State v. LeeState v. Lee
- Reporters:
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- Before:
- Rosen
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Rosen, J.:The State of Kansas appeals from an order by the district court that granted Amoneo D. Lee’s motion to correct an illegal sentence. Lee was convicted by a jury for a 1995 murder, and the judge imposed a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 40 years. The conviction was affirmed by this court in State v. Lee, 266 Kan. 804, 977 P.2d 263 (1999). The validity of the sentencing procedure was not raised in the direct appeal.
In 2008, Lee filed a motion “for correction of sentence pursuant to
On August 11, 2014, Lee filed through counsel a second motion
Whether a sentence is illegal under
At sentencing, the district court judge considered Lees three prior convictions of aggravated batteiy, as well as convictions of carrying concealed weapons, burglaries, and thefts. He also took into account the nature of the crime at hand and concluded: “Clearly the aggravating factors in this case, the prior conviction, the severity of it, those findings I’ve already made, clearly outweigh beyond a reasonable doubt any mitigating factor that exists in this case.” Based on this finding, the judge sentenced Lee to a life term without eligibility for parole for a minimum of 40 years. These determinations were made exclusively by the sentencing judge.
In granting Lees motion to correct the sentence, the Sedgwick County District Court agreed with him that the sentencing procedure violated Alleyne. The district court then held that retroactivity was not a relevant inquiiy, because it would be unfair to punish a defendant who was the victim of bad timing. The court then ordered that Lee be brought back into court for resentencing.
Under
This court addressed that issue squarely in State v. Moncla, 301 Kan. 549, 553-54, 343 P.3d 1161 (2015), holding:
“Monda also argues that his sentence is illegal because a judge rather than a jury determined the existence and weight of the aggravating factor that led to the hard 40. He cites Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. _, 133 S. Ct. 2151, 2162-63, 186 L. Ed. 2d 314 (2013), which held that, under the Sixth Amendment, any fact that increased a sentence must be found by a jury rather than a judge. ‘Because the definition of an illegal sentence does not include a claim that the sentence violates a constitutional provision, a defendant may not file a motion to correct an illegal sentence based on constitutional challenges to his or her sentence.’ State v. Mitchell, 284 Kan. 374, 377, 162 P.3d 18 (2007); see Verge v. State, 50 Kan. App. 2d 591, 598-99, 335 P.3d 679 (2014) (motion to correct illegal sentence based on Alleyne improper constitutional challenge to sentence).”
See also State v. Warrior, 303 Kan. 1008, Syl., 368 P.3d 1111 (2016) (motion to correct illegal sentence inappropriate vehicle for challenges under Alleyne); State v. Noyce, 301 Kan. 408, 409-10, 343 P.3d 105 (2015) (Alleyne constitutional issues not proper basis for motion to correct illegal sentence); State v. Peirano, 289 Kan. 805, 217 P.3d 23 (2009) (failure of sentencing court to carry out statutorily mandated balancing of aggravating and mitigating factors did not render sentence illegal).
Lee seeks to frame his main argument as being something other than a constitutional challenge. As artfully crafted as his arguments are, they all seek application of later caselaw to the statute that was in effect at the time that he was sentenced. Lee was sentenced under a statute that did not, at the time, conflict with any higher court decision on the jury-determination question.
The statute,