State v. Baker

The opinion of the court was delivered by The defendant, Kenneth Craig Baker, appeals from his conviction
of murder in the first degree, K.S.A. 21-3401, by a jury in Osage
District Court. The trial court found that this was Baker's
second felony conviction and imposed consecutive life sentences
upon him. Defendant contends that the evidence upon which the
trial court made its finding that he had a prior felony
conviction was improper, and that the court erred in imposing
consecutive life sentences. Prior to the date set for sentencing, and on September 26,
1983, the State filed a notice that it intended to invoke the
provisions of K.S.A. 21-4504 and that at the time of sentencing
it would produce evidence of a prior felony conviction of this
defendant in the District Court of Shawnee County, Kansas, in the
case of State v. Baker, Case No. 29,840. At the sentencing
hearing held on October 14, 1983, the State offered and the court
received in evidence a copy of the journal entry of conviction in
the Shawnee County case, certified by the clerk of that court.
The defendant objected at that time to the reception of the
certified copy into evidence, and contended that the journal
entry alone was insufficient evidence that this defendant had
been convicted of a prior felony. Defendant makes the same
argument on appeal. He contends that though the evidence
indicates someone with the same name and middle initial as the
defendant was convicted of a felony in Shawnee County, the [237 Kan. 55]