State v. Clark, 72458
| Decision Date | 08 December 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 72458,72458 |
| Citation | 21 Kan.App.2d 697,907 P.2d 898 |
| Parties | STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Richard Leroy CLARK, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court
1. A sentence within the sentencing guidelines will not be disturbed on appeal if it is within a trial court's discretion and not a result of partiality, prejudice, oppression, or corrupt motive.
2. The party claiming error in sentencing has the burden to show that the sentence was the result of partiality, prejudice, oppression, or corrupt motive.
3. When the defendant is sentenced to a presumptive sentence, there is a strong legislative presumption that the sentence is not the result of partiality, prejudice, oppression, or corrupt motive.
4. A sentence of imprisonment in a sentencing guidelines border box case is a presumptive sentence for the purposes of appeal.
5. The giving of a presumptive sentence where there was no demonstrated partiality, prejudice, oppression, or corrupt motive satisfies the burden for initially presenting a race-neutral justification for the sentence imposed.
6. When the trial court presents a valid race-neutral reason for a sentence it has imposed, the burden of proving the sentence was the result of partiality, prejudice, oppression, or corrupt motive shifts to the defendant.
7. Great deference should be given to the judgment of the legislature incrafting remedies for alleged imbalances in sentencing. This is especially appropriate where there is no evidence of present disparate impact in the application of the sentencing guidelines.
Thomas Jacquinot, Special Appellate Defender, and Jessica R. Kunen, Chief Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Jacquelyn E. Ulrich, Assistant District Attorney, Paul J. Morrison, District Attorney, and Carla J. Stovall, Attorney General, for appellee.
Before PIERRON, P.J., and RULON and GREEN, JJ.
Richard Leroy Clark pled guilty to robbery in violation of K.S.A.1994 Supp. 21-3426. Clark's sentence fell into block 5-I on the nondrug grid, a "border box," and he was sentenced to 32 months in prison. Since the sentence fell into a border box, Clark was eligible for a nondeparture community corrections sentence. He appeals his sentence, alleging there is systematic prejudice against blacks in sentencing in Johnson County. He contends that because the judge failed to give race-neutral justifications for the sentence, he was denied equal protection and due process of law and must be resentenced. We affirm.
Clark pled guilty in the robbery of two persons in Johnson County. The robbery occurred on or about August 20, 1993. The presentence investigation (PSI) report recommended that Clark be placed on probation with an assignment to community corrections.
Clark argued that he was in drug counseling, had prepaid for the counseling, had found gainful employment, had letters of recommendation from his employer, and was taking care of his minor children. He apologized for his actions and said he was willing and able to comply with all of the conditions of the PSI report. Therefore, Clark argued, he was a good candidate for probation. The State opposed probation. Without making specific findings, the trial court sentenced Clark to 32 months in prison, a nondeparture sentence.
Clark is a 30-year-old black male from Wyandotte County. He asserts that Johnson County has a predominantly white population. He also asserts that historically in Johnson County nonwhite offenders have received harsher sentences than white offenders. Clark promised to provide this court with statistical support for these assertions. The record does not include this information. At oral argument, counsel for Clark made reference to legislative studies of sentencing in Kansas which alleged harsher sentencing of nonwhite offenders as a reason for adopting sentencing guidelines in Kansas.
Clark argues he was denied due process of law and equal protection at his sentencing hearing. He claims that since Kansas and Johnson County have allegedly imposed harsher sentences on nonwhite offenders in the past, this establishes a prima facie case of discrimination. Therefore, Clark argues, whenever a judge sentences a nonwhite defendant to more than the minimum sentence or to imprisonment when there is also presumptive assignment to community corrections (border boxes) the judge must put forth credible race-neutral reasons to support the sentence. Clark cites to Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), to support this proposition.
In Batson, the Supreme Court held that a showing of disparate impact alone may be proof of unconstitutionality in circumstances where the discrimination is very difficult to explain on nonracial grounds. 476 U.S. at 93, 106 S.Ct. at 1721. The Court established a three-part test to determine whether striking minority members of the jury pool during peremptory challenges was constitutional in a given case.
First, the defendant must establish a prima facie case of discrimination, which may be done by showing systematic disparate impact. Once a prima facie case of discrimination has been made, the prosecutor must come forward with a race-neutral explanation for striking the jurors. The trial court must then determine whether the defendant has established purposeful discrimination. 476 U.S. at 95-98, 106 S.Ct. at 1722-24. Kansas has adopted the Batson test for discrimination in...
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