Opinion ID: 2639277
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hitt's Argument

Text: In Apprendi, the United States Supreme Court held: Other than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. 530 U.S. at 490. Hitt acknowledges that the plain language of Apprendi does not require that a jury confirm the existence of a prior conviction beyond a reasonable doubt before the conviction can be used to increase a sentence by elevating the criminal history score. He argues instead that juvenile adjudications are not prior convictions, and, more importantly, unlike adult convictions, juvenile adjudications do not result from proceedings in which the defendant has a right to a jury trial. Thus, Hitt asserts that juvenile adjudications do not come within the prior conviction exception to Apprendi's general rule. He relies on State v. LaMunyon, 259 Kan. 54, 59, 911 P.2d 151 (1996), where we said: It is well established that a juvenile adjudication is not a `criminal conviction.' When LaMunyon was decided, K.S.A. 38-1601 (Furse 1993) made clear that no order, judgment or decree of the district court, in any proceedings under the provisions of this code, [shall] be deemed or held to import a criminal act on the part of any juvenile. In 1996, the Kansas Legislature revamped the Juvenile Offenders Code. In doing so, it amended K.S.A. 38-1601 to eliminate the not a criminal act language and instead, emphasized the primary goals of the newly named Juvenile Justice Code: to promote public safety, hold juvenile offenders accountable, and help all juveniles live more productively and responsibly. L. 1996, ch. 229, sec. 2. Because of the change to K.S.A. 38-1601, LaMunyon is less helpful in advancing Hitt's position. Hitt's more significant argument is that Apprendi's concern with the right to a jury determination of factors increasing a sentence removes juvenile adjudications from the prior conviction exception because there is no right to jury trial in juvenile matters.