Justia Kansas Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

On February 11, 2016, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the holding of the three-judge district court panel that found changes made to the State's K-12 funding system through enactment of the Classroom Learning Assuring Student Success Act of 2015 (CLASS) violated the equity component of Article 6, section 6(b) of the Kansas Constitution. Specifically, the Court determined the operation of capital outlay state aid and local option budget (LOB) supplemental general state aid, as formulated under CLASS, still allowed inequitable distribution of funding among school districts that it had held unconstitutional in "Gannon v. State," (319 P.3d 1196 (2014) (Gannon I)). This case required the Supreme Court to determine whether the State met its burden to show that recent legislation brought the State's K-12 public school funding system into compliance with Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution. After review, the Court held that it had not: (1) H.B. 2655 cured the capital outlay inequities affirmed to exist in "Gannon II;" (2) H.B. 2655, which included a hold harmless and extraordinary need provisions, failed to cure the LOB inequities affirmed to exist in Gannon II; and (3) the unconstitutional LOB funding mechanism was not severable from CLASS, thus making CLASS unconstitutional. View "Gannon v. Kansas" on Justia Law

In 2011, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant for a methamphetamine laboratory in Gregory Rosa's home in Leavenworth County. The house had four long-term residents. Rosa and Maureen Evans were in a relationship at the time and lived together in the upstairs master bedroom where they were found during the raid. Randall Smith lived in a bedroom on the main floor. Smith was found hiding behind a water heater in the basement. Joshua Sigler also lived in the house but was not present during the raid. Brian Brice and O'rian Heckman were also in the house in a separate bedroom during the raid. Neither lived at the house, but both would sometimes "crash there." Rosa owned the home and paid the utilities. Smith, Sigler, and Evans did not lease their rooms or otherwise pay rent. The State prosecuted Rosa on the theory that he possessed the methamphetamine found in his house. The State intended to prove its case by demonstrating that Rosa owned and exercised general control over all areas in the house and that he knew methamphetamine was in the house. Rosa did not deny he owned the premises or that the drugs were found there. Rosa challenged his conviction for possession of methamphetamine on three grounds: (1) the evidence was insufficient; (2) evidence of his prior drug use was improperly admitted; and (3) prosecutorial misconduct. The Kansas Supreme Court found no reversible error and affirmed Rosa's conviction. View "Kansas v. Rosa" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Tyrone Walker of first-degree premeditated murder for the killing of Janis Sanders. Sanders was discovered in the overgrown grass behind a vacant home apparently strangled to death; her personal effect were discovered in a nearby dumpster. The State presented DNA evidence from three different samples taken from the victim's body. The jury also heard about a prior strangulation homicide committed by Walker. Walker appealed, attacking instructional errors and alleging his sentence was unconstitutional. The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed Walker's conviction and sentence and held: (1) any error by the district court in failing to provide a lesser included instruction was harmless; (2) the State did not err during closing argument; (3) while the district court should have suppressed Walker's statements from the interrogation after he invoked his right to remain silent, the error was harmless; (4) cumulative error did not deny Walker a fair trial; and (5) Walker's hard 50 sentence was not unconstitutional. View "Kansas v. Walker" on Justia Law

Defendant Anson Bernhardt appealed his conviction for premeditated first-degree murder. Bernhardt raised three issues on appeal, arguing the district judge erred by: (1) adding language to a pattern jury instruction defining premeditation; (2) giving two separate jury instructions on intentional second-degree murder and reckless second-degree murder instead of a single instruction covering both theories; and (3) failing to instruct on voluntary manslaughter. He also claimed the cumulative effect of these errors deprived him a fair trial. Defendant further contended the district judge erred by applying the 2013 amendments to Kansas' hard 50 sentencing scheme retroactively, and he challenged the aggravating circumstances ultimately relied upon to support imposition of his hard 50 sentence. After review, the Kansas Supreme Court held there was no error and affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence. View "Kansas v. Bernhardt" on Justia Law

Ebony Nguyen appealed the district court's denial of her motion for a downward durational departure of her life sentence for felony murder. Nguyen unwittingly received counterfeit money from Jordan Turner in exchange for her marijuana. Upon discovering the deception and with the assistance of three others, Nguyen retaliated by luring Turner to a secluded location where he was shot and killed. With kidnapping serving as the underlying felony, Nguyen pled no contest to one count of felony murder. The Kansas Supreme Court found that because the district court had no discretion to depart, it rejected Nguyen's arguments and affirmed. View "Kansas v. Nguyen" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The Supreme Court affirmed on appeal. Defendant later filed a second motion to correct an illegal sentence based on Alleyne v. United States and State v. Soto. The district court granted Defendant’s motion, concluding that the sentencing procedure violated Alleyne. The court then sentenced Defendant to a life term without eligibility for parole for a minimum of forty years. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the decisions in Alleyne and Soto do not render judgments illegal that were final before those decisions were issued. View "State v. Lee" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Defendants. The district judge issued a memorandum decision addressing various motions for partial and full summary judgment. Plaintiffs subsequently filed a motion seeking the district judge’s certification of the memorandum decision as a final judgment under Kan. Stat. Ann. 60-254(b). The district judge granted the request in a journal entry, determining that “there is no just reason for delay.” Within thirty days of the filing of the court’s journal entry, Plaintiffs then filed their notice of appeal of the adverse rulings. The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal, ruling that Prime Lending II v. Trolley’s Real Estate Holdings controlled and that the district court had no discretion to retroactively certify the judgment as immediately appealable. The Supreme Court vacated the Court of Appeals’ order dismissing Plaintiff’s appeal, holding (1) a certification of “no just reason for delay” may be made after summary judgment is granted to fewer than all parties or on fewer than all claims; (2) the filing date of the district court order or journal entry memorializing that certification starts the thirty-day appeal clock; and (3) the district judge’s certification of his original decision as an appealable judgment was successful in this case. View "Ullery v. Othick" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated endangering a child, and aggravated assault. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the State’s failure to charge Defendant specifically with “aiding and abetting” aggravated assault and aggravated child endangerment offenses and the State’s oral amendment to the felony-murder charge did not deprive the district court of jurisdiction; (2) sufficient evidence supported Defendant’s felony-murder conviction; (3) the jury instructions did not require reversal; (4) the district court did not abuse its discretion in permitting the case detective to sit at or near the prosecution’s table during trial and its decision to exempt the case detective from a sequestration order did not prejudice Defendant; and (5) the cumulative error doctrine did not require reversal of Defendant’s convictions. View "State v. Dupree" on Justia Law

Helen Keiswetter died from her injuries after a minimum-security inmate escaped from the State’s custody, entered her home, and forced her into a closet, where the inmate kicked her, causing her to fall and hit her head. Helen’s son, Ron Keiswetter, sued the State for her personal injuries and wrongful death. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the State, finding that the public duty doctrine precluded Keiswetter’s claim and that the State was immune from liability under the police protection exception of the Kansas Tort Claims Act (KTCA). The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the State demonstrated that it was entitled to immunity from liability under the police protection exception of the KTCA. View "Keiswetter v. State" on Justia Law

After a bench trial, Defendant was found guilty of possession with marijuana with the intent to distribute. Defendant appealed the denial of his motion to suppress evidence resulting from a search of a house where he was staying. The search was conducted pursuant to an anticipatory search warrant which purported to give law enforcement authority to search the house once a suspicious package was successfully delivered to a resident of the house. The court of appeals affirmed, concluding that the district court did not err in finding that the search warrant was supported by probable cause and that Defendant’s retrieval of the package from the front porch while under police surveillance was sufficient to trigger execution of the search warrant. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) there was a substantial basis for the district court judge’s determination that probable cause supported a search warrant of the home; (2) the event triggering execution of the search warrant - a controlled delivery of the package to a resident of the home - occurred in this case; and (3) the police acted appropriately when they entered the house pursuant to the search warrant. View "State v. Mullen" on Justia Law