State v. Warrior, 303 Kan. 1008

Alesia Warrior was convicted in 2008 of first-degree murder and conspiracy and received a "hard 50" life sentence after the judge found two aggravating factors (motive of receiving money and use of another to commit the crime).
On direct appeal the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed her convictions and hard 50 sentence in 2012.
In 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court decided Alleyne, holding that any fact that increases a mandatory minimum must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
Following Alleyne, Kansas amended its hard 50 sentencing statute during a special legislative session.
Warrior filed a K.S.A. 22-3504(1) motion to "correct an illegal sentence" claiming her hard 50 was unconstitutional under Alleyne.
The district court denied the motion on two alternative grounds: (1) no Kansas appellate decision had yet applied Alleyne to invalidate the hard 50 statute (at that time), and (2) Alleyne should not be applied retroactively to cases already final. The Kansas Supreme Court later held the pre-amendment hard 50 statute unconstitutional but affirmed denial of Warrior’s motion because K.S.A. 22-3504(1) is not the proper vehicle for constitutional challenges to a sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a K.S.A. 22-3504(1) motion to correct an "illegal sentence" may be used to raise a constitutional challenge to the sentencing procedure (Alleyne claim)	Warrior: Her hard 50 is unconstitutional under Alleyne because aggravating facts increasing mandatory minimums must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt	State: K.S.A. 22-3504(1) is limited and does not reach constitutional challenges to a sentence; alternative retroactivity and precedential arguments	The court held 22-3504(1) is an improper procedural vehicle for constitutional claims; denial affirmed

Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) (holding facts increasing statutory penalties must be submitted to a jury)
State v. Warrior, 294 Kan. 484 (2012) (direct appeal affirming convictions and hard 50)
State v. Soto, 299 Kan. 102 (2014) (holding pre-amendment hard 50 statute violated Sixth Amendment under Alleyne)
Makthepharak v. State, 298 Kan. 573 (2013) (noting K.S.A. 22-3504(1) has very limited applicability)
State v. Mitchell, 284 Kan. 374 (2007) (22-3504(1) does not cover constitutional sentence challenges)
State v. Dickey, 301 Kan. 1018 (2015) (defining categories of an "illegal" sentence under 22-3504(1))
State v. Trotter, 296 Kan. 898 (2013) (same statutory definition authority)