Court Opinion

ID: 9610908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:48:35.837552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:06.297391
License: Public Domain

McFarland, J.,
concurring: I concur in the result reached by the majority but not as to its rationale.
Inasmuch as there has been no trial in this case, the facts are rather sketchy. Defendant went into the store and told the clerk he had a gun. There is some indication the threat was accompanied with a gesture indicating the location of the firearm on defendant’s person. The clerk apparently did not actually see the gun, but turned over the money after being advised defendant was armed with a gun. Defendant was arrested shortly thereafter in possession of a gun and advised the arresting officers he had used a gun in the robbery. Defendant was charged with aggravated robbery. Defendant pled guilty to aggravated robbery, admitting to the judge he had told the clerk he had a gun.
Aggravated robbery is defined by K.S.A. 21-3427 as follows:
“Aggravated robbery is a robbery committed by a person who is armed with a dangerous weapon or who inflicts bodily harm upon any person in the course of such robbery.”
The clerk was not the victim of bodily harm. Therefore the defendant, to be guilty of aggravated robbery, must be armed with a “deadly weapon.” The only possible deadly weapon herein is a gun. Without a deadly weapon or bodily harm, the defendant’s plea could only have been accepted for simple robbery (K.S.A. 21-3426). A gun need not actually be displayed to a victim in order to constitute aggravated robbery or use of a firearm for mandatory sentencing purposes. State v. Robertson, 225 Kan. 572, 574, 592 P.2d 460 (1979); State v. Harrison, 228 Kan. 558, 561, 618 P.2d 827 (1980). By pleading guilty to aggravated robbery, which specifically charged defendant was *496armed with a gun, defendant legally admitted both possession and use of a firearm.
This case may be distinguished from State v. Mack, 228 Kan. 83, cited in the majority. The Mack case involved two robbers, only one of whom had a gun. For conviction purposes it mattered not which robber had the gun. For mandatory sentencing purposes, however, it was necessary to determine which robber had the gun. Such determination must be made by the trial court upon sentencing. This additional finding requires evidence unnecessary to the conviction itself. In the case before us there is no issue of which of two robbers used the gun. If defendant is guilty of aggravated robbery at all, he used a firearm in the commission of the crime.
The majority opinion holds:
“[W]hen sentencing is based on a plea of guilty and the defendant denies using a gun in committing the crime, the trial court should be required to hold an evidentiary hearing on the record so that this court may review the sufficiency of that evidence.”
This reasoning leads to the interesting result that one can plead guilty to aggravated robbery based on being armed with a gun, but deny the presence of the gun for sentencing purposes. The trial court then is required to try the gun question before the mandatory sentence may be imposed, if the trial court finds no gun was used, where does that leave the aggravated robbery plea? Defendant stands at that point convicted of aggravated robbery, not involving a deadly weapon or bodily harm — an impossibility under Kansas law.
I believe the better rationale to be as follows. Clearly, a mutual mistake existed at sentencing as to the plea bargain agreement reached by the two counsel and defendant. All three went before the trial court assuming mandatory sentencing was no longer a court option. The questioning of the defendant by the trial court relative to defendant’s understanding of the effects of the plea bargain did not reach the mandatory sentencing issue. The ostensible removal of defendant’s exposure to mandatory sentencing was a major factor in defendant’s acceptance of the plea bargain, and it is likely defendant would not have pled guilty in its absence.
To borrow a phrase from civil cases, defendant did not make an “informed consent” to the plea bargain. In the name of basic *497fairness, the unique circumstances herein require that defendant be permitted to withdraw his plea of guilty.