Court Opinion

ID: 9552116
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:04:56.331914+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:25:40.305267
License: Public Domain

Allegrucci, J.,
concurring: I concur in the result reached by the majority. I agree that Thompkins’ due process rights were violated; however, in my opinion, the changes made by the legislature in 1994 had an impact on that determination. In 1994, the legislature amended the parole/postrelease eligibility statute, K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3717, to provide for life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 25 years for premeditated murder (K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 22-3717[b][l]), while the maximum sentence for felony murder is life imprisonment with parole eligibility after 15 years (K.S.A. 1994 Supp. 22-3717[b][2]). This court has held that felony murder and premeditated murder are not separate offenses but, rather, alternative means of committing first-degree murder. By providing for different punishments for the “same offense,” the legislature has brought into question that decision, raising several questions that this court will be required to address in future first-degree murder cases. I am not prepared to find that premeditated murder and felony murder are separate offenses, but the 1994 changes affect the determination of whether Thompkins’ due process rights were violated.