Opinion ID: 1401250
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: S.A. 38-1636(f)(2)

Text: Prosecution as an adult is not authorized for a 14-year-old charged with a severity level 4 person felony under K.S.A. 38-1636(f)(2). K.S.A. 38-1636(f)(2) states: (f) The court may authorize prosecution as an adult upon completion of the hearing if the court finds that the respondent was: ... (2) 14 or 15 years of age at the time of the alleged commission of the offense, if the offense is an off-grid felony, a nondrug severity level 1, 2 or 3 felony or a drug level 1 or 2 felony, and that there is substantial evidence that the respondent should be prosecuted as an adult for the offense with which the respondent is charged. (Emphasis added.) The sentencing issue was not raised in the district court; however, we may correct an illegal sentence at any time. K.S.A. 22-3504(1). K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 38-1663 does not authorize a district court to sentence a juvenile offender to the Department of Corrections. Perez, by entering a plea to attempted rape, a severity level 4 nonperson felony, should be sentenced as a juvenile offender. The habeas relief Perez seeks in his original action filed in the Court of Appeals is merged in our disposition of his direct appeal. The facts here are unique and because of the recent amendments to K.S.A. 38-1636, may present a case of last impression. K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 38-1636(i) provides: If the respondent is prosecuted as an adult under subsection (a)(2) and is not convicted in adult court of an offense listed in subsection (a)(2) but is convicted or adjudicated of a lesser included offense, the respondent shall be a juvenile offender and receive a sentence pursuant to K.S.A. 38-1663, and amendments thereto. (Emphasis added.) The offenses listed in K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 38-1636(a)(2) have been expanded to include nondrug severity levels 1 through 6 felonies. The sentence imposed is vacated. The case is remanded. We were informed at oral argument that Perez is on postrelease in Garden City. Perez is to be sentenced as a juvenile offender under the versions of K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 38-1663 in effect at the time Perez committed the crime.