Title: State v. Boomgaarn
Citation: 249 Kan. 673, 822 P.2d 605
Docket Number: 65,517
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: December 6, 1991

249 Kan. 673 (1991)
822 P.2d 605
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
DONALD BOOMGAARN, Appellant.
No. 65,517

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed December 6, 1991.
Elizabeth A. Sterns, assistant appellate defender, argued the cause, and Jessica R. Kunen, chief appellate defender, was with her on the brief for appellant.
Phillip A. Burdick, county attorney, argued the cause, and Robert T. Stephan, attorney general, was with him on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
ALLEGRUCCI, J.:
Donald Boomgaarn appeals the district court's disposition of his motion to modify his sentence. The Court of Appeals reversed the district court and remanded the case in an unpublished opinion, State v. Boomgaarn, No. 65,517, filed May 3, 1991. We granted the State's petition for review.
Defendant Donald Boomgaarn entered a plea of guilty to two counts of indecent liberties with a child in violation of K.S.A. 1990 Supp. 21-3503. The district court sentenced him to concurrent terms of not less than 5 nor more than 15 years.
*674 After being evaluated at the State Reception and Diagnostic Center (SRDC), Boomgaarn filed a motion seeking modification of his sentence to a period of probation. The SRDC report recommended probation. The pertinent portion of the report states the following:
Following a hearing, the district court reduced the sentence to concurrent terms of not less than 4 nor more than 10 years.
There is no dispute that the applicable statute is K.S.A. 1989 Supp. 21-4603(3). It states in pertinent part:
The parties agree that, where the SRDC report recommends modification of the sentence, the court is required to do one of two things  modify the sentence or find that modification will jeopardize public safety and will not benefit the inmate. Boomgaarn argues that, if the court modifies the sentence, modification must be in accordance with the SRDC report recommendation. The Court of Appeals agreed, holding that the trial court must follow the SRDC recommendation for probation unless it states on the record that a defendant's release would jeopardize the public safety and fail to benefit the defendant.
K.S.A. 1989 Supp. 21-4603(3) allows a trial court the alternative of declining to adopt the SRDC's recommendation to modify the sentence where it "finds that the safety of the public will be jeopardized and that the welfare of the inmate will not be served *675 by such modification." At the conclusion of the hearing on defendant's motion to modify, the district court said:
Defendant argues that the district court "made neither a finding that the appellant is a threat to the public safety nor that he would not benefit from probation." The State contends that the district court made the proper findings and that there was sufficient evidence before the court to support them. The State also suggests that there was some burden on defendant to show that probation would be warranted, but no authority was supplied and none has been located for this proposition. It has no merit.
A fair reading of these remarks made by the district court at the conclusion of the hearing on defendant's motion to modify his sentence reveals that the court did consider the public safety and the welfare of the defendant. It also reveals that the court found that neither would be well served by reducing the sentence to a period of probation.
With regard to the welfare of the defendant, the district court expressed its recognition of the defendant's current status and the need to provide him with an environment conducive to personal growth:
Continuing this train of thought, the district court expressed its belief that the availability of services to defendant during his incarceration could benefit him. The district court concluded the hearing by expressing its hope that Boomgaarn will avail himself of the educational and counseling opportunities that are available while he is in the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Corrections and that he will at the time of his release be in a better position to deal with the social problems that confront young people in our society.
With regard to public safety, the district court noted that SRDC staff members "make the observation that Mr. Boomgaarn seems to be oblivious to the consequences to the victim of the offense." It noted that the defendant's lack of remorse or recognition of *677 his wrongdoing had impressed both the court and SRDC staff. The district court concluded that "the criminal justice system is there to protect society and it's the opinion of this Court that Mr. Boomgaarn has exhibited very little concern for the seriousness of the offense that he has committed. So I'm going to deny the request for probation at this time."
The district court is not required to utter any particular words in order to comply with K.S.A. 1989 Supp. 21-4603(3). The above-quoted statements by the district court show that whether or not the safety of the public would be jeopardized had been considered. They also show that whether or not the welfare of the inmate would be served had been considered. And they show that the court's disposition of the sentencing request was based on the findings it had made pursuant to the statute.
We note that the legislature has amended this statute. K.S.A. 1990 Supp. 21-4603(4)(a) makes the following requirement:
A more difficult question would be presented if the adequacy of the district court's remarks was to be measured by the current statute. By the standard of the applicable statute, however, we find that the remarks are adequate. They leave no room for doubt that the district court considered the relevant issues and found that neither public safety concerns nor the defendant's welfare would benefit from modifying the sentence. This is not a case in which the district court failed to articulate the considerations and conclusions which motivated it to depart from the SRDC recommendation. Thus, the district court was not required to modify the sentence pursuant to K.S.A. 1989 Supp. 21-4603(3).
The judgment of the Court of Appeals reversing the district court and remanding the case to the district court is reversed. The judgment of the district court is affirmed.