Opinion ID: 2520489
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Sufficiency of Hard 50 Evidence

Text: Robertson's first challenge to his hard 50 sentence asserts that the district judge lacked substantial, competent evidence to support the aggravating factor of a heinous, atrocious, or cruel murder; that the judge failed to credit several pertinent mitigating factors; and that the required statutory balance between aggravating and mitigating factors therefore tipped the wrong direction. See K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-4635. K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-4636 sets forth circumstances that can lead to a finding that a defendant committed a murder in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner. (f) . . . A finding that the victim was aware of such victim's fate or had conscious pain and suffering as a result of the physical trauma that resulted in the victim's death is not necessary to find that the manner in which the defendant killed the victim was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. In making a determination that the crime was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner, any of the following conduct by the defendant may be considered sufficient:. . . (3) infliction of mental anguish or physical abuse before the victim's death; (4) torture of the victim; [and] (5) continuous acts of violence begun before or continuing after the killing. Our standard of review is whether, after a review of all the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the State, a rational factfinder could have found by a preponderance of the evidence the existence of the aggravating circumstance. State v. Spain, 263 Kan. 708, Syl. ¶ 6, 953 P.2d 1004 (1998). When the evidence in this case is viewed in the light most favorable to the State, it supports a finding that the murder of Patricia Self was committed in an especially atrocious, heinous, or cruel manner. Robertson and Jennifer held Patricia down and repeatedly stabbed her. When Patricia tried to crawl away, Jennifer and Robertson grabbed her and pulled her back. When she made a gurgling noise, they stomped on her face and neck to silence her. They then used an accelerant to set her house on fire. These facts meet the standards set out in K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-4636(f)(3), (4), and (5). Our standard of review on the district judge's weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors is abuse of discretion. See State v. Boldridge, 274 Kan. 795, Syl. ¶ 10, 57 P.3d 8 (2002), cert. denied 538 U.S. 950 (2003). Judicial discretion is abused . . . when no reasonable person would have taken the position that was taken by the trial court. [Citation omitted.] Hebert, 277 Kan. at 77. The record contradicts Robertson's assertions about the inadequacy of the district judge's weighing. The judge carefully considered the mitigating factors proposed by the defense before rejecting them. In addition, the judge explicitly performed the proper weighing analysis on the record. K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 21-4635(d) requires that the district court must determine whether the aggravating factors are outweighed by the mitigating factors. Here, the district judge weighed the one aggravating factor  that the crime was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner  against the absence of any persuasive mitigating factors. There was no abuse of discretion.