State v. Dawson

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The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals affirming the judgment of the district court summarily denying Defendant's 2015 motion to correct an illegal sentence with respect to his 1997 jury trial conviction for rape, holding that Defendant was attempting to avail himself of a subsequent change in law.In his motion, Defendant argued that his sentence was based on an incorrectly calculated criminal history score because a pre-Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act burglary conviction was erroneously classified as a person felony. The district court summarily dismissed the petition, stating that because the sentence was final long before the decisions in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), and State v. Dickey, 350 P.3d 1054 (Kan. 2015), these cases did not apply to Defendant's case retroactively. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the court of appeals' affirmance of the district court's summary denial of Defendant's motion to correct and illegal sentence was not in error. View "State v. Dawson" on Justia Law