State v. Sims

Defendant was convicted of felony murder, two counts of aggravated burglary, and other offenses and sentenced under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act (KSGA). In calculating Defendant’s criminal history, the sentencing court included a 1992 juvenile adjudication for aggravated assault, which was scored as a person felony. Defendant later filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence, arguing that the 1992 aggravated assault was misclassified as a person crime. The district court summarily denied the motion. The Supreme Court held (1) Defendant was not entitled to have the 1992 juvenile adjudication for aggravated assault classified as a nonperson offense under State v. Murdock, 323 P.3d 846 (Kan. 2014); (2) the KSGA’s person/nonperson classification of pre-KSGA offenses does not violate the Sixth Amendment’s prohibition on nonjury factual findings that increase a defendant’s sentence; and (3) the district court did not did not err by denying Defendant’s motion without a hearing. View "State v. Sims" on Justia Law