Farris v. Mckune

The opinion of the court was delivered by This is a consolidated appeal. All three offenders pled guilty or nolo contendere to their respective crimes. The offenders were convicted and sentenced prior to July 1, 1993, the effective date of the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act (KSGA), K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 21-4701 et seq. This case concerns the offenders' eligibility for retroactive application of the KSGA, which would result in less severe sentences for the offenders. The offenders' eligibility for sentence conversion is determined by the severity level of their crimes. However, the crimes with the specific elements which the offenders were convicted of no longer exist. These crimes were repealed on the day the KSGA became effective, and new crimes covering sexual assaults became effective on that date. Thus, it was necessary for the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) to convert the offenders' pre-guidelines crimes to guidelines crimes in order to determine the severity level of the crime under the guidelines. See K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 21-4724. Each of the offenders committed sexual crimes, and the severity level of the crimes under the KSGA depends upon the age of the victims at the time the crimes were committed. To determine the age of the victims at the time the crimes were committed, KDOC relied on original complaints, amended informations, county/district attorney reports, affidavits of victims' parents, and presentence investigation (PSI) reports. After determining the ages of the victims, KDOC notified each of the offenders that their pre-guidelines criminal behavior had been converted to a guidelines crime with a severity level of 3. An offender whose crime severity level is 3 is not eligible for retroactive application of the KSGA.