Title: State v. Henwood
Citation: 243 Kan. 326, 756 P.2d 1087
Docket Number: 61,628
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: June 3, 1988

243 Kan. 326 (1988)
756 P.2d 1087
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellant,
v.
GUY V. HENWOOD, Appellee.
No. 61,628

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed June 3, 1988.
Mona Furst, assistant district attorney, Clark V. Owens, district attorney, and Robert T. Stephan, attorney general, were on the brief for appellant.
Cheryl J. Roberts, assistant public defender, was on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
ALLEGRUCCI, J.:
This is an appeal by the State pursuant to K.S.A. 1987 Supp. 22-3602(b)(1) from the district court's granting of the defendant's motion to dismiss one count of theft, K.S.A. 1987 Supp. 21-3701(a).
The facts are not in dispute. The defendant failed to return the 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo which he borrowed from a friend on December 16, 1986. On December 30, 1986, the defendant was charged in Clay County, Missouri, with receiving the stolen 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, pursuant to Mo. Rev. Stat. § 570.080 (1986). On the next day, the defendant was charged with theft of the same 1979 Monte Carlo in Sedgwick County, Kansas, pursuant to K.S.A. 1987 Supp. 21-3701(a). On February 11, 1987, the defendant pled guilty in Missouri to an amended misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property and was sentenced to one year in the county jail and costs. The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint filed in Sedgwick County on September 4, 1987, asserting double jeopardy pursuant to K.S.A. 21-3108(3)(a). The district court granted defendant's motion and dismissed the case. The State appeals from the dismissal.
The sole issue before this court on appeal is whether the prosecution of the defendant for theft is barred by K.S.A. 21-3108, which provides, in part:
The State makes two arguments in support of its position that prosecution of the defendant in the present case is not barred by K.S.A. 21-3108(3)(a). First, the State argues that the statute has no application in the present case since Kansas did not have "concurrent jurisdiction" over the crime prosecuted in Missouri. Second, the State argues that the Kansas crime of theft as defined by K.S.A. 1987 Supp. 21-3701(a), and the Missouri crime of receiving stolen property, in violation of Mo. Rev. Stat. § 570.080, both require "proof of a fact not required in the other prosecution."
The State correctly points out that, under Kansas law, a person may not be convicted of both theft and receiving stolen property on the same set of circumstances. To be convicted of receiving stolen property pursuant to K.S.A. 1987 Supp. 21-3701(d), the property must have been stolen by another and, therefore, the two crimes are mutually exclusive. See State v. Alvarez, 9 Kan. App.2d 371, 373, 678 P.2d 1132, rev. denied 235 Kan. 1042 (1984). For that reason, the State argues that the Sedgwick District Court would not have had concurrent jurisdiction with the Missouri court for the crime of receiving stolen property.
We do not agree with the State's interpretation of the term "concurrent jurisdiction." While Kansas law would prevent a conviction of a defendant for both theft and receiving stolen property, a Kansas court would still have jurisdiction to convict a person of either crime. The concept of concurrent jurisdiction was discussed in State v. Russell, 229 Kan. 124, 622 P.2d 658 (1981). In Russell, this court held that K.S.A. 21-3108(3)(a) did not prevent the conviction of a defendant for driving under the influence of alcohol, although he had been previously convicted for the same crime in Missouri. This court found that, in driving *328 under the influence of alcohol in both states, the defendant had committed two separate crimes, and neither Kansas nor Missouri would possess concurrent jurisdiction over the crime occurring in the other state. This court said:
Our decision in Russell was based upon the "rather unique" nature of the crime of driving under the influence, as compared with other crimes. We explained the difference:
However, unlike the crime of driving under the influence, the conduct for which the State now seeks to prosecute the defendant is identical to the conduct for which he was previously prosecuted by the State of Missouri. In both cases, the defendant is alleged to have stolen a 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The Missouri prosecution alleged no additional facts, since Missouri *329 law permits a defendant to be convicted for receiving previously stolen property. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 570.080. Although, under Kansas law, the Sedgwick District Court could not have convicted the defendant of both theft and receiving stolen property, the definition of concurrent jurisdiction is not limited to the ability of the court to convict a defendant upon a specified charge. Rather, under our decision in Russell, concurrent jurisdiction exists when two separate courts possess "jurisdiction over the subject matter of the controversy and either court [is] a proper forum for its resolution." 229 Kan. at 131. In the present case, the subject matter of the controversy was the same for both the Missouri and Kansas prosecutions: one 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and both Kansas and Missouri had jurisdiction to prosecute.
The State's second argument is no more persuasive than the first. The State argues that the Missouri crime of receiving stolen property and the Kansas crime of theft contain separate elements. According to the State's position, the Missouri crime of receiving stolen property requires proof of the following elements:
"1) Receiving, retaining or disposing of
2) the property of another
3) intending to deprive the owner
4) occurring within the State of Missouri and done
The Kansas crime of theft requires proof of the following elements:
2) the property of another
4) within the State of Kansas."
It is apparent that all of the elements of theft required by Kansas law are contained within the Missouri crime of receiving stolen property, with one exception. The State asserts that Kansas law requires proof that the theft occur "within the State of Kansas" as an element of that crime.
We find two problems with the State's position. First, in listing the requirements for the proof of theft in Kansas, the State cites *330 only to the theft statute, K.S.A. 1987 Supp. 21-3701(a). This statute does not independently require that the theft occur within the State of Kansas. Kansas statutory law does provide limitations upon the territorial application of its criminal code. However, it does not require proof that the crime was committed entirely "within the State of Kansas." K.S.A. 21-3104(1) requires that a defendant have some connection with the State of Kansas in order to permit a prosecution of that person for violations of the Kansas Criminal Code. However, this connection does not require proof that the crime be committed "within the State of Kansas," as asserted by the State. Rather, the territorial requirements of K.S.A. 21-3104(1)(a) are satisfied if the defendant "commits a crime wholly or partly within this state." (Emphasis added.) The Judicial Council's comment to this section states:
Thus, from a factual standpoint, the State's argument that the Kansas crime of theft contains an additional element not contained within the Missouri crime of receiving stolen property is incorrect. The State need not prove that the defendant committed the theft solely within the State of Kansas, but need only prove that "a constituent and material element" of the crime of theft occurred within this state. K.S.A. 21-3104(2).
A second and even more persuasive reason exists for rejecting the State's argument. Essentially, the State has grafted onto the substantive requirements of the Missouri and Kansas crimes the venue and territorial jurisdictional requirements of each jurisdiction. The State then argues that, because each state's crime has separate elements (the separate venue requirements), therefore each crime requires proof of a fact not required in the other, and K.S.A. 21-3108(3)(a) does not bar a second prosecution of the defendant in Kansas. The State's method of analysis is merely a method of circumventing the requirements of K.S.A. 21-3108(3)(a), and would in essence nullify any application of the statute. The general requirements of venue and territorial jurisdiction *331 apply to all of the crimes designated in the Kansas Criminal Code. The position advocated by the State would permit any prosecutor to ignore the requirements of K.S.A. 21-3108(3)(a) and prosecute a defendant for a crime for which he has been formerly prosecuted in another jurisdiction simply by arguing that the two jurisdictions contain separate venue requirements and that, therefore, each crime requires proof of a fact not required in the other prosecution. To accept the State's argument, we would have to conclude the legislature passed K.S.A. 21-3108(3) intending that it have no effect on existing Kansas law. To the contrary, the intent was to substantially change existing Kansas law, as indicated by the Judicial Council notes to this section:
The "separate sovereignties" doctrine, except for the exceptions noted, was the law in Kansas prior to the enactment of K.S.A. 21-3108. Earwood v. State, 198 Kan. 659, 426 P.2d 151 (1967).
K.S.A. 21-3108 serves to bar, as a general rule, subsequent prosecutions in Kansas for crimes which have been formerly prosecuted in other jurisdictions. The statute implicitly recognizes that the venue requirements of Kansas and the other jurisdiction will be different, and the clause in the statute which provides that a subsequent prosecution in Kansas may be undertaken where "each prosecution requires proof of a fact not required in the other prosecution" cannot be interpreted to include the separate venue requirements of Kansas and the other jurisdiction. K.S.A. 21-3108(3)(a). Otherwise, the bar to prosecution *332 provided by the statute would become a nullity and the protection afforded by the statute would become meaningless.
The State makes one final argument in support of its appeal. The State cites Heath v. Alabama, 474 U.S. 82, 88 L. Ed. 2d 387, 106 S. Ct. 433 (1985), and states the holding in that case "is contrary to K.S.A. 21-3108(3)(a) which explicitly allows a bar to prosecution in this case. The law of the states must, however, defer to the ultimate authority of the constitution. City of Baxter Springs v. Bryant, 226 Kan. 383, 385-86, 598 P.2d 1051 (1979)."
In Heath, the United States Supreme Court held that the double jeopardy protections of the federal Constitution did not prohibit successive state prosecutions for the same crime. The Supreme Court held that, because the states were separate sovereigns, each could independently, and successively, punish a defendant for the same crime arising from the same series of actions.
We assume the State is arguing that K.S.A. 21-3108(3) is unconstitutional. It is true that, in Heath, the Supreme Court held that separate states have the power to successively prosecute crimes which have been previously prosecuted by separate sovereigns. However, neither Heath nor any other decision of the United States Supreme Court has held or intimated that a state is required by the United States Constitution to do so. The essence of Heath and all other decisions of the United States Supreme Court applying the dual sovereignty doctrine is that separate sovereigns have the right and the option to subsequently prosecute a defendant for a crime for which he has formerly been prosecuted by another sovereign, but are not required to do so. The State has not cited any authority nor are we aware of any that suggests the decision of a state legislature to waive, by statute, that right and option is unconstitutional. We find no merit in the State's argument.
We conclude that K.S.A. 21-3108(3) bars the prosecution of the defendant for theft of the 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the Sedgwick District Court based upon his conviction in the Circuit Court of Clay County, Missouri, of receiving the same 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
The judgment of the district court is affirmed.