State v. Hayes, 299 Kan. 861

Background

Terry Hayes, after marital breakup and prior threats (including pointing a gun at his wife and himself), lured his estranged wife Tiffani to his home/driveway and shot her at close range; a coworker witnessed the shooting and fled.
Hayes was charged with premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated assault; a jury convicted him on both counts.
The district court denied Hayes’s request for a voluntary manslaughter (heat-of-passion) jury instruction and instructed on first- and second-degree murder; the jury convicted of first-degree murder.
At sentencing the court found an aggravating factor (especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel) and imposed a “hard 50” life sentence (life without parole for 50 years) plus a consecutive term for aggravated assault.
On appeal Hayes challenged (1) the denial of a voluntary manslaughter instruction and (2) the constitutionality of the judge’s factual finding of aggravating circumstances used to impose the hard-50 sentence.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a voluntary manslaughter (heat-of-passion) instruction was required	Hayes: evidence of provocation/mental disturbance warranted manslaughter instruction	State: evidence showed premeditation and foreseeable, calculated confrontation, not sudden heat of passion	Court: No. No actual evidence of sudden heat of passion; words/gestures and earlier breakup insufficient; conviction stands
Whether judge’s factual findings to impose hard-50 sentence violated Sixth Amendment (Alleyne)	Hayes: judicial finding of aggravating factors increased mandatory minimum and violated jury-trial right	State: sentencing procedure proper under Kansas scheme	Court: Agreed with Hayes; Alleyne and Soto require jury to find facts that increase mandatory minimum; hard-50 vacated and remanded for resentencing
Whether the evidence supported finding the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel	State: evidence of stalking, taunting, luring, and execution-style killing supported aggravator	Hayes: contested sufficiency and relied on constitutional error	Court: Evidence could support the aggravator, but constitutional error (Alleyne violation) requires resentencing; sufficiency not relied upon to reverse
Whether aggravated-grid sentence for aggravated assault required jury-found factors	Hayes: same Alleyne challenge to grid-box aggravated sentence	State: prior Kansas precedent supports judicial finding	Court: Rejected Hayes’s challenge—followed existing Kansas precedent upholding judicial imposition for grid-box sentence

Key Cases Cited

State v. Plummer, 283 P.3d 202 (Kan. 2012) (standard for reviewing jury-instruction issues)
State v. Foster, 233 P.3d 265 (Kan. 2010) (premeditation and absence of heat-of-passion instruction)
State v. Qualls, 298 P.3d 311 (Kan. 2013) (voluntary manslaughter as lesser included offense)
State v. Gallegos, 190 P.3d 226 (Kan. 2008) (elements of voluntary manslaughter and objective provocation test)
State v. Guebara, 696 P.2d 381 (Kan. 1985) (definition of heat of passion; words/gestures insufficient provocation)
State v. Vasquez, 194 P.3d 563 (Kan. 2008) (provocation must deprive reasonable person of self-control)
State v. Wade, 287 P.3d 237 (Kan. 2012) (calculated, foreseeable confrontation defeats heat-of-passion instruction)
State v. Soto, 322 P.3d 334 (Kan. 2014) (Alleyne applied to Kansas hard-50 scheme; judge-found aggravators violate Sixth Amendment)
Alleyne v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 2151 (2013) (facts that increase mandatory minimum must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt)