State v. Walker

Court of Appeals of Kansas·Decided June 12, 2026·No. 128268·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

Nos. 128,268 128,269 128,270 128,271 128,272

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,

v.

MICHAEL D. WALKER, Appellant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; SETH L. RUNDLE, judge. Submitted without oral argument. Opinion filed June 12, 2026. Vacated and remanded with directions.

Jennifer Roth, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant.

Julie A. Koon, assistant district attorney, Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Kris W. Kobach, attorney general, for appellee.

Before CLINE, P.J., BOLTON FLEMING, J., and JEFFREY GETTLER, District Judge, assigned.

PER CURIAM: This appeal requires us to review Michael D. Walker's sentences in five Sedgwick County District Court cases.

The district court sentenced Walker to a total of 238 months in prison between his five cases. As part of Walker's sentencing, the district court awarded jail credit in some

1 but not all of Walker's cases, finding that Walker was not entitled to jail credit for cases that were sentenced consecutively. Additionally, the sentencing journal entry in one case reflected a sentence of 144 months, but that term contradicted the prison sentence of 124 months pronounced from the bench. Further, the court costs included in the sentencing journal entry for one case reflected a Bond Forfeiture Alias Warrant (BFAW) fee of $482.50, which was not ordered by the court during sentencing.

On appeal, we are required to vacate Walker's sentence in Case No. 21 CR 1907 and remand for resentencing. Walker's sentencing journal entry does not reflect the sentence that was pronounced from the bench. Under Kansas law, if a sentence pronounced from the bench conflicts with the sentence reflected in the sentencing journal entry, the pronounced sentence controls. In this case, the pronounced sentence was illegal because it did not fall within the Kansas sentencing guidelines and was not the result of a durational departure. On remand, the district court must also award Walker the jail credit he is owed in 21 CR 1907 applying State v. Ervin, 320 Kan. 287, 311-12, 566 P.3d 481 (2025).

We also find that the jail credit determinations in Case No. 21 CR 1908 and Case No. 21 CR 1916 were not made applying the principles from Ervin. We vacate the jail credit portion of the sentence in each case and remand for the district court to determine Walker's jail credit under Ervin.

Finally, we vacate the district court's order in Case No. 21 CR 959 awarding a BFAW fee of $482.50, because the district court did not make findings on the record that the fee was reasonably related to the prosecution of the crime. State v. Alvarez, 309 Kan. 203, 208, 432 P.3d 1015 (2019). Accordingly, we vacate and remand with directions.

2 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Michael D. Walker was sentenced in five Sedgwick County District Court cases: 21 CR 959 (two counts of criminal threat, severity level 9 person felonies); 21 CR 1907 (one count of possession of an opiate with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, a severity level 2 drug felony); 21 CR 1908 (two counts of possession of an opiate with intent to distribute, severity level 3 drug felonies; one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, a severity level 4 drug felony; one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a severity level 4 drug felony); 21 CR 1916 (three counts of criminal discharge of a firearm, severity level 7 person felonies; two counts of criminal damage to property, class B misdemeanors; one count of criminal possession of a weapon, a severity level 8 nonperson felony); and 22 CR 439 (one count of possession of an opiate, a severity level 5 drug felony; one count of DUI, a class B misdemeanor).

The State filed each of the cases against Walker between May 18, 2021, and March 24, 2022. Walker entered pleas in each of these cases between May 1, 2023, and May 20, 2024. Walker was sentenced in all five cases on August 30, 2024. We note here only the facts pertinent to Walker's issues on appeal.

Prior to sentencing, Walker filed a motion for dispositional or durational departure in each case. At his sentencing, the district court assigned Walker a criminal score of "A" in four cases, and "B" in one case, due to cross-scoring of convictions under Kansas criminal history scoring rules. As part of a plea agreement, the State agreed to recommend a total of 161 months in prison between the five cases. But at sentencing, the State took the position that it was no longer bound by the plea agreement because Walker had violated the terms of his bond. Instead, the State recommended a total of 317 months in prison. Ultimately, the district court sentenced Walker to a total of 238 months in prison between the five cases and denied his request for a departure. The district court

3 reached the controlling sentence of 238 months by ordering the sentences in 21 CR 1907, 21 CR 1908, and 21 CR 1916 to run consecutive to each other, but concurrent to the sentences in 21 CR 959 and 22 CR 439.

The district court awarded Walker jail credit for the time spent in custody, stating, "You are awarded credit for any time you have spent in custody on these cases, so long as they are not awarded to a consecutive sentence in a different case." The district court awarded jail credit in 21 CR 959, 21 CR 1907, and 22 CR 439, but did not award jail credit in 21 CR 1908 and 21 CR 1916 because those cases were ordered to run consecutively to 21 CR 1907. Sentencing journal entries for each case were signed by the court and filed, but the journal entry for 21 CR 1907 reflected a sentence of 144 months instead of the 124-month sentence the district court pronounced from the bench. At sentencing, the court ordered various court costs in each case, but the sentencing journal entry for 21 CR 959 included a BFAW fee amount of $482.50, which had not been pronounced from the bench.

Walker timely appeals.

ANALYSIS

DID WALKER RECEIVE AN ILLEGAL SENTENCE IN CASE NO. 21 CR 1907?

On appeal, Walker first argues that the district court imposed an illegal sentence because the journal entry did not reflect the sentence pronounced from the bench for 21 CR 1907.

Standard of Review

A sentence is considered illegal when it is imposed by a court without jurisdiction; fails to "conform to the applicable statutory provision, either in character or punishment";

4 or "is ambiguous with respect to the time and manner in which it is to be served at the time it is pronounced." K.S.A. 22-3504(c)(1); State v. Zongker, 319 Kan. 411, 436-37, 555 P.3d 698 (2024). Determination of whether a sentence is illegal is a question of law over which this court has unlimited review. 319 Kan at 437.

The district court sentenced Walker in Case No. 21 CR 1907 as follows:

"In 21 CR 1907, the primary crime that controls the base sentence is Count 2, possession of an opiate within 1,000 feet of a school. It is a severity level 2, drug felony, placing the defendant in grid box 2D—correction—2A on the drug grid.

"Upon those findings, I sentence the defendant to the high number term of 124 months in the Department of Corrections. Post-release supervision is 36 months, and good-time credit is 15 percent. There is also a $400 lab fee in that case."

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