1

No. 119,302

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS,

Appellee,

v.

GREGORY LYNN GALES,

Appellant.

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT

1.

A sentence is not an illegal sentence because of a change in the law that occurs 

after the sentence is pronounced.

2.

The 2019 statutory amendments to K.S.A. 22-3504 define a "change in the law" as 

a statutory change or an opinion by an appellate court of the State of Kansas, unless the 

opinion is issued while the sentence is pending an appeal from the judgment of 

conviction.

3.

The 2019 statutory amendments to K.S.A. 22-3504 are procedural in nature and 

shall be construed and applied retroactively.

4. 

While true changes in the law cannot transform a once legal sentence into an 

illegal sentence, there might be developments in the law that may shine new light on the 

original question of whether the sentence was illegal when pronounced.
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5.

State v. Dickey, 301 Kan. 1018, 350 P.3d 1054 (2015), does not constitute a 

change in the law as contemplated by the 2019 statutory amendments to K.S.A. 22-3504. 

6.

Under K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 21-6811(e)(3), the State of Kansas shall classify a prior 

out-of-state crime as person or nonperson for purposes of calculating criminal history. In 

classifying a prior out-of-state crime as person or nonperson, comparable offenses under 

the Kansas Criminal Code in effect on the date the current crime of conviction was 

committed shall be referred to. If the State of Kansas does not have a comparable offense 

in effect on the date the current crime of conviction was committed, the out-of-state 

crime shall be classified as a nonperson crime.

7.

The 2015 amendment to K.S.A. 21-6811(e)(3), as set forth in House Bill 2053, 

requires the court to compare prior out-of-state crimes to the Kansas Criminal Code in 

effect on the date the current crime of conviction was committed. The Legislature clearly 

stated its intent that the amendment set forth in House Bill 2053 is procedural in nature 

and shall be applied retroactively. 

8.

House Bill 2053 does not constitute a change in the law as contemplated by 

K.S.A. 22-3504(c), as amended by L. 2019, ch. 59, §15. 

9.

In State v. Wetrich, 307 Kan. 552, 412 P.3d 984 (2018), an opinion issued by the 

Kansas Supreme Court on March 9, 2018, the court held that in order to constitute a 

comparable offense under K.S.A. 2017 Supp. 21-6811(e), a prior out-of-state crime must 
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have identical or narrower elements than the Kansas offense to which it is being 

compared.

10. 

The rule announced in State v. Wetrich, 307 Kan. 552, 412 P.3d 984 (2018), is a 

change in the law and shall not be construed or applied retroactively.

Appeal from Edwards District Court; BRUCE T. GATTERMAN, judge. Opinion filed October 4, 

2019. Affirmed.

Kristen B. Patty, of Wichita, for appellant.

Natalie Chalmers, assistant solicitor general, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee.

Before ARNOLD-BURGER, C.J., HILL and STANDRIDGE, JJ.

STANDRIDGE, J.: Following remand, Gregory Lynn Gales appeals his sentence for 

intentional second-degree murder and arson. Gales argues his sentence is illegal because 

the district court incorrectly classified his prior California juvenile burglary adjudication

as a person crime when calculating his criminal history score. For the reasons stated 

below, we find the district court correctly classified Gales' prior juvenile adjudication as a 

person crime and, in turn, find Gales' sentence was legal when imposed. 

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 2001, a jury convicted Gales of one count each of intentional second-degree 

murder and arson. At sentencing, the district court determined Gales had a criminal 

history score of D, based in part on a 1976 California juvenile burglary adjudication that 

was classified as a person felony. The resulting sentence was a controlling term of 286 

months' imprisonment. This court affirmed Gales' convictions on appeal. See State v. 
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Gales, No. 88,321, 2003 WL 21981941 (Kan. App. 2003) (unpublished opinion)

(Gales I). Gales filed a petition for review, which the Supreme Court denied. The 

conviction and sentence became final when the mandate was issued on November 14, 

2003. 

In 2014, Gales filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence. Gales argued his 1976 

California burglary juvenile adjudication should have been classified as a nonperson 

offense for purposes of calculating his criminal history score when he was sentenced. 

Had the prior juvenile adjudication been classified as a nonperson offense, Gales claimed 

his sentence for Count I would have been reduced from 267 months to 203 months. On 

March 25, 2015, the district court denied Gales' motion. Gales filed a notice of appeal on 

April 8, 2015. 

On May 22, 2015, the Kansas Supreme Court issued its decision in State v. 

Dickey, 301 Kan. 1018, 350 P.3d 1054 (2015) (Dickey I). At issue in Dickey I was the 

procedure for deciding whether a prior in-state juvenile adjudication that occurred before 

the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act (KSGA) went into effect should be scored as a 

person or nonperson offense. The court held the constitutional rule established in 

Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435 (2000), which 

was adopted by our Supreme Court in State v. Gould, 271 Kan. 394, 414, 23 P.3d 801 

(2001), is implicated when a district court enhances a defendant's current sentence by 

making findings of fact that go beyond merely finding the existence of a prior conviction 

or adjudication. Based on Apprendi, the Dickey I court held that the sentencing court is 

limited to comparing the elements of the prior statute of conviction or adjudication to the 

elements of the corresponding statute in effect at the time the current crime of conviction

was committed. 301 Kan. at 1039-40.

In making this comparison, the Dickey I court adopted the Apprendi analysis used 

by the United States Supreme Court in Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. 254, 278, 
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133 S. Ct. 2276, 186 L. Ed. 2d 438 (2013). In this analysis, the sentencing court first must 

determine whether the statute of prior conviction or adjudication is divisible or 

nondivisible. A statute is nondivisible if it contains only one set of elements. If the prior 

statute contains only one set of elements, the sentencing court is limited to using the 

categorical approach in comparing the statutes, which prohibits the court from looking 

beyond the elements of the prior statute for purposes of comparing it to the elements of 

the comparable statute in Kansas in effect when the current crime of conviction was 

committed. Dickey I, 301 Kan. at 1037-39.

Unlike a nondivisible statute, a divisible statute contains multiple, alternative 

versions of the crime. If the statute is divisible, the sentencing court must determine if 

any of the alternative versions of the crime require the same elements as those of the 

corresponding Kansas statute in effect when the current crime of conviction was 

committed. If at least one of the alternative versions of the prior offense matches the 

elements of the corresponding statute in effect at the time the current crime of conviction 

was committed, the sentencing court may use a modified categorical approach. The 

modified categorical approach allows the sentencing court to engage in limited factfinding to determine which set of statutory elements it should use for purposes of 

comparing that prior conviction or adjudication with the elements of the comparable 

offense in Kansas. So the modified categorical approach lets the court look at a few 

underlying facts from the prior conviction or adjudication, but not for sentencing 

purposes—only to determine which alternative set of elements in the prior statute it 

should use to compare it to the current comparable offense. Dickey I, 301 Kan. at 1037-

38 (citing Descamps, 570 U.S. at 257-67). 

Gales filed his appellate brief on March 17, 2016. Because the district court made 

its decision to deny Gales' motion to correct an illegal sentence before the Supreme Court 

issued its decision in Dickey I, Gales relied on this new decision to argue in his appellate 

brief that the case should be remanded to the district court so it could make a legal 
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comparison of Gales' 1976 California juvenile adjudication for burglary with the 

comparable Kansas version of the burglary statute: 

"The pre-sentence report on Mr. Gales, as amended, indicates that Mr. Gales was 

adjudicated to have committed burglary on January 1, 1976, in Placer County, California. 

The worksheet indicates that it was a juvenile adjudication. However, the determination 

of whether this is a person or nonperson felony becomes murkier. The pre-sentence 

investigation report specifically indicates that the Placer County burglary is, 'Burglary 

(residential)'. The report also indicates that the statute is K.S.A. 21-3715(a). . . . K.S.A. 

21-3715 has two categories of burglary, differentiated by whether the structure is a 

'dwelling' or not. If a building, manufactured home, mobile home, tent or other structure 

is a 'dwelling', it is a level 7 person felony. If the categories of structure specifically 

mentioned is not 'a dwelling', then it is a severity level 7 nonperson felony." (Emphasis 

added.)

Gales argued the record on appeal was insufficient to determine whether his prior 

California juvenile adjudication for burglary was a person or nonperson offense when 

compared to the version of the burglary statute in effect when the current crime of 

conviction was committed. As such, Gales submitted that the only "reasonable and 

practical remedy" was to remand the issue to the district court to make that determination. 

The State opposed remand, arguing Gales was procedurally barred from receiving 

relief. In the event the panel decided Gales was not procedurally barred, however, the 

State conceded that addressing the merits would require a remand. Specifically, the State 

noted that, with the exception of an entry in Gales' 2001 criminal history worksheet 

described by the court services officer as a 1976 juvenile adjudication for "[b]urglary 

(residence)" committed in California, there was nothing in the record to identify the 

statute upon which Gales' prior juvenile adjudication was based. Thus, if not procedurally 

barred, the State agreed with Gales that the case should be remanded so the district court 

could identify the California statute, compare that statute with the version of the Kansas 
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burglary statute in effect when Gales committed his current crime of conviction, and 

ultimately decide whether it was proper to classify the California juvenile adjudication

for burglary as a person offense. Significantly, and although neither party identified the 

California burglary statute, the State alleged in its appellate brief that the unidentified 

statute was divisible in nature and must be analyzed under the modified categorical 

approach set forth in Dickey I when comparing it to the Kansas statute.

In an opinion filed on September 30, 2016, a panel of this court found no merit to 

the procedural arguments presented by the State. State v. Gales, No. 114,027, 2016 WL 

5844573 (Kan. App. 2016) (unpublished opinion) (Gales II). On the merits, the panel 

relied on the holding in Dickey I to find that the district court violated Gales' Sixth 

Amendment constitutional rights by summarily classifying the 1976 California juvenile 

burglary adjudication as a person offense for purposes of calculating criminal history. 

Gales II, 2016 WL 5844573, at *2-3 (citing Dickey I). In support of this finding, the 

Gales II panel appeared to rely, at least in part, on the fact that the district court did not 

identify the California statute, which was required in order to compare the California 

statute to the Kansas statute. 2016 WL 5844573, at *3.

With regard to the State's claim that the yet-to-be-identified California statute was 

a divisible statute, the Gales II panel noted that if the statute truly was divisible as the 

State argued, the district court did not use the "modified categorical approach" applicable 

to divisible statutes when it classified the 1976 California juvenile adjudication as a 

person offense for criminal history purposes. The Gales II panel ultimately vacated Gales' 

sentence and remanded the matter to the district court with directions to make additional 

findings under Dickey I, 301 Kan. at 1039-40, in order to determine whether Gales' prior 

California juvenile burglary adjudication should be classified as a person or nonperson 

offense for purposes of calculating his criminal history. Gales II, 2016 WL 5844573, at 

*3.
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On October 7, 2016, the Supreme Court issued State v. Dickey, 305 Kan. 217, 220-

22, 380 P.3d 230 (2016) (Dickey II), in which it extended the holding in Dickey I to 

challenges raised in motions to correct illegal sentences under K.S.A. 22-3504, like the 

one filed by Gales here. For ease of reference, we will refer to Dickey I and Dickey II

collectively as "Dickey" from this point forward unless otherwise necessary to distinguish 

between the two cases.

On remand, the court held an evidentiary hearing on Gales' objection to his 

criminal history score. At the December 20, 2017 hearing, the State introduced testimony 

from a court services officer who investigated Gales' prior California juvenile burglary

adjudication. The State also introduced fact-specific documents from California related to 

Gales' prior adjudication and the time Gales spent on probation. After hearing the 

testimony and reviewing the documents introduced into evidence by the State, the district 

court overruled Gales' objection to his criminal history score and found that Gales' 1976 

California juvenile burglary adjudication should be considered a person offense. The 

district court made this decision based on the fact-specific documents from California 

presented at the hearing that indicated Gales' offense involved entry into a "residence." 

Gales filed a notice of appeal from the district court's decision on March 7, 2018. 

On March 9, 2018, two days after Gales filed his notice of appeal, the Supreme 

Court decided State v. Wetrich, 307 Kan. 552, 412 P.3d 984 (2018). In Wetrich, the court 

held constitutional constraints require that, to be a comparable offense, a prior out-ofstate crime must have identical or narrower elements than the Kansas offense to which it 

is being compared. 307 Kan. at 562. The briefs on appeal were filed after Wetrich was 

issued. In those briefs, the parties disagreed about whether the Wetrich decision was a 

substantive change in the law that precluded its retroactive application. 

After the briefs were filed, the Legislature amended the statute governing 

correction of an illegal sentence, K.S.A. 22-3504. Two weeks later, the Kansas Supreme 
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Court issued an opinion holding that the legality of a sentence is controlled by the law in 

effect when the sentence was pronounced. See State v. Newton, 309 Kan. 1070, 1073, 442 

P.3d 489 (2019) (implying that Wetrich was a change in the law). So, on June 11, 2019, 

this court ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs addressing any impact the 

amended law and the new case had on the issue presented. 

As he did in Gales II, Gales argues in both his original and supplemental briefs 

that the sentencing court erred in classifying his 1976 California juvenile burglary 

adjudication as a person offense for criminal history purposes, which resulted in an illegal 

sentence. This time, however, Gales alleges the court improperly utilized the modified 

categorical approach in deciding that his prior juvenile adjudication should be classified 

as a person offense for purposes of criminal history. Gales claims the district court 

engaged in impermissible judicial fact-finding prohibited by Apprendi, Descamps, and 

Dickey when it looked at historical documents from his 1976 California juvenile burglary 

adjudication to determine whether the offense involved the burglary of a dwelling. Gales 

argues that the district court only was permitted to look at the historical documents to 

determine which alternative set of elements in the prior statute it should compare to the 

Kansas comparable offense in effect when the current crime of conviction was 

committed. As such, Gales contends the district court was prohibited from using the 

information in those documents to make a factual finding regarding whether the offense 

actually involved the burglary of a dwelling.

The State contends that this court need not reach the question of whether the 

district court improperly utilized the modified categorical approach because Gales is not 

entitled to have Dickey retroactively applied to his case. If we should find that the 

analysis set forth in Dickey does apply retroactively to Gales' claim of an illegal sentence, 

the State alternatively argues the district court properly utilized the modified categorical 

approach to classify his 1976 California juvenile burglary adjudication as a person 

offense for criminal history purposes.
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ANALYSIS

Gales asserts his sentence is illegal. Because the Legislature deemed the 

amendments procedural and retroactive, we must use the definition of "illegal sentence" 

as set forth in K.S.A. 22-3504(c), as amended by L. 2019, ch. 59, §15:

"(1) 'Illegal sentence' means a sentence: Imposed by a court without jurisdiction; 

that does not conform to the applicable statutory provision, either in character or 

punishment; or that is ambiguous with respect to the time and manner in which it is to be 

served at the time it is pronounced. A sentence is not an 'illegal sentence' because of a 

change in the law that occurs after the sentence is pronounced.

"(2) 'Change in the law' means a statutory change or an opinion by an appellate 

court of the state of Kansas, unless the opinion is issued while the sentence is pending an 

appeal from the judgment of conviction."

Gales challenges his sentence based on the second definition of an illegal 

sentence: that his sentence does not conform to the applicable statutory provision in 

terms of the punishment authorized. Specifically, Gales argues that the sentencing court 

misclassified his 1976 California juvenile burglary adjudication as a person offense in 

calculating his criminal history score under K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 21-6811(e) by using a 

process that looked beyond the prior statute to the underlying facts of his prior California 

offense. Gales argues the classification process used by the district court violated his 

constitutional rights as set forth in the United States Supreme Court decisions in 

Apprendi and Descamps, as applied by the Kansas Supreme Court in Dickey.

But the State claims that Dickey cannot be retroactively applied in this case 

because it effectively overruled the statutory classification process in K.S.A. 2000 Supp. 

21-4711 and therefore constitutes a "change in the law" under K.S.A. 22-3504(c)

(amended 2019) that cannot be applied retroactively. See L. 2019, ch. 59, § 15. Because 

Gales' claim of illegal sentence is based on Dickey, we must first address the State's claim 
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that Dickey cannot be retroactively applied here because it constitutes a change in the 

law.

1. Retroactivity of Dickey

In support of its claim that Dickey must be considered a change in the law, the 

State argues Dickey "effectively overruled" the version of K.S.A. 21-4711(d) in effect 

when Gales was sentenced. Dickey held that, under the rule announced in Apprendi, a

sentencing court is constitutionally prohibited from enhancing a defendant's current 

sentence by making findings of fact that go beyond merely finding the existence of a 

prior conviction when classifying prior in-state burglaries as person or nonperson 

offenses. Because of this constitutional prohibition, the Dickey I court held the 

comparability classification process must be limited to comparing the elements of the 

prior statute of conviction or adjudication to the elements of the corresponding statute in 

effect at the time the current crime of conviction was committed. 301 Kan. at 1039-40.

At the time Gales committed the current crime of conviction in 2000, K.S.A. 21-

4711(d) provided as follows:

"(d) Prior burglary adult convictions and juvenile adjudications will be scored for 

criminal history purposes as follows:

(1) As a prior person felony if the prior conviction or adjudication was classified 

as a burglary as described in subsection (a) of K.S.A. 21-3715 and amendments thereto.

(2) As a prior nonperson felony if the prior conviction or adjudication was 

classified as a burglary as described in subsection (b) or (c) of K.S.A. 21-3715 and 

amendments thereto.

"The facts required to classify prior burglary adult convictions and juvenile 

adjudications must be established by the state by a preponderance of the evidence."

K.S.A. 2000 Supp. 21-4711(d).
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In 2011, K.S.A. 21-4711(d) was renumbered to K.S.A. 21-6811(d), but the 

language of the subsection remained the same. L. 2010, ch. 136, § 292. In fact, although 

the Legislature recently made major revisions to K.S.A. 21-6811 during the 2019 

legislative session, the substantive language in subsection (d) remains unchanged from 

the language of K.S.A. 21-4711(d) in effect in 2000, when Gales committed his current 

crime of conviction. L. 2019, ch. 59, § 13. 

We find no inconsistencies between the holding in Dickey and the statutory 

language of K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 21-6811(d). Dickey did not overrule any part of the 

classification procedure set forth in 21-6811(d) but instead applied the constitutional 

mandate in Apprendi to that statutory process. Because it did not overrule 21-6811(d), we 

find no merit to the State's argument that Dickey is a change in the law under K.S.A. 22-

3504(c) (amended 2019) that must not be applied retroactively. 

Notwithstanding our finding in this regard, we readily acknowledge the fact that, 

after the amendments to K.S.A. 22-3504(c) became effective on May 23, 2019, our 

Supreme Court issued several opinions addressing whether Dickey should be

retroactively applied to reclassify prior burglary convictions as nonperson felonies for 

purposes of calculating criminal history. See State v. Tauer, 310 Kan. 1, 444 P.3d 936, 

937 (2019); State v. McAlister, 310 Kan. 86, 444 P.3d 923, 925-27 (2019); State v. 

Dawson, 310 Kan. 112, 444 P.3d 914, 917-18 (2019). All three of these opinions were 

filed on the same day. Although the court resolved the Dickey retroactivity issue under 

different facts than the ones presented here, its analysis is helpful in resolving the 

retroactivity issue presented in this case.

The court began its analysis in each of its decisions by reiterating the interpretive 

rule it recently had set forth in State v. Murdock, 309 Kan. 585, 591, 439 P.3d 307 (2019) 

(Murdock II), which holds that
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"the legality of a sentence under K.S.A. 22-3504 is controlled by the law in effect at the 

time the sentence was pronounced. The legality of a sentence is fixed at a discrete 

moment in time—the moment the sentence was pronounced. At that moment, a 

pronounced sentence is either legal or illegal according to then-existing law. Therefore, 

for purposes of a motion to correct an illegal sentence, neither party can avail itself of 

subsequent changes in the law."

Murdock II expressly states that its holding is not to be construed as deviating 

from the longstanding rule that a defendant will receive the benefit of any change in the 

law that occurs while the defendant's direct appeal is pending. 309 Kan. at 591. And 

finally, Murdock II clarifies that while "true changes in the law cannot transform a once 

legal sentence into an illegal sentence," there might be "developments in the law [that] 

may shine new light on the original question of whether the sentence was illegal when 

pronounced." 309 Kan. at 592.

Relying on Murdock II, the Supreme Court resolved the issue presented in Tauer, 

McAlister, and Dawson by finding that Dickey did not retroactively apply in those 

particular cases. Although acknowledging, as it did in Murdock II, that its focus was on 

"true" change in the law, the Supreme Court's decision was grounded in its finding that 

the rule from Dickey was based on the true change in law established in Apprendi. 

Because it constituted a true change in the law, the court held Apprendi did not apply to a 

case that was final before it was decided. Tauer, 444 P.3d at 937; McAlister, 444 P.3d at

925-27; Dawson, 444 P.3d at 917-18. This holding is consistent with the Supreme Court's 

decision in Gould, which expressly held that the constitutional rule announced in 

Apprendi has no retroactive application to cases final as of June 26, 2000, the date 

Apprendi was decided. 271 Kan. at 414. Notably, Gould clarified that the Apprendi rule 

must be applied to all cases pending on direct appeal, cases which are not yet final, or 

cases which arose after June 26, 2000. 271 Kan. at 414.
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Relevant to the retroactivity issue presented here, the Dawson court acknowledged 

defendant's argument that Dickey was not a change in the law but instead was an 

application of the constitutional rule announced in Apprendi and clarified by Descamps. 

But the court ultimately did not address this argument because, even if true, it did not 

affect the outcome in Dawson's case given his original sentence was final years before 

Apprendi was decided. Dawson, 444 P.3d at 917-18.

In this case, Gales was sentenced in 2001. His sentence became final on 

November 14, 2003. Based on the language in K.S.A. 22-3504(c) (amended 2019)

codifying the longstanding rule that a defendant will receive the benefit of any change in 

the law that occurs while the defendant's direct appeal is pending, Gales is entitled to 

receive the benefit of the constitutional rule announced in Apprendi because his 

conviction became final after the rule in Apprendi was announced. This significant 

distinction necessarily renders the holdings in Tauer, McAlister, and Dawson inapplicable 

under the facts presented here. As such, we must answer the question that the Kansas 

Supreme Court left unanswered in Dawson: Is the court's holding in Dickey a true 

change in the law as contemplated by K.S.A. 22-3504 (amended 2019)? 

A review of the Dickey decision itself weighs in favor of a finding that the 

decision does not represent a true change in the law. See Dickey I, 301 Kan. at 1021 

("[C]lassifying Dickey's prior burglary adjudication as a person felony violates his 

constitutional rights as described under Descamps and Apprendi."); see also Gould, 271 

Kan. at 414 ("[T]he new constitutional sentencing rule established by Apprendi must be 

applied here and in all cases pending on direct appeal or which are not yet final or which 

arose after June 26, 2000.").

The analysis conducted by our Supreme Court in Murdock II also supports a 

finding that the rule in Dickey does not represent a true change in the law. In Murdock II, 

the court expressed its intention that it did not intend to foreclose the possibility that 
15

developments in the law might call for a reassessment of the original legality of the 

sentence at the time of pronouncement; to the contrary, its focus was on "true changes in 

the law." 309 Kan. at 592. And, although the facts are distinguishable, the legal analysis 

by the court in Tauer, McAlister, and Dawson supports a finding that the rule in Dickey

does not represent a true change in the law. See Tauer, 444 P.3d at 937 (finding that rule 

announced in Apprendi was true change in law and that rule in Dickey was based on legal 

principles set forth in Apprendi); McAlister, 444 P.3d at 925-27 (same); Dawson, 444 

P.3d at 917-18 (same). 

Although filed before the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Murdock II, several 

panels from our court have held Dickey does not represent a true change in the law. See 

State v. Thomas, 53 Kan. App. 2d 15, 24, 383 P.3d 152 (2016) ("[T]he court's holding in 

Dickey is not a 'change in the law' under [a retroactivity] analysis, but rather an 

application of the constitutional rule announced in Apprendi and clarified by 

Descamps."); State v. Martin, 52 Kan. App. 2d 474, 484, 369 P.3d 959 (2016) ("Apprendi

was the basis for the ultimate holding in Dickey. Descamps provided a means by which to 

determine whether certain sentencing determinations violated Apprendi, and Dickey

applied that framework to Kansas criminal history determinations. [Citations omitted.]");

State v. Hopkins, No. 114,300, 2016 WL 4735093, at *2 (Kan. App. 2016) (unpublished 

opinion) (rule of Dickey applies in criminal cases pending when Apprendi decided or 

filed thereafter); State v. Barnes, No. 114,107, 2016 WL 5853096, at *2-3 (Kan. App. 

2016) (unpublished opinion) (Dickey not a change in the law but application of 

Apprendi).

Finally, a finding that the rule in Dickey is not a change in the law but merely an 

application of the new legal rule announced in Apprendi also is supported by postApprendi decisions issued by the United States Supreme Court. In Descamps, the Court 

concluded that Apprendi is implicated when a district court, for purposes of enhancing a 

defendant's sentence for a current conviction, makes findings of fact at sentencing that go 
16

beyond merely finding the existence of a prior conviction or the statutory elements that 

made up the prior conviction. Descamps, 570 U.S. at 269-70. In coming to this 

conclusion, the Descamps Court noted that its prior caselaw "all but resolves this case." 

570 U.S. at 260. In Mathis v. United States, 579 U.S. ___, 136 S. Ct. 2243, 2251-57, 195 

L. Ed. 2d 604 (2016), the Court distinguished between alternative elements and 

alternative means of proving a single element, noting that alternative means or facts were 

not subject to the modified categorical approach discussed in Descamps. In reaching its 

decision, the Court expressly stated that prior caselaw "make[s] this a straightforward 

case." Mathis, 136 S. Ct. at 2257.

Based on the discussion above, we find the rule set forth in Dickey is not a 

"change in the law" as contemplated by K.S.A. 22-3504(c) (amended 2019). Because it is 

not a change in the law, we will apply the rule set forth in Dickey to Gales' claim of 

illegal sentence here. 

2. Classification of prior California burglary adjudication

When Gales' sentence became final on November 14, 2003, the applicable 

sentencing rule for classifying prior out-of-state convictions provided:

"Out-of-state convictions and juvenile adjudications will be used in classifying 

the offender's criminal history. An out-of-state crime will be classified as either a felony 

or a misdemeanor according to the convicting jurisdiction. If a crime is a felony in 

another state, it will be counted as a felony in Kansas. The state of Kansas shall classify 

the crime as person or nonperson. In designating a crime as person or nonperson 

comparable offenses shall be referred to. If the state of Kansas does not have a 

comparable offense, the out-of-state conviction shall be classified as a non-person crime. 

. . . The facts required to classify out-of-state adult convictions and juvenile adjudications 

must be established by the state by a preponderance of the evidence." K.S.A. 2003 Supp. 

21-4711(e).
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As we noted above, K.S.A. 21-4711(e) was renumbered to K.S.A. 21-6811(e) in 

2011, but the substantive language of the subsection remained the same. L. 2010, ch. 136, 

§ 292. Relevant here, the Legislature amended the statute in 2015 to clarify that "[i]n 

designating a crime as person or nonperson, comparable offenses under the Kansas 

criminal code in effect on the date the current crime of conviction was committed shall be 

referred to." (Emphasis added.) L. 2015, ch. 5, § 2 (House Bill 2053). The Legislature 

expressly deemed the amendment in House Bill 2053 to be retroactive. So, House Bill 

2053 is not a change in the law as contemplated by K.S.A. 22-3504(c) (amended 2019),

and the language added by House Bill 2053 must continue to be applied retroactively. 

See State v. Bernhardt, 304 Kan. 460, 479, 372 P.3d 1161 (2016) ("In general, 'a statute 

operates only prospectively unless there is clear language indicating the legislature 

intended otherwise.'"). Significantly, this means that the sentencing court's 21-6811 

classification analysis must compare the out-of-state prior crime to the comparable 

Kansas offense in effect on the date the current crime of conviction was committed—

even when the current offense occurred before House Bill 2053 became effective. 

In 2015 and 2018, the Legislature amended K.S.A. 21-6811(e) again, but this time 

with regard to classification of prior out-of-state convictions and juvenile adjudications as 

felonies and misdemeanors. Those changes are not relevant here. Although the 2019 

Kansas Legislature made extensive amendments to the substance of K.S.A. 21-6811(e), it 

did not express any intent that those amendments should be construed or applied 

retroactively. See L. 2019, ch. 59, § 13. And neither party argues that the 2019 

amendments to K.S.A. 21-6811 should apply to this case. As such, we will not address 

the 2019 amendments in this opinion. See Bernhardt, 304 Kan. at 479 ("In general, 'a 

statute operates only prospectively unless there is clear language indicating the legislature 

intended otherwise.'").
18

Given the retroactivity of the 2015 amendment in House Bill 2053 and the lack of 

any other relevant change to K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 21-6811(e) (formerly K.S.A. 21-4711[e]) 

from November 14, 2003, to May 22, 2019, the following statutory rule has endured: 

"The state of Kansas shall classify the crime as person or nonperson. In 

designating a crime as person or nonperson, comparable offenses under the Kansas 

criminal code in effect on the date the current crime of conviction was committed shall be 

referred to. If the state of Kansas does not have a comparable offense in effect on the date 

the current crime of conviction was committed, the out-of-state crime shall be classified 

as a nonperson crime." K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 21-6811(e)(3).

Notwithstanding this enduring statutory rule, Kansas courts have long grappled 

with how to interpret the meaning of the term "comparable offenses." In State v. 

Vandervort, 276 Kan. 164, 179, 72 P.3d 925 (2003), overruled on other grounds by 

Dickey I, 301 Kan. 1018, our Supreme Court held that the offenses "need only be 

comparable, not identical," meaning the Kansas statute that was the "closest 

approximation" to the out-of-state offense was a comparable offense. The court continued 

to define "comparable offense" as set forth in Vandervort until 2018, when it decided

Wetrich, 307 Kan. 552. In Wetrich, the court held constitutional constraints require that, 

to be a comparable offense, a prior out-of-state crime must have identical or narrower 

elements than the Kansas offense to which it is being compared. 307 Kan. at 562.

But recent decisions by our Supreme Court have cut off the retroactive application 

of Wetrich by classifying it as a change in law. See State v. Weber, 309 Kan. 1203, 1209, 

442 P.3d 1044 (2019) (explicitly holding that "Wetrich was a change in the law"); State v. 

Newton, 309 Kan. 1070, 1072-74, 442 P.3d 489 (2019) (implying that Wetrich was 

change in law). Accordingly, if a defendant was sentenced under the pre-Wetrich

"comparable, not identical" or "closest approximation" approach to classification of a 

prior out-of-state crime as a person or nonperson offense, then that sentence cannot 
19

become illegal based on the identical-or-narrower definition of "comparable offense" 

adopted by the court in Wetrich. See Weber, 309 Kan. at 1209.

Gales was convicted and sentenced in 2001. His conviction and sentence became 

final when the mandate was issued on November 14, 2003. Therefore, we must determine 

whether Gales' sentence was legal when it became final in 2003. See Murdock II, 309 

Kan. at 591 (confirming established rule that defendant will receive benefit of change in 

law that occurs while his or her case is pending on direct appeal). Wetrich was not 

decided until 2018, long after Gales' sentence became final in 2003. Because our 

Supreme Court has held that the identical-or-narrower definition of "comparable 

offenses" announced in Wetrich constitutes a change in the law, Gales does not get the 

benefit of the holding in Wetrich. Instead, we must apply the rule in Vandervort, which 

held that the offenses "need only be comparable, not identical" and therefore the Kansas 

statute that was the "closest approximation" to the out-of-state offense was a comparable 

offense. 276 Kan. at 179. To apply the comparability rule in Vandervort, we must 

determine whether the statutory elements of the prior conviction or adjudication are 

comparable (although not identical) to a Kansas statute in effect on the date that the 

current crime of conviction occurred. If they are, then the prior conviction or adjudication 

will be classified as a person or nonperson offense consistent with the comparable Kansas 

statute. If Kansas does not have a comparable offense in effect on the date the current 

crime of conviction was committed, the prior out-of-state conviction or adjudication must 

be classified as a nonperson crime.

At the time of Gales' California burglary adjudication, Cal. Penal Code § 459 

provided:

"Every person who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, 

warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel, railroad car, 

trailer coach . . . vehicle . . . when the doors of such vehicle are locked, aircraft . . . mine 
20

or any underground portion thereof, with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any 

felony is guilty of burglary." 

In addition, California law categorized burglary into degrees. First-degree burglary 

was defined as a 

"burglary of an inhabited dwelling house, trailer coach . . . or building committed in the 

nighttime, and every burglary, whether in the daytime or nighttime, committed by a 

person armed with a deadly weapon, or who while in the commission of such burglary 

arms himself [or herself] with a deadly weapon, or who while in the commission of such 

burglary assaults any person." Cal. Penal Code § 460(1).

All other kinds of burglary constituted second-degree burglary. Cal. Penal Code § 460(2). 

In determining whether there is a comparable Kansas offense, we look to the 

Kansas criminal statutes in effect at the time Gales committed his current crime of 

conviction. See K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 21-6811(e)(3). When Gales committed his current 

crimes in 2000, Kansas defined burglary as follows: 

"Burglary is knowingly and without authority entering into or remaining within 

any:

(a) Building, manufactured home, mobile home, tent or other structure which is a 

dwelling, with intent to commit a felony, theft or sexual battery therein; 

(b) building, manufactured home, mobile home, tent or other structure which is 

not a dwelling, with intent to commit a felony, theft or sexual battery therein; or 

(c) motor vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, railroad car or other means of conveyance 

of persons or property, with intent to commit a felony, theft or sexual battery therein." 

K.S.A. 21-3715.

Burglary of a dwelling as described in subsection (a) was classified as a person 

felony. However, burglary as defined in either subsection (b) or (c) was classified as a 
21

nonperson felony. See K.S.A. 21-3715. If Gales' California burglary adjudication under 

Cal. Penal Code § 459 is comparable to the crime of burglary as defined by K.S.A. 21-

3715(a), then the prior adjudication must be classified as a person offense. If Gales' 

California burglary adjudication under Cal. Penal Code § 459 is comparable to the crime 

of burglary as defined by K.S.A. 21-3715(b) or (c), then the prior adjudication must be 

classified as a nonperson offense.

Back in 2016, when the Gales II court was presented with this identical issue, the 

panel highlighted in its opinion the fact that the district court failed to identify the 

California statute under which Gales was adjudicated, which was required in order to 

compare the California statute to the Kansas statute. See Gales II, No. 114,027, 2016 WL 

5844573, at *3. As requested by the parties, the Gales II panel ultimately vacated Gales' 

sentence and remanded the matter to the district court with directions to make additional 

findings under Dickey in order to determine whether Gales' prior California burglary 

adjudication should be scored as a person or nonperson offense. In retrospect, the opinion 

issued by the Gales II court was less than clear in explaining why remand was required, 

what additional findings were needed, and how the court should utilize those additional 

findings. Frankly, the district court did the best it could to decipher the directions on 

remand. Given the factual and procedural history as described above, however, we 

belatedly now explain that remand was necessary to identify the California statute upon 

which Gales' prior adjudication was based and then to determine whether the California 

statute contained only one set of elements (nondivisible) or multiple, alternative versions

of the crime (divisible). 

If the court determined that the California statute was nondivisible, the court was 

required to use the categorical approach to determine whether the elements of the 

California statute were comparable, but not identical, to the Kansas statute in effect at the 

time Gales committed his current crime of conviction. If the California statute was 

divisible—as the State specifically argued in its Gales II appellate brief—the district 
22

court was required to determine whether any of the alternative versions of the prior crime 

corresponded to the Kansas statute in effect at the time Gales committed his current crime 

of conviction. If at least one of the alternative versions of the prior offense corresponded

to the relevant Kansas statute, the sentencing court was permitted to use a modified 

categorical approach to determine which alternative version of the prior statute should be 

used for the statutory comparability analysis. Under the modified categorical approach, 

the court is permitted to look at a few underlying facts from the prior conviction, but not 

for sentencing purposes; the underlying facts can only be utilized to determine which 

alternative version of the prior statute should be used to compare it to the current Kansas 

comparable offense. Dickey, 301 Kan. at 1037-38 (citing Descamps). 

On remand, the State introduced documents from California relating to Gales' 

prior adjudication. These documents included the amended petition charging Gales with 

entry, which stated:

"COUNT I: Said minor, on or about August 30, 1975, in the County of Placer, State of 

California, did wil[l]fully enter the RESIDENCE and building occupied by NATHAN 

KELLER with the intent to commit a felony and theft therein; thereby violating Section 

459 of the Penal Code."

The State also introduced the court's order finding Gales guilty of the charges set forth in 

the petition. Given the facts as charged in the amended petition and the California court 

order finding Gales guilty of those charges, the State argued that the burglary 

adjudication should be classified as a person offense consistent with the version of Cal. 

Penal Code § 460 deeming burglary of an inhabited dwelling as a burglary of the first 

degree. In response, Gales argued the State failed to provide any documentation to 

establish the severity of the offense he committed. Gales noted that the documentation 

submitted referred to only the general burglary statute, Cal. Penal Code § 459, and made 

no mention of the severity level of the offense or Cal. Penal Code § 460, which is the 
23

statute governing severity classification for the crime of burglary under Cal. Penal Code 

§ 459. For these reasons, Gales argued his crime must be considered a burglary in the 

second degree.

The district court ultimately held that the prior California adjudication should be 

classified as a person offense because the documents reviewed established that Gales' 

offense involved entry into a "residence," which was comparable to the dwelling 

requirement in K.S.A. 21-3715(a). Although we agree with the district court's decision to 

classify the prior California crime as a person offense, we find the process used by the 

district court to reach that decision violated the constitutional rule established in Apprendi

and adopted by our Supreme Court in Gould, which prohibits a sentencing court from 

enhancing a defendant's current sentence by making findings of fact that go beyond 

merely finding the existence of a prior conviction. Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 490; Gould, 271

Kan. at 414. Specifically, the court used the facts set forth in the charging document and 

order of conviction, instead of the statute of conviction, to determine whether the prior 

California crime was comparable to the Kansas statute in effect when Gales committed 

his current crime of conviction in 2000. Because the statute of prior conviction has been 

identified, we are in a position to engage in the statutory comparability analysis required 

under K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 21-6811(e). We do so now. 

Utilizing the classification process set forth in Dickey, we first must determine 

whether Cal. Penal Code § 459 was a divisible statute in 1976 at the time Gales was 

adjudicated under that statute. The State argues, as it did below, that the burglary statute 

is divisible because Cal. Penal Code § 459 must be read in conjunction with Cal. Penal 

Code § 460, which deems burglary of an inhabited dwelling house as a burglary of the 

first degree. But Gales was not charged or convicted under Cal. Penal Code § 460. And 

there is nothing in the record on appeal to establish that Gales was charged or convicted 

of burglary in the first degree. Gales was charged with burglary under § 459 and found 
24

guilty under that statute. So, contrary to the State's argument, our divisibility analysis will 

focus solely on § 459.

At the time of Gales' prior adjudication, § 459 contained only one set of elements. 

See Cal. Penal Code § 459. Because it did not contain multiple, alternative versions of the 

crime, we are constitutionally prohibited by Apprendi, Descamps, and Dickey from 

utilizing the modified categorical approach. Specifically, we cannot look beyond the 

language in § 459 to determine whether the Kansas statute in effect at the time the current 

crime was committed was comparable under K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 21-6811(d). Relevant 

here, § 459 defined burglary in 1976 as entry into "any house" with "intent to commit 

grand or petit larceny or any felony." When Gales committed his current crimes in 2000, 

Kansas classified burglary as a person offense when the defendant "knowingly and 

without authority enter[ed] into or remain[ed] within any . . . [b]uilding, manufactured 

home, mobile home, tent or other structure which is a dwelling, with intent to commit a 

felony, theft or sexual battery therein." 

We find the 1976 version of Cal. Penal Code § 459, which defined the crime to 

include burglary of a house, is comparable, but not identical, to K.S.A. 21-3715(a), which 

defined the crime to include burglary of a dwelling. See Vandervort, 276 Kan. at 179

(offenses need only be comparable, not identical, for purposes of determining criminal 

history). As such, we affirm the district court's decision to classify Gales' prior California 

juvenile burglary adjudication as a person crime when calculating his criminal history 

score. See State v. Williams, 303 Kan. 585, 595, 363 P.3d 1101 (2016) (affirming 

judgment as right for the wrong reasons). 

Affirmed.