Court Opinion

ID: 9614914
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:29:35.36416+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:40.400901
License: Public Domain

Prager, J.,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from that portion of the syllabus and opinion which approves the sentencing procedure and the ultimate sentence which was imposed in this case. In my judgment under the facts disclosed in the record here a minimum sentence of 45 years imposed on this 22-year-old man constituted an abuse of discretion in the absence of clear evidence to justify such a sentence. What concerns me about this case and many other cases which have come before this court is the wide disparity of sentences imposed by the district courts for comparable offenses. A number of the district courts of this state consistently refuse to require comprehensive presentence reports before imposing long prison terms. As in the present case some of the district courts refuse to obtain a report from the Kansas Reception and Diagnostic *794Center as a guide for final sentencing. There has thus developed in this state in some judicial districts a pattern of sentencing by whim and caprice rather than a sentencing procedure based upon a penetrating investigation into the backgrounds of persons found guilty of crime. The legislative policy in this state in the area of sentencing has been stated by the legislature in K. S. A. 1973 Supp. 21-4601. There the legislature has stated categorically that the provisions pertaining to sentencing are to be liberally construed to the end that persons convicted of crime shall be dealt with in accordance with their individual characteristics, circumstances, needs, and potentialities as revealed by case studies. In K. S. A. 1973 Supp. 21-4606 the legislature has established criteria for fixing minimum terms. There the legislature has stated that in sentencing a person to prison the court shall fix the lowest minimum term which in the opinion of the court is in accordance with the public safety, needs of the defendant, and the seriousness of the defendant’s crime.
What troubles me here is that the sentencing court has sentenced the defendant to a minimum term of 45 years without seeking a comprehensive study of the defendant’s individual characteristics, circumstances, needs, and potentialities. It may well be that after a comprehensive presentence report or report from the Kansas Reception and Diagnostic Center is obtained, a minimum sentence of 45 years would be appropriate in this case. However, judicial discretion in sentencing cannot be exercised in a vacuum of facts as was done by the trial court here. I would reverse this case and remand it to the district court for a reconsideration of the sentence and require that sentence be imposed only after complete and full information about this defendant is obtained either through a presentence report or by a report from the Kansas Reception and Diagnostic Center.