Opinion ID: 2460452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Lifetime Postrelease Supervision v. 36-Month Term

Text: Sellers next challenges the district judge's ability to impose a lifetime postrelease supervision term because he believes the district judge lost jurisdiction to impose increased punishment when the record of his sentencing hearing was briefly closed after initial pronouncement of a 36-month postrelease term. In Sellers' view, his situation also is distinct from that of the Jessica's Law defendant in State v. Ballard, 289 Kan. 1000, 218 P.3d 432 (2009), in which we affirmed a district judge's correction of an illegal 36-month postrelease term to a lifetime term, even though 2 weeks had passed between the original imposition and the correction. See Ballard, 289 Kan. at 1012, 218 P.3d 432. The defendant in Ballard had entered a no contest plea. Sellers, on the other hand, went to trial, putting every element of the State's case in issue. This is a distinction with a difference, he argues, because the State failed to prove that he was 18 or older at the time of his crimes. Thus, under State v. Bello, 289 Kan. 191, 199-200, 211 P.3d 139 (2009), and its progeny, he cannot be subjected to punishment for an off-grid Jessica's Law offense, including lifetime postrelease. We exercise unlimited review over jurisdictional questions. See Bello, 289 Kan. at 195-96, 211 P.3d 139. Also, to the extent this issue requires us to determine the statutorily authorized postrelease term for off-grid and the grid form of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, we exercise unlimited review. See Ballard, 289 Kan. at 1010, 218 P.3d 432 (citing State v. Storey, 286 Kan. 7, 9-10, 179 P.3d 1137 [2008]). Sellers is correct that a defendant's age of 18 or older is an element of the off-grid Jessica's Law aggravated indecent liberties charged in Counts 1 and 2. See K.S.A. 21-3504(a)(3)(A); K.S.A. 21-3504(c) (aggravated indecent liberties with child as described in subsection [a][3] is a sentencing grid severity level 3 person felony unless offender 18 years of age or older; if offender 18 or older, then aggravated indecent liberties with child as described in subsection [a][3] is an off-grid person felony). We have excused the State from charging and ensuring jury instruction on the element of a Jessica's Law defendant's age only when evidence in the trial record has left no doubt that the omissions made no practical difference in the verdict. See State v. Reyna, 290 Kan. 666, 234 P.3d 761 (2010); State v. Colston, 290 Kan. 952, 235 P.3d 1234 (2010). When there has been no such evidence, we have not been so sanguine. Rather, we have held that the defendant can be exposed to punishment only for the grid form of the crime. See Bello, 289 Kan. at 200, 211 P.3d 139; State v. Morningstar, 289 Kan. 488, 213 P.3d 1045 (2009); State v. Gonzales, 289 Kan. 351, 212 P.3d 215 (2009). In this case, the charging document did not allege that Sellers was 18 or older at the time of the crimes; it did list his year of birth as 1971. There was no evidence of Sellers' age admitted at trial, other than whatever circumstantial weight could be given to passing mention of his military service with M.R.C.'s mother. The jury instructions on the elements of the aggravated indecent liberties offenses charged in Counts 1 and 2 did not inform jurors that they must agree that Sellers was 18 or older when he molested M.R.C. At Sellers' sentencing hearing, the district judge initially imposed a 36-month postrelease supervision term and then went off the record. After what appears to be at most a few minutes, the judge reopened the record and changed the postrelease supervision period to lifetime, stating that he had made a mistake in his initial pronouncement. A judgment generally is effective upon pronouncement from the bench, and, once imposed, a sentence cannot be increased by the court. See State v. Miller, 260 Kan. 892, 900, 926 P.2d 652 (1996). In Ballard, despite the passage of 2 weeks between pronouncement of a 36-month postrelease term and correction to lifetime postrelease, we did not apply this general rule because a court may correct an illegal sentence that fails to conform to the governing statutory provision at any time under K.S.A. 22-3504. We held that a 36-month postrelease term for an off-grid Jessica's Law offense would have been illegal, even though the district judge had, under K.S.A. 21-4643(d), departed to the sentencing grid from the usual life sentence and mandatory minimum. Ballard, 289 Kan. at 1012, 218 P.3d 432 (nature of sexually violent off-grid crime not changed by departure; defendant therefore could only be subject to lifetime postrelease under K.S.A. 22-3717[d][1][G], rather 36-month postrelease under K.S.A. 22-3717[d][1][A]). In this case, we are not sure that the general rule on effectiveness of a judgment upon pronouncement would compel us to vacate Sellers' lifetime postrelease term in favor of a 36-month term. The district judge's brief closure of the record makes us doubtful. But despite Sellers' argument regarding the State's failure to prove his age, Sellers' lifetime postrelease term must be affirmed. K.S.A. 22-3717(d)(1)(G) does not require any proof of the offender's age. Subsection (d)(1)(G) requires an offender convicted of a sexually violent crime committed after July 1, 2006, to receive lifetime postrelease supervision upon release from prison. Sexually violent crime includes aggravated indecent liberties under K.S.A. 21-3503. Sellers was convicted of aggravated indecent liberties; thus he is subject to lifetime postrelease under K.S.A. 22-3717(d)(1)(G).