State v. LaMunyon

898 P.2d 1182, 21 Kan. App. 2d 281, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 106
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJune 30, 1995
Docket71,985
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 898 P.2d 1182 (State v. LaMunyon) 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. LaMunyon, 898 P.2d 1182, 21 Kan. App. 2d 281, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 106 (kanctapp 1995).

Opinions

Malone, J.:

Steven W. LaMunyon, Jr., appeals the district court’s determination of his criminal history category for purposes of retroactive sentence conversion under the sentencing guidelines.

On April 9, 1993, LaMunyon pled no contest to possession of marijuana with intent to sell. The district court sentenced La[282]*282Munyon to 3 to 10 years’ imprisonment and denied his motion for sentence modification.

On November 30, 1993, the Department of Corrections (DOC) issued a sentencing guidelines report which stated that LaMunyon was eligible for retroactive conversion of his sentence. The report showed that LaMunyon had a criminal history which included three juvenile adjudications for nonperson misdemeanors. The State filed a motion challenging the DOC report. The presentence investigation report prepared after LaMunyon’s conviction for possession of marijuana with intent to sell noted an additional juvenile adjudication for burglary which was not included in the DOC report.

The district court held a hearing and found that LaMunyon’s criminal history included a juvenile adjudication for burglary, a person felony; thus, LaMunyon’s criminal history category was “D,” which made him ineligible for retroactive sentence conversion. LaMunyon appeals the district court’s determination of his criminal history category.

The Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act (KSGA) provides that juvenile adjudications should be considered in determining a defendant’s criminal history category. See K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 21-4710 et seq. However, LaMunyon makes three arguments as to why juvenile adjudications should not be considered.

First, LaMunyon argues that the KSGA is in direct conflict with the Kansas Juvenile Offenders Code. K.S.A. 38-1601, the preamble to the code, provides:

“In no case shall any order, judgment or decree of the district court, in any proceedings under the provisions of this code, be deemed or held to import a criminal act on the part of any juvenile; but all proceedings, orders, judgments and decrees shall be deemed to have been taken and done in the exercise of the parental power of the state.”

LaMunyon argues that because the code prohibits a juvenile adjudication from being construed as a criminal act, a juvenile adjudication cannot give rise to any criminal implication and cannot be used to calculate criminal history.

LaMunyon cites the rule that where a general statute and a specific statute are in conflict, the specific statute should control unless [283]*283the legislature intended otherwise. See Carmichael v. State, 255 Kan. 10, 15, 872 P.2d 240 (1994). He argues that the juvenile code is the more specific statute and should control over die provisions of the KSGA. The State argues that even if the juvenile code is the more specific statute, the legislature intended the KSGA to control over the juvenile code in this instance.

This court recently commented on the legislature’s intent regarding the use of juvenile adjudications in determining criminal history.

“[T]he legislature is clearly aware that juvenile adjudications do not count as criminal convictions. In writing the KSGA, the legislature made special provisions in K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 21-4710 to include juvenile adjudications, in some instances, as part of an offender s criminal history, showing its awareness that without the special provisions juvenile adjudications could not be counted as prior convictions.” State v. Ward, 20 Kan. App. 2d 238, 244, 886 P.2d 890 (1994).

The juvenile code was adopted in 1982. Since the legislature specifically provided that juvenile adjudications were to be considered in determining criminal history under the KSGA, it logically follows that the legislature intended the KSGA to be the controlling statute.

LaMunyon’s second argument is that because a juvenile does not have the right to a jury trial, a juvenile adjudication should not be used to enhance punishment in a later adult criminal proceeding. He argues this is analogous to the rule that a prior, uncounseled conviction cannot be used to enhance the sentence imposed for a subsequent crime. See State v. Priest, 239 Kan. 681, 685, 722 P.2d 576 (1986). Furthermore, allowing a juvenile adjudication to have a criminal implication runs contrary to long-standing Kansas case law, particularly State, ex rel., v. Owens, 197 Kan. 212, 416 P.2d 259 (1966).

This issue is a matter of first impression in this state. The Oregon Court of Appeals considered a similar argument in State v. Stewart, 123 Or. App. 147, 859 P.2d 545 (1993). The Stewart court explained that even though a juvenile adjudication does not include the right to a jury trial, due process does require other protections such as the right to counsel, confrontation, and cross-examination. The court found that these due process protections were sufficient [284]*284to allow a juvenile adjudication to be used later in enhancing an adult sentence. Stewart, 123 Or. App. at 150-51.

The State argues that this court should follow Stewart, while LaMunyon urges this court to adopt the reasoning of the dissent. The dissent relied on Baldoasar v. Illinois, 446 U.S. 222, 64 L. Ed. 2d 169, 100 S. Ct. 1585 (1980), a Supreme Court case holding that a prior uncounseled conviction which was valid for imposing a non-prison sentence could not be used to enhance a defendant’s prison sentence in a later proceeding.

The Supreme Court overruled Baldasar in Nichols v. United States, 511 U.S__, 128 L. Ed. 2d 745, 114 S. Ct. 1921 (1994). In Nichols, the Court held that an uncounseled misdemeanor conviction, valid under Scott v. Illinois, 440 U.S. 367, 59 L. Ed. 2d 383, 99 S. Ct. 1158 (1979), because no prison term was imposed, is also valid when used to enhance punishment at a subsequent conviction. 128 L. Ed. 2d at 755. Even if the Kansas Supreme Court continues to hold that uncounseled convictions may not be used to enhance later sentences, the analogy to juvenile adjudications with no right to a jury trial is not persuasive.

Even before die Nichols Court overruled Baldosar, those federal circuit courts which considered the issue refused to extend the Baldosar holding to cases involving juvenile adjudications and the federal sentencing guidelines. See McCullough v. Singletary, 967 F.2d 530, 533 (11th Cir. 1992); U.S. v. Williams,

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Bluebook (online)
898 P.2d 1182, 21 Kan. App. 2d 281, 1995 Kan. App. LEXIS 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lamunyon-kanctapp-1995.