State v. Henry

461 P.3d 849, 57 Kan. App. 2d 846
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedFebruary 28, 2020
Docket119895
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 461 P.3d 849 (State v. Henry) 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. Henry, 461 P.3d 849, 57 Kan. App. 2d 846 (kanctapp 2020).

Opinion

No. 119,895

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,

v.

SAMUEL HENRY, Appellant.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

1. A series of larcenous acts, regardless of the amount and value of the separate parcels or articles taken, and regardless of the time occupied in the performance, may and will constitute, in contemplation of law, a single larceny, provided the several acts are done pursuant to a single impulse and in execution of a general fraudulent scheme.

2. The single larceny doctrine is a rule of evidence, not a rule of law, which permits but does not require the trier of fact to consider a series of larcenies, embezzlements, or other thefts to be the result of a single larcenous scheme.

3. The two key elements of the single larceny doctrine are: (1) Separate acts of theft or embezzlement may constitute felony theft if the acts were the result of one larcenous impulse or plan and (2) whether the separate acts were the result of one larcenous impulse or plan is a question of fact to be determined by the jury.

1 4. The single larceny doctrine is not only limited to instances where multiple misdemeanor takings are charged as a single felony but also permits multiple instances of felony takings to be charged as a single higher severity level felony.

5. K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-6604(b)(1) provides that the district court shall order the defendant to pay restitution, which shall include, but not be limited to, damage or loss caused by the defendant's crime, unless the court finds compelling circumstances which would render a plan of restitution unworkable.

6. Restitution is the rule and a finding that restitution is unworkable is the exception. The defendant bears the burden of coming forward with evidence of compelling circumstances that render the restitution plan unworkable.

7. K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21-6604(b)(1) does not define "unworkable." Courts are to evaluate the workability of a restitution plan on a case-by-case basis. Some of the factors relevant to the court's inquiry will be the defendant's income, present and future earning capacity, living expenses, debts and financial obligations, and dependents. In some circumstances, the amount of time it will take a defendant to pay off a restitution order will also be relevant, especially if the defendant is subject to probation until the restitution is paid in full. In all circumstances, the district court should keep in mind the ultimate goals of restitution: compensation to the victim and deterrence and rehabilitation of the guilty.

2 8. If a defendant is ordered to pay full or partial restitution, K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 21- 6608(c)(7) specifically allows for probation to be continued indefinitely as long as the amount of restitution ordered has not been paid.

Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; JOHN J. KISNER JR., judge. Opinion filed February 28, 2020. Affirmed.

Meryl Carver-Allmond and Sam Schirer, of Kansas Capital Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee.

Before WARNER, P.J., POWELL, J., and LAHEY, S.J.

POWELL, J.: A jury convicted Samuel Henry of one count of felony theft after he stole money from QuikTrip deposits on 12 different occasions during his employment as an armored truck driver. The district court sentenced Henry to 60 months' probation and ordered he pay $78,315 in restitution. On appeal, Henry claims the single larceny doctrine, which allows multiple takings to be charged as a single crime when committed as part of single criminal impulse or plan, was inapplicable to his case and the State erroneously charged him with a single higher severity level theft instead of 12 lower severity level thefts. As a result, he argues insufficient evidence supports his conviction because each of his individual takings failed to meet the monetary threshold element of the felony theft charged, necessitating the reversal of his conviction. Henry also argues his restitution is unworkable. For reasons we more fully explain below, we disagree with Henry's arguments and find sufficient evidence supports Henry's theft conviction. We also hold the district court's restitution order is not unworkable. Thus, we affirm Henry's conviction and sentence.

3 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In May 2016, QuikTrip's corporate office discovered it was missing $78,315. Auditing established that this money was missing due to shortages between the currency deposited in the safes of various Wichita, Kansas, QuikTrip locations and the currency transferred to QuikTrip's corporate bank account. QuikTrip conducted an internal investigation and concluded that no QuikTrip employees took the missing money. So, QuikTrip contacted GardaWorld—the armored truck company contracted to transport money from various QuikTrip locations to the bank to be deposited—to file a claim for the missing deposit amounts.

GardaWorld's internal investigation revealed that Henry, an armored truck driver for the company, was responsible for the missing funds. The investigation exposed 12 occasions between April 16, 2016, and May 21, 2016, when the money deposited into the bank was less than the money placed in the safes at various QuikTrip locations. The specific dates and discrepancies are as follows:

Date Amount Missing Store Stolen From April 16, 2016 $2,182 315 April 20, 2016 $920 396 April 25, 2016 $3,110 396 April 27, 2016 $3,111 368 April 30, 2016 $7,091 349 May 2, 2016 $3,930 396 May 2, 2016 $4,230 315 May 4, 2016 $7,911 396 May 7, 2016 $7,830 349 May 7, 2016 $9,070 343 May 14, 2016 $15,410 349 May 21, 2016 $13,520 349 Total Missing: $78,315

4 It was initially unclear how Henry had taken the money because the cash arrived at the bank in sealed, tamper-proof QuikTrip deposit bags. However, it was later discovered that multiple QuikTrip store managers reported a GardaWorld employee had asked for empty deposit bags. The State theorized at trial that Henry initially concealed the thefts by opening the tamper-proof bags collected from the QuikTrip location, removed a portion of the money from inside the bag, and then transferred the remaining currency into a new tamper-proof deposit bag. The State conceded it had no direct evidence showing Henry was the person who had stolen the money, but it noted that Henry was the common denominator in all of QuikTrip's reported shortages.

The State charged Henry with a single count of theft for unlawfully obtaining or exerting control over currency with a value of at least $25,000 but less than $100,000, a severity level 7 nonperson felony. A jury convicted Henry as charged. The district court sentenced Henry to an underlying 12-month prison sentence and placed him on probation for 60 months. The district court also ordered that Henry pay $78,315 in restitution.

Henry timely appeals.

ANALYSIS

On appeal, Henry raises two arguments. First, he argues there was insufficient evidence to support the monetary value element of his theft conviction. Second, he argues the district court imposed an unworkable restitution plan.

I. DOES SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE SUPPORT THE MONETARY VALUE ELEMENT OF HENRY'S THEFT CONVICTION?

Henry first argues there was insufficient evidence to support the monetary value element of his theft conviction because the thefts occurred on 12 separate occasions and

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
461 P.3d 849, 57 Kan. App. 2d 846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-henry-kanctapp-2020.