State v. Terrell

Summary

The Kansas Supreme Court held that prior convictions must be classified as person or nonperson offenses based on the classification in effect when the defendant committed the new offense, including out-of-state, pre-guidelines, and amended post-guidelines convictions. Applying this rule, the court determined that Robert Glenn Terrell's prior offender-registration conviction was properly scored as a person felony for sentencing. The court reversed the Court of Appeals and affirmed the district court's sentence.

Holdings

1. Under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act, all prior convictions, including amended post-guidelines convictions, must be classified as person or nonperson offenses according to the classification in effect when the new crime of conviction was committed.
2. The classification of prior offenses for criminal-history purposes is a question of statutory interpretation subject to unlimited appellate review.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a prior Kansas conviction that was classified as a nonperson felony when imposed but later reclassified by statutory amendment must be scored as a person or nonperson felony for purposes of sentencing a defendant for a later offense.
2. Whether the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act requires prior convictions to be classified according to the law in effect when the new crime of conviction was committed.

Disposition

reversed