Summary
The Kansas Supreme Court held that pre-Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act convictions must be classified as person or nonperson offenses by comparing the prior offense to the comparable post-KSGA statute in effect when the current crime of conviction was committed. Applying State v. Keel, the court affirmed the classification of Benjamin Smith's prior aggravated burglary and robbery convictions as person felonies and affirmed the denial of his sentence-correction motions.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether pre-KSGA convictions must be classified as person or nonperson offenses by comparing the prior offense with the comparable post-KSGA statute in effect when the current crime of conviction was committed.
- Whether Smith's pre-KSGA aggravated-burglary and robbery convictions were properly classified as person felonies.
Holdings
- A pre-KSGA conviction or juvenile adjudication must be classified as a person or nonperson offense by comparing the statute underlying the prior offense with the comparable post-KSGA criminal statute in effect when the current crime of conviction was committed.
Key quotations
“A pre-KSGA conviction and/or juvenile adjudication must be classified for criminal history purposes as either a person or nonperson offense by comparing the criminal statute under which the prior offense arose to the comparable post-KSGA criminal statute.” (303 Kan. at 774)
“the legislature intended for all prior convictions and juvenile adjudications—including convictions and adjudications occurring before implementation of the KSGA—to be considered and scored for purposes of determining an offender's criminal history score.” (302 Kan. at 581)
Factual background
Smith had pre-Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act convictions for aggravated burglary and robbery that were scored as person felonies in calculating his criminal history. In later criminal cases, he pleaded guilty to forgery, theft, and cocaine possession and challenged the classification of the earlier convictions while seeking correction or modification of his sentences. The Kansas statutes in effect when Smith committed the current offenses classified aggravated burglary and robbery as person felonies.
Procedural history
Smith pleaded guilty in separate cases to theft, forgery, cocaine possession, and related offenses and received probationary sentences with underlying prison terms. Before sentencing in a later case, he moved to correct or modify the sentences in the earlier cases, arguing that his 1982 aggravated-burglary and robbery convictions had been improperly classified as person felonies. The district court denied the motions, the Court of Appeals affirmed, and the Supreme Court affirmed both judgments.