Opinion
No. 106,805.
2012-07-20
STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Joshua Gene QUESTED, Appellant.
Appeal from Saline District Court; Rene S. Young, Judge. Michelle A. Davis, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant. Christina Trocheck, assistant county attorney, Ellen Mitchell, county attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee.
Appeal from Saline District Court; Rene S. Young, Judge.
Michelle A. Davis, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, for appellant. Christina Trocheck, assistant county attorney, Ellen Mitchell, county attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, for appellee.
Before GREENE, C.J., MALONE and ATCHESON, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
PER CURIAM.
Joshua Gene Quested appeals the district court's denial of his motion to correct illegal sentence, arguing the Saline County sentencing court had no authority to impose the sentence in this case to be served consecutive to a sentence imposed in Dickinson County. Concluding that the imposition of a sentence consecutive to another sentence already imposed in another Kansas court is within the authority of the sentencing court, we affirm Quested's sentence.
In late March 2007, Quested pled guilty to one count of nonresidential burglary and one count of possession of stolen property in Saline County. The district court imposed consecutive sentences for these two counts, and further ordered the sentences to run concurrent with two other Saline County sentences not at issue here. The court then followed the State's recommendation and ordered the consecutive sentences to run consecutive to the sentence imposed in a related case in Dickinson County, but placed Quested on probation. His probation was revoked in early 2008.
In April 2011, Quested filed a motion to correct illegal sentence, alleging the district court had no statutory authority to order his Saline County sentences to run consecutive to his Dickinson County sentence. The district court conducted a hearing and ruled that Quested's sentences were not illegal and denied his motion.
Quested timely appeals.
On appeal, Quested argues that the court had no power to impose consecutive sentences under these circumstances, citing State v. Crawford, 39 Kan.App.2d 897, 185 P.3d 315 (2008). Whether a sentence is illegal within the meaning of K.S.A. 22–3504 is a question of law over which an appellate court has unlimited review. State v. LaBelle, 290 Kan. 529, 532, 231 P.3d 1065 (2010).
Quested's appellate brief tracks the same logic and authority as did our court in Crawford, but there is a fundamental factual distinction between the situation in Crawford and the situation before us. In Crawford, the defendant entered a plea to burglary and theft after he was certified as an adult. At sentencing, the district court granted probation but ordered the defendant's underlying sentences to run consecutive to each other. Because the defendant was also on probation for juvenile adjudications, the court ordered his adult sentence to run consecutive to his juvenile sanction. Our court held that the district court had no authority to impose an adult sentence consecutive to a juvenile sanction because such adjudications are not the functional equivalents of adult convictions, and none of the statutes authorizing consecutive sentencing specifically contemplated this scenario. 39 Kan.App.2d at 900–04.
Quested failed to recognize that our court has already squarely faced the precise situation framed by his appeal in State v. Chronister, 21 Kan.App.2d 589, 903 P.2d 1345 (1995), where the Sedgwick County District Court imposed a sentence for a conviction there to run consecutive to a sentence for a related conviction in Harvey County. Acknowledging that the sentences could be imposed consecutively if all crimes were committed in Sedgwick County, our court reasoned that it would be illogical to provide a sentencing benefit to the defendant merely because he committed one of his crimes in a different county. 21 Kan.App.2d at 592–93.
We adopt the reasoning and holding of Chronister in concluding that there was no illegality to the district court's ordering Quested's Saline County sentences to run consecutive to his Dickinson County sentence. The district court did not err in denying Quested's motion to correct illegal sentence.
Affirmed.