State v. Purcell

54 P.3d 523, 30 Kan. App. 2d 1102, 2002 Kan. App. LEXIS 824
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedSeptember 27, 2002
Docket87,694
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 54 P.3d 523 (State v. Purcell) 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. Purcell, 54 P.3d 523, 30 Kan. App. 2d 1102, 2002 Kan. App. LEXIS 824 (kanctapp 2002).

Opinions

Lewis, J.:

Defendant Michael A. Purcell appeals his sentence as being unconstitutional. Defendant entered his plea of guilty to one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of contributing to a child’s misconduct. He was sentenced to a presumptive term of 56 months and ordered to complete the Labette Correctional Conservation Camp (LCCC) program. The trial court departed, however, from the presumptive postrelease super[1103]*1103vision period of 36 months and imposed a postrelease supervision period of 60 months. Defendant was sent to LCCC, failed to complete that program, and was ordered to serve the underlying prison sentence. He appeals from the court’s increase of his postrelease supervision period from 36 months to 60 months.

Defendant’s plea and sentence was based on a plea agreement between defendant and the State. A portion of that agreement required the State to recommend placement at LCCC. The agreement also provided that both parties agreed to an upward departure on postrelease supervision from 36 to 60 months.

The question is whether the trial court erred in departing from the presumptive postrelease supervision period of 36 months and imposing one of 60 months.

K.S.A. 2001 Supp. 22-3717(d)(l)(A) provides for a presumptive postrelease supervision period of 36 months. Under K.S.A. 2001 Supp. 22-3717(d)(l)(D)(i), a postrelease supervision departure may be imposed if the court finds substantial and compelling reasons to impose a departure based upon a finding that die crime of conviction was sexually violent or sexually motivated. In the case of a sexually violent or sexually motivated crime, the trial court is permitted to depart and increase the postrelease supervision period to 60 months.

The authority of the trial- court to impose an upward departure sentence has been severely restricted by the decision in State v. Gould, 271 Kan. 394, 23 P.3d 801 (2001). In that case, our Supreme Court held that “[a]n upward departure sentence imposed on a defendant by a judge under K.S.A. 2000 Supp. 21-4716 is a violation of the defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights and Fourteenth Amendment Due Process rights and, thus, is unconstitutional.” 271 Kan. 394, Syl. ¶ 3. The court further noted that the notice and jury trial guarantees of the Sixth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment require that a factual determination resulting in an increase in the prison sentence beyond the sentence established in the appropriate grid box be made by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

First, there is no question that increasing defendant’s postrelease supervision period beyond that prescribed by law is an upward [1104]*1104durational departure and implicates Gould. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in State v. Anthony, 273 Kan. 726, 45 P.3d 852 (2002), establishes that an extended postrelease supervision period does increase a defendant’s sentence beyond the prescribed statutory maximum and, thus, is controlled by Gould.

We next examine whether the fact that defendant pled guilty and agreed to this illegal sentence has any impact on our decision. We hold it does not.

In State v. Cody, 272 Kan.564, 565, 35 P.3d 800 (2001), our Supreme Court held as follows:

“This case presents the issue of whether the district court’s imposition of an upward departure sentence was unconstitutional when Cody pled guilty to criminal charges and the court based its sentence upon Cody’s admissions, not upon facts found beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury. The State argues that ‘the primary facts upon which the departure was based were proven beyond a reasonable doubt by the defendant’s admissions and pleas of guilty to various charges.’ Cody contends, however, that under Apprendi, a plea of guilty to the elements of a criminal offense does not constitute either an admission or a waiver of his due process rights. Cody asserts that ‘the fact that he admitted each of the elements of the offenses is in no way an admission that the sentencing factors used to increase his sentence were proved beyond a reasonable doubt.’ We agree. See Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 476-77, 490; State v. Kneil, 272 Kan. 567, 35 P.3d 797 (2001), this day decided.”

In State v. Kneil, 272 Kan. 567, 571, 35 P.3d 797 (2001), which is cited in Cody, the court held:

“By entering a plea of guilty to felony theft, Kneil did not admit she was not amenable to probation, nor did she admit any other fact which might support an upward departure sentence. [Citation omitted.] The State simply fails to present a valid reason for retreating from our holding in Gould.”

We conclude from the cases cited above that the fact that defendant in this case pled guilty does not establish any facts under which the trial court may have imposed an upward departure.

In State v. McElroy, 29 Kan. App. 2d 990, 995, 35 P.3d 283, rev. denied 273 Kan. 1038 (2002), this court held that

“no error occurs under Apprendi [citation omitted] and Gould [citation omitted] where a factual determination is used to increase the period of postrelease supervision beyond the prescribed statutory maximum under K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 22-3717(d)(1)(A), provided that the fact used to exceed the prescribed statutory max[1105]*1105imum has been submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Emphasis added.)

In State v. Anthony, the defendant argued that his postrelease supervision period was increased from 36 to 60 months and that this increase was unconstitutional. The distinguishing feature in Anthony is that Anthony was convicted by a jury. The Supreme Court held that the upward departure in Anthony was not unconstitutional because he had been tried to a jury, the jury had found him guilty of a sexually violent crime, and under K.S.A. 2001 Supp. 22-3717(d)(2)(C), the facts on which the upward departure was based had been determined by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The court went on to say:

“The question becomes whether the increased postrelease period runs afoul of the protections outlined in Apprendi and Gould. We conclude that it does not. Here, the district court simply used the fact that Anthony was convicted of aggravated indecent liberties, by definition a sexually violent crime, to impose an extended postrelease supervision period under K.S.A.

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Related

State v. Walker
60 P.3d 937 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2003)
State v. Purcell
54 P.3d 523 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 P.3d 523, 30 Kan. App. 2d 1102, 2002 Kan. App. LEXIS 824, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-purcell-kanctapp-2002.