptive sentences for most felonies. In those circumstances, Kansas law provides for an appeal directly to the Supreme Court. See K.S.A. 22-3601(b)(3)-(4).

Second, we have subject-matter jurisdiction over Gatewood's sentencing appeal. We recognize that Gatewood pleaded no contest. And defendants cannot appeal a judgment of conviction after pleading guilty or no contest. See K.S.A. 22-3602(a) ("No appeal shall be taken by the defendant from a judgment of conviction before a district judge upon a plea of guilty or nolo contendere."). But Gatewood doesn't challenge his

4 conviction on appeal, only his sentence. See State v. Smith, 311 Kan. 109, 119, 456 P.3d 1004 (2020) (K.S.A. 22-3602 does not prevent defendants who plead guilty or no contest from appealing sentence).

We also recognize that Gatewood received presumptive sentences for all his convictions except for the felony murder conviction.

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State v. Gatewood, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gatewood-kan-2026.