Case Title: State v. Roberts

Citation: 

Docket Number: 117450

State: kansas

Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Date: 2019-03-08T00:00:00Z

Document:
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF KANSAS 
 
No. 117,450 
 
STATE OF KANSAS, 
Appellee, 
 
v. 
 
LESLIE H. ROBERTS, JR., 
Appellant. 
 
 
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT 
 
 
A merely procedural defect in competency proceedings does not deprive the 
district court of jurisdiction to sentence a criminal defendant. 
 
Appeal from Anderson District Court; ERIC W. GODDERZ, judge. Opinion filed March 8, 2019. 
Affirmed.  
 
Gerald E. Wells, of Jerry Wells Attorney-at-Law, of Lawrence, was on the brief for appellant.  
 
Brandon L. Jones, county attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, were on the brief for 
appellee. 
 
The opinion of the court was delivered by 
 
BEIER, J.:  This is an appeal from summary denial of a motion to correct illegal 
sentence filed by defendant Leslie H. Roberts, Jr. Roberts now concedes summary denial 
was appropriate, but he raises a new challenge to his sentence on this appeal, arguing that 
the handling of his pre-plea competency issue deprived the district court of jurisdiction to 
sentence him. We reject this new claim and affirm the denial of the motion to correct 
illegal sentence. 
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FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 
 
Roberts was sentenced to a hard 25 life sentence after pleading no contest to rape 
of a child under the age of 14 in violation of K.S.A. 21-3502(a)(2). This court affirmed 
Roberts' sentence in State v. Roberts, 293 Kan. 1093, 272 P.3d 24 (2012).  
 
Roberts filed a pro se motion to correct illegal sentence years later. He asserted 
that he had never admitted he was older than 18 or that the victim was under the age of 
14 at the time of the crime, undercutting sentence-enhancing elements that had not been 
submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The district court judge 
dismissed Roberts' motion without appointment of counsel or holding a hearing; the 
judge determined that the record established Roberts' and the victim's ages at the time of 
the crime. See Makthepharak v. State, 298 Kan. 573, 576, 314 P.3d 876 (2013) (when 
presented with motion to correct illegal sentence, district court should conduct initial 
examination of the motion to determine if it raises substantial issues of law or fact). 
  
On this appeal, Roberts concedes the district judge's ruling was correct on the age 
issue, but he asserts he is nevertheless entitled to relief. Roberts now argues that K.S.A. 
22-3302(1) procedures for determining defendant competency were not followed before 
he entered his plea, depriving the court of jurisdiction to sentence him. See State v. 
Samuel, 309 Kan. 155, 157, 432 P.3d 666 (2019) (sentence pronounced without 
jurisdiction illegal).  
 
After Roberts' prosecution was launched in early 2010, defense counsel Craig Cole 
requested a determination of Roberts' competency. Cole stated that he had "serious 
concerns about [Roberts'] ability to understand the charges and help with his defense." 
The district judge ordered an evaluation to determine competency.  
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The results of the evaluation were filed with the court in the form of a letter from 
the psychologist who had performed it. The psychologist determined "that Mr. Roberts is 
competent to stand trial in that he understands the nature and purpose of the proceedings 
against him, and has the ability to work with an attorney to make a defense." The 
psychologist advised, however, that the court should take into consideration some 
"special concerns" to maintain Roberts' competency throughout the proceedings. 
Specifically, the psychologist advised that Roberts was "a non-reader and ha[d] a low to 
borderline intellectual level of functioning." 
 
 
The court acknowledged the evaluation in open court before moving on to 
rescheduling of Roberts' preliminary hearing.  
 
"THE COURT:  This matter had been set for preliminary hearing. . . . There was 
an issue regarding competency. There has now been an evaluation conducted by the 
Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center. Did you receive a copy of that Mr. Cole? 
 
"MR. COLE:  I did, Your Honor. 
 
"THE COURT:  Is the matter ready to be set for preliminary hearing today?  
 
"MR. COLE:  I believe that's correct."  
 
Roberts ultimately waived his preliminary hearing and entered his no contest plea 
based on an agreement with the State. At the plea hearing, Cole acknowledged the 
previously expressed concerns over Roberts' lack of reading ability and informed the 
court that he had gone over the plea agreement "line by line with him." After the district 
judge was satisfied Roberts understood the consequence of the plea and the rights he was 
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giving up through a colloquy, the judge asked Cole whether he believed his client's plea 
was freely and voluntarily given.  
 
 
"MR. COLE:  I do, Your Honor. He's told me numerous occasions he does not 
want a jury trial.  
 
 
"THE COURT:  You don't have any questions regarding his competency any 
further at this point? 
 
 
"MR. COLE:  Your Honor, there were some issues and as [a] result of those 
issues I did file a motion to have his competency determined and I'm not a doctor but uh, 
it was determined that he was competent and I haven't found evidence that he's 
incompetent during my representation of him. 
 
 
"THE COURT:  You think he understood the plea and the tender of the no 
contest plea that he signed off on?  
 
 
"MR. COLE:  I believe he understands that, yes, Your Honor."  
 
DISCUSSION 
 
Whether a sentence is illegal within the meaning of the statute is a question of law 
over which appellate courts have unlimited review. Samuel, 309 Kan. at 157.  
 
Although an illegal sentence may be corrected any time, "the circumstances under 
which a sentence is deemed illegal for K.S.A. 22-3504 purposes are 'narrowly and 
specifically defined.'" Samuel, 309 Kan. at 157. When Roberts filed his motion in 2016, 
Kansas caselaw defined "illegal sentence" as 
 
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"'(1) a sentence imposed by a court without jurisdiction; (2) a sentence that does not 
conform to the applicable statutory provision, either in the character or the term of 
authorized punishment; or (3) a sentence that is ambiguous with respect to the time and 
manner in which it is to be served.'" State v. Warrior, 303 Kan. 1008, 1009-10, 368 P.3d 
1111 (2016).  
 
The Legislature has since incorporated this judicial definition of an illegal sentence into 
the current version of K.S.A. 2017 Supp. 22-3504(3). L. 2017, ch. 62, § 9; see Samuel, 
309 Kan. at 157.  
 
In State v. Ford, 302 Kan. 455, 353 P.3d 1143 (2015), this court addressed the 
distinction between procedural and substantive competency claims. "A procedural 
competency claim is based on a district court's alleged failure to hold a competency 
hearing or an adequate competency hearing." 302 Kan. 455, Syl. ¶ 3. In contrast, a 
"substantive competency claim is founded on the allegation that an individual was tried 
and convicted while, in fact, incompetent." 302 Kan. 455, Syl. ¶ 3.  
 
A merely procedural failure to comply with the competency statute, K.S.A. 2017 
Supp. 22-3302, is not jurisdictional; thus, "a motion to correct an illegal sentence is 
foreclosed as a mechanism for correcting a procedural competency claim." 302 Kan. 455, 
Syl. ¶ 4. That conclusion was based, in part, on the premise—consistently acknowledged 
by this court—that "the relief available through a motion to correct an illegal sentence is 
correction of a sentence, not reversal of a conviction." 302 Kan. at 464. As Ford stated, 
"movants seeking to reverse a conviction because of an alleged violation of K.S.A. 2014 
Supp. 22-3302 must utilize the procedures in K.S.A. 60-1507 or be subject to summary 
dismissal." 302 Kan. at 467. 
 
Roberts does not advance a substantive competency claim. He asserts only that the 
district judge deviated from the procedure outlined in K.S.A. 22-3302. The caselaw he 
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cites in support of his position that procedural flaws deprive the court of jurisdiction was 
expressly overruled by Ford. See 302 Kan. 455, Syl. ¶ 4; see also State v. Davis, 281 
Kan. 169, 130 P.3d 69 (2006), overruled by Ford, 302 Kan. 455. 
 
Thus a motion to correct illegal sentence is an improper vehicle for Roberts' new 
challenge. Had his procedural competency claim been raised in district court, summary 
dismissal also would have been appropriate for that claim. 
 
Further, we note that the existence of even a procedural flaw is far from clear. The 
competency statute requires that "the proceedings shall be suspended and a hearing 
conducted to determine the competency of the defendant" if "the judge before whom the 
case is pending finds that there is reason to believe that the defendant is incompetent to 
stand trial." K.S.A. 22-3302(1). After Cole questioned Roberts' competency, Roberts 
insists, the district judge did not conduct the required proceedings. 
  
The record is plain that the district judge ordered an evaluation of Roberts, as 
provided in K.S.A. 22-3302(3), and that evaluation established that Roberts was 
competent. Although the judge did not make an explicit competency finding in open 
court, such a finding was implicit in the exchange with Cole and the parties' continuation 
to rescheduling of the preliminary hearing. Contrary to Roberts' new claim, the 
competency issue appears to have been resolved by the district judge after the evaluation 
was ordered. 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
Roberts' motion to correct illegal sentence is without merit. The district court's 
summary dismissal of the motion is affirmed.