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October 2021
The Kansas prison population in FY 2021 indicated a decrease of 633 inmates or 6.9% when compared with that in FY 2020. In review of Kansas ten-year prison population trend, the FY 2021 prison population represented a decrease in the rate of growth compared to the previous year. In FY 2020, 8,556 inmates were incarcerated in state prison, indicating a decrease of 814 inmates from FY 2012 prison population. View the full report here.
October 12th: SB 123 Program Update Webinar. Registration for this event is not necessary. Join the webinar here.*
October 14th: Legislative Updates and Recent Sentencing Data Webinar. Register here.*
October 21st: Kansas Sentencing Commission meeting
October 28th: SB 123 Drug Abuse Treatment Program Refresher and Updates CLE Webinar. Register here. This event is for Kansas attorneys only.
*not approved for CLE credit.
If you have any questions about trainings or would like to request specific training, contact Francis Givens at francis.givens@ks.gov.
Recent Cases Affecting Criminal Sentencing*
- The Kansas Supreme Court recently reaffirmed its holding in Petersen-Beard that KORA registration requirements are not punitive in purpose or effect, accordingly, the Court found that retroactive application of KORA provisions does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution. State v. Davidson, No. 119,759, 2021 WL 4217942 at *4 (Kan. September 17, 2021).
- In a case where a juvenile offender, N.R.’s, sex offender registration requirement changed from five years to life due to amendments to the KORA statute, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that KORA's mandatory lifetime registration requirements as applied to N.R. are not punishment and, as a result, do not violate the federal Ex Post Facto Clause or the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution and section 9 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights. See State v. N.R., No. 119,796, 2021 WL 4217146 at *10 (Kan. September 17, 2021).
- Where a district court judge granted a departure sentence in a domestic violence case based on the defendant’s lack of prior domestic violence offenses, the Kansas Supreme Court held that a district court cannot depart from the presumptive sentence solely because a defendant's criminal history does not include similar or identical crimes to the crime of conviction because the sentencing grid already accounts for the difference in character between a defendant's past offenses and the present offense. See State v. Montgomery, No. 122,237, 2021 WL 3824858 at *8 (Kan. August 27, 2021).
- In a case where a defendant was ordered to register as a sex offender after being convicted of sexual battery in Shawnee municipal court, the Kansas Supreme Court recently held the City of Shawnee’s sexual battery offense is comparable to the crimes listed in KORA because the ordinance is identical to the crime of sexual battery listed in K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 22-4902(b). See City of Shawnee v. Adem, No. 121,328, 2021 WL 3824712 at *1 (Kan. August 27, 2021). Thus, registration was proper. See id.
- In a case where the defendant’s probation was revoked based on the district court’s finding that the defendant absconded from supervision, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld the absconder finding and held that the defendant acted with conscious intent to evade the legal process based on the State’s evidence that the defendant failed to enter Oxford House, failed to report his whereabouts, and failed to appear for his scheduled intake meeting with community corrections. See State v. Dooley, 491 P.3d 1250, 1255 (Kan. July 23, 2021)(Dooley II).
- In a case where the defendant’s probation was revoked but the judge did not order a term of postrelease-supervision period, the Court of Appeals ruled that the sentence was illegal because when the district court revokes probation and imposes a prison sentence on a felony defendant under K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 22-3716(c), K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 22-3716(f) prevents the sentencing court from altogether eliminating a postrelease-supervision period. See State v. Sheets, No. 123,140, 2021 WL 3020725 at *1 (Kan. App. July 16, 2021).
*This is not an exhaustive list of cases affecting sentencing. To view all recent cases, click here.
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