TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) -- The Supreme Court says it reached four decisions in which it reviewed Court of Appeals decisions.
The Supreme Court says it published four decisions based on Court of Appeals decisions dismissing appeals from denials of motions to correct an illegal sentence or motion as moot because defendants had completed their sentences.
Justice Eric Rosen says the Court disavowed the Court of Appeals panels’ application of such a rule.
Rosen says Roat, a case out of Sedgwick County, serves as a lead case where the Supreme Court clarified the mootness of case law which held it a matter of discretionary court policy and a court should not dismiss a case unless the party who would benefit from dismissal has shown dismissal would not affect the opposing party’s rights.
While the Roat case has affirmed dismissal because Roat had failed to adequately convince the court that dismissal would affect his rights.
Justice Caleb Stegall says the mootness of a case is a question of jurisdiction and if a case does happen to be moot, the court has no power to consider it.
Rosen says Ward, a case from Franklin County, the Supreme Court reversed a Court of Appeals decision and remanded the case for consideration under Roat.
In the Sykes case and the Mayes case, out of Sedgwick and Johnson counties, the Supreme Court affirmed the dismissals due to the defendants having failed to challenge motions to dismiss as moot in the Court of Appeals, according to Rosen.
The Supreme Court also dismissed the Tracy case as moot, says Rosen. Tracy challenged the Sedgwick Co. District Court’s decision to classify his 1974 Colorado conviction for second-degree burglary as a person felony as his criminal history score is determined before his drug offense sentencing.
Tracy served his entire sentence for the drug offense as his appeal was pending. The Court says it rejected Tracy’s arguments that the appeal was not moot since a future sentencing court would rely on the lower courts’ ruling that classified his 1974 felony if he is ever convicted of another crime.
Rosen says Tracy may want to pursue legal malpractice claim against his attorney for not objecting to that sentence, and the uncorrected decision by the Court of Appeals affirming his prior offense as a person felony could set precedence for other cases.
The Supreme Court also says it made a decision in the Yazell case where the defendant appealed from the revocation of his probation in the Johnson Co. District Court.
The State of Kansas says it argued the case was moot because Yazell had completed his sentence, and offered a report from the Kansas Adult Supervised Population Electronic Repository and says it spoke with a Kansas Department of Corrections employee that confirmed the accuracy of the report.
The Supreme Court says a Court of Appeals panel dismissed the case as moot, but since the panel’s order was vague the Supreme Court could not determine what lead to this decision.
Rosen says the Supreme Court held the Court of Appeals erred if it relied on the Kansas Adult Supervised Population Electronic Repository or the State’s hearsay assertions to find Yazell had, in fact, completed his sentence.
The Supreme Court says it also held the panel erred if it relied on the completion of Yazell’s sentence alone to decide the case was moot, which was set by the Roat case. The Supreme Court ultimately reversed and remanded the case to the Court of Appeals so the panel could clarify its decision, and if necessary, reconsider the case in light of the Roat decision.
For more information on Kansas Court of Appeals decisions visit the Kansas Courts website.
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June 21, 2020 at 05:35AM
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Kansas Supreme Court reaches decision in four cases - WIBW
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