State v. Booker ( 2021 )


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  •                          NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION
    No. 123,144
    IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS
    STATE OF KANSAS,
    Appellee,
    v.
    ROBERT H. BOOKER III,
    Appellant.
    MEMORANDUM OPINION
    Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; BRUCE C. BROWN, judge. Opinion filed March 26, 2021.
    Affirmed.
    Submitted by the parties for summary disposition pursuant to K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 21-6820(g) and
    (h).
    Before POWELL, P.J., GREEN and HILL, JJ.
    PER CURIAM: Robert H. Booker III appeals the district court's denial of his motion
    to correct illegal sentence. We granted Booker's motion for summary disposition in lieu
    of briefs pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 7.041A (2020 Kan. S. Ct. R. 47). The State
    responded to Booker's motion by agreeing that summary disposition was appropriate.
    Based on our review of the record, we do not find that the district court erred in denying
    Booker's motion to correct illegal sentence. Thus, we affirm.
    In 2014, a jury convicted Booker of aggravated sexual battery and sexual battery,
    which had been submitted to the jury as a lesser included offense. At sentencing, the
    district court vacated Booker's sexual battery conviction because it was a lesser included
    1
    offense of his other conviction, which was more severe. The district court sentenced
    Booker to 55 months in prison, awarded him credit for time already served, and imposed
    lifetime postrelease supervision.
    Booker appealed on grounds unrelated to this appeal and did not argue that
    insufficient evidence supported his aggravated sexual battery conviction. Nor did Booker
    argue the district court should have dismissed his aggravated sexual battery conviction
    instead of his sexual battery conviction. Another panel of this court affirmed Booker's
    conviction and sentence. State v. Booker, No. 113,846, 
    2016 WL 5012325
    , at *9 (Kan.
    App. 2016) (unpublished opinion).
    On February 26, 2020, Booker filed his present motion to correct illegal sentence
    under K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 22-3504. In that motion, he argued he should have only
    received a sentence for sexual battery, not aggravated sexual battery, because the jury
    convicted him of both crimes. The district court summarily denied his motion because it
    presented "no substantial questions of fact or law." Booker timely appeals.
    A sentence is illegal when it is imposed by a court without jurisdiction; it does not
    conform to the applicable statutory provisions, either in character or the term of
    punishment; or it is ambiguous about the time and manner in which it is to be served.
    K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 22-3504(c)(1); see State v. Hambright, 
    310 Kan. 408
    , 411, 
    447 P.3d 972
     (2019).
    Booker argues that because the jury found him guilty of both aggravated sexual
    battery, a felony, and the lesser included offense of sexual battery, a misdemeanor, he
    should have been sentenced only for the lesser crime, rendering his sentence to the higher
    severity level crime illegal. Because he was sentenced to the higher severity level crime,
    he argues the district court erred in denying his motion to correct illegal sentence.
    2
    We disagree with Booker because his real complaint is about his conviction for
    aggravated sexual battery. A motion to correct an illegal sentence is not the proper
    procedural vehicle to reverse a conviction. "K.S.A. 22-3504 is solely a vehicle to correct
    a sentence." State v. Gilbert, 
    299 Kan. 797
    , 801, 
    326 P.3d 1060
     (2014).
    Moreover, "sexual battery is a lesser included offense of aggravated sexual
    battery." State v. Pfannenstiel, 
    302 Kan. 747
    , 753, 
    357 P.3d 877
     (2015); see K.S.A. 2020
    Supp. 21-5109(b) (defining lesser included offense). When a defendant receives
    multiplicitous convictions, as is the case here, "the defendant should be sentenced only on
    the more severe offense." State v. Winters, 
    276 Kan. 34
    , 43, 
    72 P.3d 564
     (2003); see State
    v. Craig, 
    311 Kan. 456
    , 463, 
    462 P.3d 173
     (2020) (upholding district court's imposition
    of sentence on more severe crime when jury convicted defendant of two offenses based
    on same criminal act). It is also proper for the district court to vacate the lesser
    conviction. See State v. Turbeville, 
    235 Kan. 993
    , 995, 
    686 P.2d 138
     (1984); see also
    K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 21-5109(b) ("defendant may be convicted of either the crime charged
    or a lesser included crime, but not both.").
    The district court properly sentenced Booker to the more severe offense of
    aggravated sexual battery and his sentence is not illegal under the parameters set by
    K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 22-3504.
    Affirmed.
    3
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 123144

Filed Date: 3/26/2021

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 3/26/2021