State v. Hyche

265 P.3d 1172, 293 Kan. 602, 2011 Kan. LEXIS 592
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 2, 2011
DocketNo. 102,912
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 265 P.3d 1172 (State v. Hyche) 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. Hyche, 265 P.3d 1172, 293 Kan. 602, 2011 Kan. LEXIS 592 (kan 2011).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Nuss, C.J.:

Ricky Hyche pled guilty to a Jessica’s Law offense, i.e., aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and received a hard 25 sentence pursuant to K.S.A. 21-4643(a)(l). He now raises three sentencing issues on appeal: (1) he should be eligible for parole after 20 years, not 25, pursuant to K.S.A. 22-3717(b)(2); (2) lifetime electronic monitoring is an invalid component of his sentence under State v. Jolly, 291 Kan. 842, 249 P.3d 421 (2011); and (3) his motion for a downward departure from the hard 25 sentence should have been granted. We have jurisdiction under K.S.A. 22-3601(b)(1).

[603]*603Because the district court has no authority to impose lifetime electronic monitoring, we vacate that component of Hyche’s sentence; we affirm the balance of his sentence.

Facts and Procedural Background

According to a police affidavit, Hyche was alone at his residence with his step-granddaughter, 7-year-old B.S.T., when he “put his hand into her pants and touched the outside of her vagina.” B.S.T. stated that Hyche, whom she called “Papa,” laid her on her side, removed her pants, and put “his penis inside her anus and she stated that it hurt her.” B.S.T. began to cry and then left the room. When B.S.T. returned, Hyche did not touch her again.

Hyche pled guilty to a single charge of aggravated indecent liberties with a child in violation of K.S.A. 21-3504(a)(3)(A). At sentencing, he sought a downward departure sentence pursuant to K.S.A. 21-4643(d), which the State opposed. The district court denied the motion and sentenced Hyche to the hard 25 sentence prescribed in K.S.A. 21-4643(a)(l).

Additional facts will be added as necessaiy.

Analysis

Issue 1: Hyche is not eligible for parole after serving only 20 years.

Standard of Review

To the extent this issue requires this court to interpret language of the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act, K.S.A. 21-4701 et seq. (KSGA), this court exercises unlimited review. State v. Ballard, 289 Kan. 1000, 1010, 218 P.3d 432 (2009).

Discussion

Hyche essentially acknowledges that for his admitted offense, K.S.A. 21-4643(a)(l) prescribes “a term of imprisonment for life with a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of not less than 25 years,” i.e., no parole eligibility for 25 years. But he argues that his parole eligibility fits within the statutory language of two other provisions: K.S.A. 22-3717(b)(2) and K.S.A. 22-3717(b)(5). Consequently, he contends the rule of lenity dictates that he be sen[604]*604tenced to the shorter mandatory minimum term of imprisonment contained in those statutes: 20 years.

This court has already rejected this identical argument in a number of recent opinions. Hyche has provided us with no reason to retreat from that position now:

“Notwithstanding the overlap in the parole eligibility rales contained in K.S.A. 2008 Supp. 22-3717(b)(2) and (b)(5), an inmate sentenced to an off-grid, indeterminate hard-25 life sentence pursuant to K.S.A. 21-4643 shall not be eligible for parole until that inmate has served the mandatory 25 years in prison.” State v. Cash, 293 Kan. 326, Syl. ¶ 1, 263 P.3d 786 (2011).

See State v. Chavez, 292 Kan. 464, 254 P.3d 539, 541 (2011); State v. Pace, 292 Kan. 937, 258 P.3d 381 (2011); State v. Mendoza, 292 Kan. 933, 258 P.3d 383 (2011).

Issue 2: The district court erred in imposing lifetime electronic monitoring.

To the extent this issue requires interpreting language of the KSGA, we again exercise unlimited review. State v. Ballard, 289 Kan. at 1010.

Hyche argues the imposition of lifetime electronic monitoring is prohibited by State v. Jolly, an opinion released after he was sentenced. The State responds that Hyche’s judge was not imposing electronic monitoring but merely describing to Hyche the consequences of a hard 25 sentence. At sentencing the judge stated:

“This is the only captioned case, aggravated indecent liberties, and it’s an off-grid person felony. The Court does sentence you to life in prison with eligibility of parole after 25 years. You will be subject to lifetime electronic monitoring. You will be subject to lifetime registration. There is no good time credit with regard to this.” (Emphasis added.)

In Jolly, the district judge had used almost identical language, which we treated as imposing electronic monitoring in Jolly’s sentence:

“I’m going to impose a 25 years sentence, which would be 300 months, with the Department of Corrections. And I’m going to impose life-time post-release su[605]*605pervision. And the Court does find this to be a sexually motivated offense and the Court will order that you register as a sex offender for life. And you’ll be subject to life-time monitoring.” (Emphasis added.) Jolly, 291 Kan. at 844-45.

Under these circumstances, we readily conclude Hyche’s judge did impose lifetime electronic monitoring as a condition of Hyche’s sentence. Because we held in Jolly this was inappropriate and required vacation of that portion of the sentence, we likewise vacate that portion of Hyche’s sentence. See Jolly, 291 Kan. at 848; Chavez, 292 Kan. at 470.

Issue 3: The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying downward departure.

When a sentencing court denies a defendant’s motion to depart under K.S.A. 21-4643(d), we review the denial for abuse of discretion. State v. Chavez, 292 Kan. at 469.

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Bluebook (online)
265 P.3d 1172, 293 Kan. 602, 2011 Kan. LEXIS 592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hyche-kan-2011.