Court Opinion

ID: 9797194
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:15:04.65505+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:53:09.395078
License: Public Domain

Luckert, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part: I concur in the majority’s holding that the denial of Roy Seward’s departure *723motion was not an abuse of the district court’s discretion. However, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision to remand this case for additional findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding Seward’s argument that sentencing him to life is a cruel and unusual punishment.
As the majority notes, this case follows four decisions in which this court has refused to consider similar arguments: State v. Easterling, 289 Kan. 470, 213 P.3d 418 (2009); State v. Spotts, 288 Kan. 650, 206 P.3d 510 (2009); State v. Thomas, 288 Kan. 157, 199 P.3d 1265 (2009); and State v. Ortega-Cadelan, 287 Kan. 157, 194 P.3d 1195 (2008). In each of those cases, the defendant was given a life sentence pursuant to Jessica’s Law — K.S.A. 21-4643; the defendant argued on appeal that the sentence was cruel and unusual without having developed that argument before the district court; and this court affirmed the defendant’s life sentence without further proceedings.
Here, the majority departs from these past decisions by ordering a remand for additional fact-finding by the district court. The majority justifies the remand because of (1) the tension in authorities regarding whether a district court or a party has the obligation to assure there are adequate findings as required by Supreme Court Rule 165 (2008 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 235); (2) the newness of constitutional issues raised by Jessica’s Law; and (3) the majority’s “recognition that the efforts made by Seward and his counsel to keep the issues alive beyond sentencing substantially outstripped those of defendants and counsel” in the four previous cases. The first two justifications do not distinguish this case — the same tension applied in the four previous cases, and the Jessica’s Law issues were even newer when the previous cases were considered. Regarding the third justification, the majority does not explain how Seward’s efforts “substantially outstripped” the others’ efforts or what makes this case “exceptional” as the majority concluded, and I fail to see a distinction or basis for considering this case exceptional.
The lack of distinction is best illustrated by comparing this case to Thomas. Thomas had filed a motion to depart and in that written motion had argued a fife sentence would be cruel and unusual. Other than this passing reference — which is virtually identical to *724that in Seward’s written departure motion — Thomas did not support his argument with evidence or argue any specifics. We stated:
“Thomas did not address tírese factors [from State v. Freeman, 223 Kan. 362, 367, 574 P.2d 950 (1978)] before the district court, did not present evidence, and did not ask the court to make findings of fact or conclusions of law on the issue. See Dragon v. Vanguard Industries, 282 Kan. 349, 356, 144 P.3d 1279 (2006) (litigant must object to inadequate findings of fact and conclusions of law before the trial court to preserve tire issue for appeal); Supreme Court Rule 165 (2008 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 235). Moreover, although Thomas mentioned that a life sentence would be a cruel or unusual punishment in his motion, on appeal he advances a different theory regarding how the sentence violates § 9 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights. In his motion, Thomas based the argument on his age and the likelihood he would not live long enough to be paroled. On appeal he argues the sentence is disproportionate to the wrong and to other sentences provided for under the KSGA.” Thomas, 288 Kan. at 159-60.
Similarly, Seward did not argue the Freeman factors, did not submit evidence for the purpose of determining the Freeman factors, and did not ask the district court to make findings of fact or conclusions of law regarding the Freeman factors. Seward, like Thomas and the other defendants, gave the district court no insight into the specifics of his argument — his counsel simply announced that the plea agreement allowed Seward to raise the argument on appeal and that he intended to do so.
The majority seems to feel that Seward made more of an effort to submit a factual basis than had the other defendants. However, all Seward does is point to an evaluation that was considered in support of Seward’s departure motion. Similarly, each of the other defendants in the four prior cases had been evaluated and sought a departure from the life sentence using the evaluation as support for the argument. Although those evaluations were not always in the record on appeal (see e.g., Ortega-Cadelan, 287 Kan. at 161), in each case an evaluation was available to the district court and in at least two of the cases the defendants asked us to consider these evaluations as evidence relating to the cruel and unusual punishment argument. E.g., Easterling, 289 Kan. at 485-87; Thomas, 288 Kan. at 161. This point does not distinguish Seward’s case.
Arguably a distinction arises because Seward’s counsel, during the sentencing hearing, uttered, “[T]he Defense would object to *725the oppressive nature of the life imprisonment that goes along with this statute, the constitutionality, and we do intend to appeal that.” In my view, this is a distinction without a difference because Thomas and some of the other defendants put similar words on paper in their motions for departure. The difference between stating an argument in a departure motion that is considered at the sentencing hearing and making a statement during the hearing might be significant if we were considering an issue where case law demanded a contemporaneous objection. Or this distinction might make a difference if we were scouring the record for any mention of a legal issue to determine if it had been raised below and the oral statement raised different concerns than did the written motion. We are doing neither of those tasks. Rather, this appeal concerns whether Seward met his evidentiary burden, and the record reflects that Seward made no more effort to do so than did any of the four previous defendants who raised their appeal to this court.
In fact, Seward’s counsel handed a “free pass” to the district court by announcing that an argument regarding the “oppressive nature of the life imprisonment” would be argued on appeal. In essence, the defense told the district court not to consider the cruel and unusual punishment argument. In light of that announcement, it is no surprise the district court did not make findings regarding the Freeman factors.
Moreover, the State should not be expected to have created whatever factual record it felt necessary to answer an argument that the sentence was cruel and unusual after defense counsel’s statement that it was not presenting the issue to the district court, especially when it is hard to discern the nature of the defense’s argument from the oblique reference to the “oppressive nature” of the sentence. As the State argues and as we have concluded in the previous cases, the purpose of requiring issues to be presented to the district court is to give all parties — not just the movant — an opportunity to create a record. Exceptions to this rule have been recognized when the issue raises purely a legal question and, thus, no party is disadvantaged by the lack of a factual record. Where, as here, there is a factual component to an argument, an appellate court cannot determine what evidence, if any, the opposing party *726might have admitted if the defendant had adequately raised the issue. See Ortega-Cadelan, 287 Kan. at 161. Suggesting, as has the majority in this case, that this defect can be cured by giving the district court the discretion to reopen the record only excuses the defendant from having failed to meet his burden to establish the cruel and unusual nature of his sentence.
In my view, a remand for additional findings of fact and conclusions of law is only appropriate if the parties have created a record relating to an issue and the only thing lacking is a record of the district court’s findings regarding that admitted evidence and the conclusions of law that arise from those findings. See White v. State, 201 Kan. 801, 804-05, 443 P.2d 182 (1968); cf. In re Marriage of Bradley, 258 Kan. 39, 50, 899 P.2d 471 (1995) (in civil case, distinguishing sufficiency of evidence argument, which can be raised regardless of failure to object to inadequacy of district court’s findings). But, there is no basis to remand when a party invited the district court to ignore the issue, did not present arguments to the district court, did not present evidence supporting die argument, and potentially disadvantaged the opposing party who might have developed a different record had the argument been presented.
Consequently, remand is inappropriate in this case. I would affirm Seward’s sentence.