Court Opinion

ID: 9552581
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:13:23.40008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:28:15.296076
License: Public Domain

ALLEGRUCCI, J.,
concurring and dissenting: I dissent from the majority’s affirming the defendant’s conviction of first-degree premeditated murder. Here, the trial judge improperly instructed the *143jury that it could find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder based upon the combined theories of premeditated and felony murder. In addition, the trial judge refused to use the approved PIK jury form that would have prevented the confusion of what was ihe jury’s verdict.
I disagree with the majority that, notwithstanding the improper instruction and confusing jury verdict form, there is no question that the jury unanimously found the defendant guilty of premeditated murder. There is no question, in my opinion, that the verdict is ambiguous. The jury could just as easily have interpreted the judge’s instruction to mean that if it found any one of the alternatives, then defendant was guilty of premeditated first-degree murder. The jury’s verdict indicated it unanimously found the defendant guiliy of premeditated murder and felony murder, but also, by marking the combined theory option, indicated that it could not reach a unanimous finding on premeditated and felony murder. Under these circumstances, it is pure speculation as to what the jury meant by marking all three alternatives on the verdict form. All the trial judge had to do was ask the jurors to explain why all three alternatives were marked or whether each juror agreed that the defendant was guilty of premeditated murder. Instead, the judge polled the jury only as to whether the verdict was correct. The verdict clearly is inconsistent and defective, and where that is the case, the trial court has no authority to sentence the defendant for premeditated first-degree murder. State v. Vontress, 266 Kan. 248, 264, 970 P.2d 42 (1998). I would reverse the defendant’s conviction of premeditated first-degree murder; affirm the defendant’s convictions of felony murder, aggravated burglary, and felony theft; vacate the sentences; and remand for resentencing.