Opinion ID: 2330387
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The State's appeal is permissible only on a question reserved.

Text: The State suggested at oral argument that because it filed its notice of appeal both from a question reserved and as a direct civil appeal, this court can directly consider the district court's decision granting expungement instead of ruling only on a question reserved. We disagree. A petition for expungement must be docketed in the original criminal action. K.S.A. 21-4619(d)(6). Thus, K.S.A. 60-2103, which governs appellate procedure in civil actions, does not apply. Instead, K.S.A. 22-3602(b)(3), which permits an appeal on a question reserved, provides the only basis for the State's appeal in this case. Moreover, we do not entertain questions reserved by the prosecution merely to show that the district court erred in its ruling. Instead, questions reserved generally presuppose that the case on appeal has concluded but that an answer to an issue of statewide importance is necessary for proper disposition of future cases. State v. Masterson, 261 Kan. 158, 161, 929 P.2d 127 (1996). See also State v. Berreth, 294 Kan. 98, 273 P.3d 752, 767 (2012) (questions reserved by State in criminal prosecutions must be issues of statewide interest important to the correct and uniform administration of criminal law and will not be entertained merely to determine whether error was committed by the district court in its rulings adverse to the State; appellate courts' answers to questions reserved have no effect on the criminal defendant in the underlying case). Here, the question reserved is whether, when faced with a petition for expungement, the district court applies the expungement statute in effect at the time of the filing of the petition, in this case K.S.A. 21-4619, or the expungement statute in effect at the time the crimes were committed. We agree with the State that this presents a question of statewide importance, resolution of which will further the uniform administration of the law.