Justia Kansas Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Defendant pled no contest to two counts of felony murder and one count of aggravated arson. Thereafter, Defendant filed a motion to withdraw his no contest pleas to the three charges. The district judge denied the motion, concluding that Defendant failed to show that manifest injustice would result if he was unable to withdraw his pleas. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the judge did not abuse his discretion in failing to inquire explicitly at Defendant’s plea hearing about promises made to Defendant; (2) Defendant’s defense counsel did not provide ineffective assistance; and (3) the record did not support Defendant’s assertion that he did not understand the meaning and consequences of a no contest plea.View "State v. Morris" on Justia Law

Appellant pleaded guilty to attempted rape, attempted second-degree murder, and aiding a felon. The district court judge sentenced Appellant to a term of imprisonment and ordered restitution to remain open for thirty days. Subsequently, the district court judge ordered Appellant to pay more than $32,000 in restitution, including relocation expenses incurred by the victim of the attempted rape. The court of appeals affirmed the district court’s order of restitution. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the district court had subject matter jurisdiction to set the amount of Appellant’s restitution; and (2) substantial competent evidence supported the district court judge’s inclusion of moving expenses for the victim of the attempted rape.View "State v. Hall" on Justia Law

Defendant was charged of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary for attacking Otis Webb at his home and stealing $950 from Webb’s pockets. During the altercation, Webb knocked a cap off the head of one of the attackers, and DNA collected from the cap connected Defendant to the incident. A jury found Defendant guilty on both counts. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) sufficient evidence, including testimony that Defendant intended to commit a theft as he “remained within” Webb’s house, proved the alternative means of aggravated burglary as charged by the State; (2) the district judge did not err by denying Defendant’s motion in limine to exclude the baseball cap from evidence or by ruling that there was a reasonable certainty the cap had not been materially altered; (3) the district court did not err in denying Defendant’s request to instruct the jury on battery as a lesser included offense of aggravated robbery; and (4) under the circumstances, the district court was not without jurisdiction to enter an order of restitution twenty-eight days after Defendant’s sentencing hearing. View "State v. Frierson" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, and sexual exploitation of a child. The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions but vacated Appellant’s sentence, holding (1) the district court did not err in admitting into evidence Appellant’s prior conviction for indecent liberties with a child and two home videotapes; (2) the district court issued an erroneous limiting instruction, but the instruction was not clearly erroneous; (3) Appellant waived his allegation of error on Confrontation Clause grounds by failing to timely and specifically object on that basis; (4) the prosecutor improperly speculated on facts not in evidence during his rebuttal closing argument, but the error did not require reversal; and (5) the sentencing court improperly imposed a mandatory minimum sentence instead of departing to a guidelines sentence after granting Appellant’s motion to depart. Remanded.View "State v. Dean" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of eight of nine counts each of aggravated burglary and misdemeanor theft. The sentencing judge ordered Appellant to pay restitution “as contained within the presentence report,” and the presentence report indicated that restitution for one of the victims was “to be determined.” Three weeks later, the court entered a restitution order that (1) set the amount for the victim at $1,192, and (2) included restitution for the victim on the charges that led to acquittal. The court of appeals panel affirmed Appellant’s convictions and sentence but vacated the restitution order for the victim named in the charges that led to the acquittals. The Supreme Court affirmed except for vacating the district court’s order of $1,192 in restitution, holding that the judge lacked subject matter jurisdiction to enter the order for additional restitution.View "State v. Charles" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The ages of both the victim and the defendant form an essential part of the elements of the off-grid versions of rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. While the elements jury instructions did not include Appellant’s age, the jury answered in the affirmative to special questions on the verdict forms as to whether Appellant was eighteen years old or older at the time the offenses were committed. The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant’s convictions but vacated erroneous portions of Appellant’s sentences, holding (1) the district court’s failure to include the element of age in the jury instructions on the crimes’ elements and submitting the same to the jury as special questions on the verdict forms was harmless error; (2) the prosecutor committed misconduct during closing argument, but the misconduct did not constitute reversible error; (3) sufficient evidence supported the convictions; and (4) the portions of Appellant’s sentences ordering lifetime postrelease supervision and lifetime electronic monitoring were outside the jurisdiction of the district court.View "State v. Brown" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree felony murder, the alternative charge of second-degree murder, aggravated burglary, and aggravated assault. Defendant raised several issues on appeal, including an allegation that the district court abused its discretion by allowing the withdrawal of his pro se in pro se motion for new counsel without making a sufficient inquiry into the circumstances prompting the motion. The Supreme Court remanded on this issue, holding that the district court erred in not inquiring before allowing the apparently nonconsensual withdrawal of Defendant’s pro se motion for new counsel. The Court also remanded for a nunc pro tunc order correcting the severity level of Defendant’s second-degree murder conviction. The Court rejected Defendant’s remaining claims of error. View "State v. Brown" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of felony murder and attempted aggravated robbery for crimes committed when Defendant was thirteen years old. Defendant was tried as an adult. The district court sentenced Defendant to a hard twenty life sentence for the murder conviction. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in waiving juvenile jurisdiction and in authorizing the State to prosecute Defendant as an adult; (2) the district court did not err in instructing the jury that a killing in the flight from an attempt to commit an inherently dangerous felony constitutes felony murder; (3) there was sufficient evidence to support Defendant’s aggravated attempted robbery conviction; (4) the prosecutor made improper statements during closing argument, but there was no reasonable possibility the prosecutor’s improper commentary affected the trial’s outcome; and (5) Defendant’s argument that her mandatory life-with-parole sentence was unconstitutional was without merit. View "State v. Brown" on Justia Law

Defendant was charged with abuse of a child and felony murder with the underlying felony of child abuse arising from the death of an eleven-month-old child who was in Defendant’s care. The first jury trial resulted in a conviction on the child abuse charge. Because the first jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the felony-murder charge, a second trial was held, after which Defendant was convicted of felony murder. Defendant appealed, raising several issues relating to both trials. The Supreme Court affirmed the felony-murder conviction but reversed the abuse of a child conviction, holding that because Defendant did not present a unified defense to the child abuse charge, the district court’s failure to give a unanimity instruction despite evidence of multiple acts was clearly erroneous. Remanded. View "State v. De La Torre" on Justia Law

In 1995, Appellant pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder and aggravated robbery for crimes Appellant committed when he was fourteen years old. Approximately twelve years later, Appellant filed a pro se motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. Appellant also argued that his aggravated robbery sentence was illegal because his juvenile adjudications were used both to certify him for adult prosecution and to compute his criminal history score. The district court denied Appellant’s motion without conducting an evidentiary hearing. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Appellant failed to demonstrate the manifest injustice required by Kan. Stat. Ann. 22-3210(d) to withdraw his guilty pleas; and (2) Appellant’s aggravated robbery sentence, which was within the presumptive sentence for that crime based on Appellant’s criminal history score, was not illegal.View "State v. Kelly" on Justia Law