State v. Young

434 P.2d 820, 200 Kan. 20, 1967 Kan. LEXIS 462
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 9, 1967
Docket44,678
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 434 P.2d 820 (State v. Young) 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. Young, 434 P.2d 820, 200 Kan. 20, 1967 Kan. LEXIS 462 (kan 1967).

Opinion

*21 The opinion of the court was delivered by

Fatzek, J.:

On June 22, 1964, the county attorney of Wyandotte County filed an information with the clerk of the district court, charging the defendant-appellant, Lawrence Young, with the crime of robbery in the first degree. (G. S. 1949, 21-527, now K. S. A. 21-527.)

On the afternoon of September 14, 1964, the district court appointed Charles W. Thompson, a member of the Wyandotte County Bar, to represent the defendant pursuant to K. S. A. 62-1304 and 1304a. The following morning, September 15, 1964, the trial of the defendant and his co-defendant, Maurice Simms, commenced. The defendant objected to the appointment of Thompson to represent him, since Thompson had also been appointed and was acting as counsel to co-defendant Simms; further, that since he had only the previous afternoon to confer witih Thompson to prepare his defense, he was being denied due process of law. The defendant requested the appointment of another attorney, and for a continuance of the trial to afford him additional time to prepare his defense. His requests were denied, and the trial began.

On September 17, 1964, the jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty of robbery as charged in the information. A motion for a new trial was filed and heard by the district court and overruled. On September 26, 1964, the defendant was sentenced to confinement in the Kansas State Penitentiary for a term of not less than ten years nor more than 21 years, pursuant to K. S. A. 21-530.

A direct appeal was perfected to this court which was docketed No. 44,238, and is reported as State v. Young, 196 Kan. 63, 410 P. 2d 256. The opinion, filed January 22, 1966, is incorporated herein by reference, where the facts of the crime, as disclosed by the evidence, were fully detailed by Justice Kaul. This court concluded the district court erred in overruling the defendant’s motion for a new trial, in that it abused its discretion in denying his requests for other counsel and for a continuance. The concluding paragraph of the opinion states:

“The verdict of the jury and the judgment and sentence of the trial court are vacated and set aside and the cause is remanded to the district court. The appellant is ordered to be returned to Wyandotte county by the warden of the Kansas State Penitentiary, where appellant is now imprisoned, and delivered *22 into the custody of the sheriff of Wyandotte county for further proceedings in harmony with this opinion.” (1. c. 72.)

Following the defendant’s return to Wyandotte County, counsel was appointed to represent him and a new trial was granted. Commencing on April 5, 1966, the defendant was retried on the charge of robbery in the first degree as contained in the information filed on June 22, 1964. On the following day, April 6, 1966, the jury returned its verdict, finding the defendant guilty. However, prior to the new trial and for the first time on March 4, 1966, the state announced its intention to invoke the Habitual Criminal Act.

On April 20, 1966, the defendant’s motion for a new trial was overruled and the state presented evidence of his previous conviction of felony. The district court sentenced the defendant to a term of “not less than 20 years nor more than 42 years” pursuant to K. S. A. 21-530 and the Habitual Criminal Act (K. S. A. 21-107a), and gave him credit against the sentence imposed for all time served in the Kansas State Penitentiary under the sentence imposed on September 26, 1964 — the sentence directed to be set aside by this court in State v. Young, supra.

Thereafter, the defendant duly perfected this appeal and he was authorized to proceed in forma pauperis. Edward G. Collister, Jr., a member of the Wyandotte County Bar, was appointed to represent the defendant in presenting this appeal, and he performed his duties with ability and diligence.

The appellant contends the practical effect of what occurred is that his sentence was doubled because he successfully demonstrated to this court that his right to counsel as guaranteed by Section 10 of our Bill of Rights and K. S. A. 62-1304 had been violated at his first trial. He argues that the application of the Habitual Criminal Act to his conviction upon a second trial after a successful appeal, when the Act was not applied or requested prior to his first trial, constitutes a violation of his right to due process of law and equal protection of the law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. He maintains that harsher sentencing following a new trial is an infringement upon (1) the right or privilege to appeal; (2) the right to a fair trial, and (3) the equal protection of the law.

With respect to the first point, he asserts that harsher sentencing upon retrial operates as an unreasonable condition or limitation on the right to appeal, and violates notions of fair play and substantial justice inherent in the due process clause. On the second point, *23 he argues that every defendant has a constitutional right to a “fair trial”; that the privilege of appealing a conviction is to afford the defendant an opportunity to have appellate review of any trial errors and constitutional defects, and is his method of enforcing his right to a fair trial; that if a defendant’s original conviction was not constitutionally valid, as it was not in his case, the effect of a harsher resentencing is to punish the defendant for seeking his constitutional right to a fair trial and denies him due process of law. On the third point, he argues that the harsher sentence imposed following a new trial violates the equal protection of the law clause in that there is no basis for distinguishing as a class those persons who successfully attack criminal convictions by subjecting them to harsher punishment, since the only group of persons to whom harsher resentencing is applicable are those, like the defendant, who successfully challenge their original convictions; that the sentence of all other criminals are not subject to such increase, and that it is an unreasonable classification to apply possibility of increased sentences to those who seek successfully to protect their constitutional rights.

In advancing his points, the defendant concedes he was given notice of the state’s intention to invoke the Habitual Criminal Act prior to the commencement of his new trial; that discretion may be utilized in determining to whom the Act may be applied; that no provisions of either the state or federal constitution with respect to double jeopardy are involved, and that the Habitual Criminal Act is not unconstitutional.

We have examined the authorities relied upon by the appellant in light of the factual situation here presented, and conclude they are not in point and his contentions cannot be sustained.

When the defendant’s sentence of September 26, 1964, was directed by this court to be set aside in State v. Young, supra, the district court sustained the defendant’s motion for a new trial. The new trial commenced on April 5, 1966, and it was a trial de novo. K. S. A. 62-1601 reads:

“. . . A new trial is a re-examination of the issues in the same court . . .”

and K. S. A. 62-1602 reads:

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Related

In Re Berkowitz
602 P.2d 99 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1979)
State v. Kinsey
502 P.2d 470 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1972)
Young v. State
483 P.2d 1020 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1971)
North Carolina v. Pearce
395 U.S. 711 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Scoggins v. State
454 P.2d 550 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1969)
State v. Stafford
164 S.E.2d 371 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
434 P.2d 820, 200 Kan. 20, 1967 Kan. LEXIS 462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-young-kan-1967.