State v. Brown

The Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s denial of Michael Brown’s motion to correct an illegal sentence. In 1999, Brown was convicted of first-degree murder. Brown was sentenced to a term of life without possibility of parole for forty years. The conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal. In 2013, Brown filed this motion to correct an illegal sentence under Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-3504(1), arguing that Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. __ (2013) rendered his judicially enhanced life sentence illegal. The district court found that Alleyne did not apply retroactively to cases that were final when it was decided. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that a claim that a sentence was imposed in violation of the constitutional holding in Alleyne does not fit within the definition of an illegal sentence that may be addressed with a section 22-3504(1) motion to correct an illegal sentence. View "State v. Brown" on Justia Law