State v. Molina, 299 Kan. 651

Molina was convicted by a jury of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and one count of criminal possession of a firearm; Lopez was codefendant.
District court sentenced Molina to life without parole for 50 years on the first murder, life without parole for 25 years on the second murder, and 8 months for the firearm; sentences were consecutive for the murders and concurrent for the firearm.
Molina appealed, challenging (i) unrequested limiting instructions for other crimes evidence and (ii) an unrequested instruction on voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense.
He also challenged sentencing, including the constitutionality of the hard 50 under Alleyne, double jeopardy based on the same aggravator, and lifetime postrelease supervision for off-grid convictions.
The Court vacated the hard 50 sentence due to Sixth Amendment error, remanded for resentencing, and vacated the unauthorized lifetime postrelease supervision portion; remaining sentences were affirmed subject to remand.
On remand, the district court is directed to address resentencing consistent with the opinion and applicable amended statutes.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether failure to give unrequested limiting instructions was clear error	Molina	Molina	No clear error; no reversible impact on verdict
Whether failure to give voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense was error	Molina	Molina	No error; insufficient heat-of-passion provocation evidence to warrant instruction
Whether the hard 50 sentencing scheme violated Alleyne and the Sixth Amendment	Molina	State	Unconstitutional; hard 50 vacated and remanded for resentencing
Whether double jeopardy concerns arise from using the same aggravating factor for hard 50 and consecutive life terms	Molina	State	No error; precedent allows same aggravator for concurrent and consecutive terms
Whether lifetime postrelease supervision was improperly imposed for off-grid convictions	Molina	State	Invalid; lifetime postrelease supervision vacated on remand

State v. Soto, 299 Kan. 102 (2014) (hard 50/Alleyne issues; Sixth Amendment concerns)
State v. Breeden, 297 Kan. 567 (2013) (necessity of limiting instructions for 60-455 evidence)
State v. Goodson, 281 Kan. 913 (2006) (distinction between gang membership evidence and gang crime evidence)
State v. Williams, 295 Kan. 506 (2012) (standard for reviewing failure to give unrequested jury instructions)
State v. Jamison, 269 Kan. 564 (2000) (double jeopardy considerations in sentencing)
State v. Summers, 293 Kan. 819 (2012) (postrelease supervision authority limits)
State v. Cash, 293 Kan. 326 (2011) (parole and postrelease supervision for off-grid offenses)
State v. Foster, 290 Kan. 696 (2010) (voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense framework)
State v. Gallegos, 286 Kan. 869 (2008) (elements of voluntary manslaughter)