State v. Ussery

116 P.3d 735, 34 Kan. App. 2d 250, 2005 Kan. App. LEXIS 762
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedAugust 5, 2005
DocketNo. 92,780
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 116 P.3d 735 (State v. Ussery) 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. Ussery, 116 P.3d 735, 34 Kan. App. 2d 250, 2005 Kan. App. LEXIS 762 (kanctapp 2005).

Opinion

Rulon, C.J.:

The State of Kansas appeals the imposition of a substantial downward durational and dispositional departure sentence imposed upon defendant Brian K. Ussery for his conviction for rape. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

The defendant was charged with statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, S.S., in violation of K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-3502(a)(2). The State, for some unknown reason, has failed to include a transcript of the trial within the record on appeal. Consequently, the underlying facts of the offense are rather vague. We are at a loss to understand what prompted the State not to furnish this court with a trial transcript.

On June 14, 2003, the victim was in the company of four young men, one of whom was the defendant. Prior to the rape of the victim, the victim became so intoxicated that the young men believed she might have alcohol poisoning and began to drive her to the hospital. We understand, however, that the decision was made not to admit the victim into the hospital, and the group returned to the apartment of a codefendant, D.J., a 17-year-old. The victim was so intoxicated that another codefendant, William N. Haney, carried the victim up the stairs to D.J.’s apartment.

Inside the apartment, Haney took off the victim’s clothes. The four young men requested to have sex with the 13-year-old victim. As we understand the facts, the victim stated she did not specifically agree to have sex, but she requested the young men use a condom if they were going to have sex with her. In an interview with the police, Haney reported the victim agreed to have sex with all four young men, provided each wore a condom. This defendant’s account to police differed somewhat because he claimed the victim encouraged the young men to have sex with her but insisted each wear a condom.

Each of the four men in the group engaged in sexual intercourse with the 13-year-old victim. D.J. had sex with the 13-year-old victim twice. ■

[252]*252The codefendants were prosecuted separately. D.J. was offered a plea bargain and was tried as a juvenile. Haney and Ussery were tried as adults. A jury convicted Ussery of statutory rape, and he eventually filed a motion for a downward durational and dispositional departure sentence. Ussery contended a departure was warranted essentially based upon tire following factors: (1) the victim was a willing participant in the conduct for winch Ussery was convicted; and (2) the degree of harm or loss attributed to the offense was less significant than the typical offense of this nature.

After a hearing, the sentencing court granted Ussery’s departure motion, ordering him to serve a 60-month probation with an underlying sentence of 30 months. The presumptive guidelines sentence was 147 to 165 months. The reasons for the departure cited by the sentencing court involved (a) the relative sentences of the codefendants in relation to each defendant’s relative culpability; (b) the degree of harm associated with this particular crime; (c) the willing participation of the victim in the criminal conduct; and (d) Ussery’s receptiveness to rehabilitation.

The Departure Sentence

Under K.S.A. 21-4721(a), the State appeals the sentencing court’s dispositional and durational downward sentencing departure.

When enacting the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act (KSGA), the legislature determined the presumptive sentence, indicated by the guidelines grid, based upon the severity level of the crime of conviction and the criminal history score of the offender. This sentence should be imposed by the sentencing court unless the sentencing court finds substantial and compelling reasons to depart. K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-4716(a); see State v. Murphy, 270 Kan. 804, 806, 19 P.3d 80 (2001).

When reviewing a sentencing departure, an appellate court must address two questions. First, are the sentencing court’s articulated reasons for departing from the presumptive sentence supported by substantial competent evidence? Second, is each stated reason for a departure substantial and compelling as a matter of law? See Murphy, 270 Kan. at 806. In reviewing a sentencing departure, [253]*253this court considers only those factors articulated by the district court at sentencing. See K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-4716(a); State v. Hawes, 22 Kan. App. 2d 837, 839, 923 P.2d 1064 (1996) (citing State v. Gideon, 257 Kan. 591, Syl. ¶ 21, 894 P.2d 850 [1995]). Each factor cited by the district court does not need to provide a substantial and compelling basis to depart so long as one or more constitutes such a basis for departure. See State v. Minor, 268 Kan. 292, 311, 997 P.2d 648 (2000).

Although Ussery claims the sentencing court relied upon at least 11 factors to support a downward departure in this case, in some instances tire defendant confuses departure factors with the evidence used to support such factors. Many of the defendant’s so-called departure factors involve factual allegations which essentially support a single departure factor.

(a) comparison of codefendants

In sentencing Ussery, the court referred to the sentence imposed upon codefendant William N. Haney, whose sentence, in turn, was based upon the sentence imposed upon D.J., a juvenile codefendant. The sentencing court placed considerable weight upon the apparent disparity between the sole juvenile codefendant’s sentence, and the presumptive sentence for Ussery’s conviction, in light of each codefendant’s relative culpability. The court noted the juvenile codefendant was nearly 18 years old and the primary instigator of the events culminating in sexual intercourse with the 13-year-old victim by each of the young men. The juvenile codefendant had provided the alcohol to the victim and had engaged in two separate acts of sexual intercourse with the victim. Yet, while the 18-year-old codefendants were tried as adults, the juvenile codefendant was offered a plea agreement in which the State dismissed one rape charge and a charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor. The State tried D.J. as a juvenile, and the juvenile court imposed a sentence of 30 months in a juvenile detention facility.

Relying upon State v. Bailey, 251 Kan. 527, 834 P.2d 1353 (1992); State v. Goering, 225 Kan. 755, 594 P.2d 194 (1979); and Cochrane v. State, 4 Kan. App. 2d 721, 610 P.2d 649 (1980), the sentencing court reasoned that the relative culpability of the cod[254]*254efendants and the juvenile codefendant’s lesser sentence provided a substantial and compelling basis to depart from the presumptive sentence when sentencing Ussery.

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Bluebook (online)
116 P.3d 735, 34 Kan. App. 2d 250, 2005 Kan. App. LEXIS 762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ussery-kanctapp-2005.