State v. Johnson, 304 Kan. 924

Background

Luther Johnson was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and aggravated burglary for the 2010 shooting death of Derrick Hill; sentenced to life (hard 25) plus concurrent term.
Johnson climbed a balcony, shot out a sliding door with a .45, entered an apartment, argued with his ex-girlfriend (Cerrina Griffin), then shot Hill in the temple; multiple witnesses placed Johnson at the scene and Griffin provided inculpatory statements.
Defense theory: someone else in a high-crime apartment complex (or a third party named “Mike”) could have shot Hill; Johnson also contested identity and sought lesser-included instructions and a continuance to allow retained counsel to prepare.
District court refused voluntary manslaughter, unintentional second-degree murder, and reckless involuntary manslaughter instructions; excluded “high-crime area” evidence as insufficiently connected to this shooting; denied a continuance where Johnson had previously sought multiple delays and counsel changes.
Johnson moved for a new trial claiming ineffective assistance (counsel’s choice not to play jailhouse phone recordings impeaching Griffin); court denied the motion and the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Johnson)	Held
1. Failure to give voluntary manslaughter instruction	Instruction unnecessary because evidence showed orchestration and premeditation	Heat-of-passion/"sudden quarrel" supported voluntary manslaughter	Court: No error — orchestration (planned entry, shooting) precludes heat of passion instruction
2. Failure to give unrequested instructions for unintentional 2d-degree murder and reckless involuntary manslaughter	Not factually supported; evidence points to intent to kill	These lesser instructions could be supported by recklessness or lack of intent	Court: Not clearly erroneous — only reasonable inference was intent to kill
3. Exclusion of evidence that the shooting occurred in a high-crime area (and related threats/vandalism)	Evidence not materially connected to this shooting or any particular third party	Such evidence would show others were armed and could have committed the crime	Court: No abuse of discretion — general high-crime statistics or prior shots-fired lacked probative connection to this specific killing
4. Denial of continuance for newly-retained counsel (fourth continuance)	Denial prejudiced right to chosen counsel / counsel needed time to prepare	Continuances had been repeatedly granted; denial balanced under Anthony factors	Court: No abuse of discretion — denial was fair given repeated delays, inconvenience, and lack of legitimate new reason
5. Motion for new trial — ineffective assistance of counsel (failure to play phone recordings)	Recordings impeached Griffin and would have affected outcome	Counsel strategically excluded recordings because they would have harmed Johnson more than helped; Griffin’s inconsistencies were otherwise exposed	Court: No abuse — counsel’s choice was reasonable strategy and no showing of prejudice
6. Cumulative error and Apprendi challenge to using prior convictions in sentencing	Appellate preservation of Apprendi challenge	Prior convictions used to calculate criminal history score increased sentence without jury finding	Court: No cumulative error (no multiple errors); Apprendi claim rejected under Kansas precedent

Key Cases Cited

State v. Ward, 292 Kan. 541 (Kan. 2011) (harmless-error test and degree of certainty for instruction error)
State v. Salary, 301 Kan. 586 (Kan. 2015) (framework for reviewing jury instruction issues)
State v. Plummer, 295 Kan. 156 (Kan. 2012) (jury instruction review steps)
State v. Briseno, 299 Kan. 877 (Kan. 2014) (standards for unrequested instruction review)
State v. Wade, 295 Kan. 916 (Kan. 2012) (orchestrated encounter defeats heat-of-passion manslaughter instruction)
State v. Hayes, 299 Kan. 861 (Kan. 2014) (definition and requirements of heat of passion)
State v. Guebara, 236 Kan. 791 (Kan. 1985) (heat-of-passion formulations)
State v. Killings, 301 Kan. 214 (Kan. 2015) (intent inference when defendant points and fires repeatedly; rejecting reckless-murder instruction)
State v. Engelhardt, 280 Kan. 113 (Kan. 2005) (lesser-included definitions for homicide offenses)
State v. Burnett, 300 Kan. 419 (Kan. 2014) (admissibility limits for evidence of other shootings/high-crime area absent connection to charged crime)
State v. Knox, 301 Kan. 671 (Kan. 2015) (presence of guns/drugs in nearby house insufficient to connect third party to murder)
State v. Anthony, 257 Kan. 1003 (Kan. 1995) (factors for balancing right to counsel of choice against trial-court continuance discretion)
Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (U.S. 2000) (constitutional baseline for factfinding that increases penalty)