State v. Spencer

1

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 113,620

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

STATE OF KANSAS,
Appellee,

v.

CARL E. SPENCER,
Appellant.


MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; STEPHEN J. TERNES, judge. Opinion filed November 6,
2015. Affirmed.

Submitted for summary disposition pursuant to K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 21-6820(g) and (h).

Before MALONE, C.J., PIERRON and SCHROEDER, JJ.

Per Curiam: Carl E. Spencer appeals the district court's decision to modify his
postrelease supervision term from 24 months to lifetime following his conviction of
indecent liberties with a child. We granted Spencer's motion for summary disposition in
lieu of briefs pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 7.041A (2014 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 66). The
State filed a response and requested that the district court's judgment be affirmed.

On August 17, 2007, Spencer pled guilty to one count of indecent liberties with a
child. On October 18, 2007, the district court sentenced Spencer to 110 months'
imprisonment with 24 months' postrelease supervision.

2

On February 4, 2015, the district court, on its own motion, held a hearing to
correct an illegal sentence. At that hearing, the district court determined that Spencer's 24
months' postrelease supervision term constituted an illegal sentence and instead imposed
lifetime postrelease supervision. Spencer timely appealed.

On appeal, Spencer argues that the district court erred by imposing lifetime
postrelease supervision. But as Spencer acknowledges, under Kansas law, a court is
mandated to impose a sentence of lifetime postrelease supervision for the conviction of a
"sexually violent crime," which includes indecent liberties with a child. See K.S.A. 22-
3717(d)(1)(G), (d)(2)(B). A district court's failure to comply with the lifetime postrelease
statute results in an illegal sentence. See State v. Baber, 44 Kan. App. 2d 748, 753-54,
240 P.3d 980 (2010), rev. denied 296 Kan. 1131 (2013). Moreover, an illegal sentence
can be corrected at any time. K.S.A. 22-3504(1).

State v. Ballard, 289 Kan. 1000, 218 P.3d 432 (2009), is directly on point and
controls the outcome of Spencer's appeal. In Ballard, the defendant was convicted of
aggravated indecent liberties with a child and the district court initially imposed a
sentence that included 36 months' postrelease supervision. At a later hearing, the district
court found that it had imposed an illegal sentence and modified the postrelease
supervision term from 36 months to lifetime. On appeal, the Kansas Supreme Court
determined that the defendant's sentence for aggravated indecent liberties with a child
that included postrelease supervision of 36 months did not conform to the statutory
provisions. The sentence was illegal, and the district court was able to correct the
sentence at any time by imposing lifetime postrelease supervision. 289 Kan. at 1010-12.
Based on Ballard, the district court herein did not err by correcting Spencer's sentence
and imposing lifetime postrelease supervision.

Affirmed.