Kansas Statutes 21-6814. Offender’s criminal history; admission in court or determined by judge; burden of proof; notice of error by offender; challenge for first time on appeal, burden of proof and procedure
Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 21-6814
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jury instructions: A judge's directions to the jury before it begins deliberations regarding the factual questions it must answer and the legal rules that it must apply. Source: U.S. Courts
- Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
- Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
- Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
(a) The offender’s criminal history shall be admitted in open court by the offender or determined by a preponderance of the evidence at the sentencing hearing by the sentencing judge.
(b) Except to the extent disputed in accordance with subsection (c), the summary of the offender’s criminal history prepared for the court by the state shall satisfy the state’s burden of proof regarding an offender’s criminal history.
(c) Upon receipt of the criminal history worksheet prepared for the court, the offender shall immediately notify the district attorney and the court with written notice of any error in the proposed criminal history worksheet. Such notice shall specify the exact nature of the alleged error. The state shall have the burden of proving the disputed portion of the offender’s criminal history. The sentencing judge shall allow the state reasonable time to produce evidence to establish its burden of proof. If the offender later challenges such offender’s criminal history, which has been previously established, the burden of proof shall shift to the offender to prove such offender’s criminal history by a preponderance of the evidence.
(d) If an offender raises a challenge to the offender’s criminal history for the first time on appeal, the offender shall have the burden of designating a record that shows prejudicial error. If the offender fails to provide such record, the appellate court shall dismiss the claim. In designating a record that shows prejudicial error, the offender may provide the appellate court with journal entries of the challenged criminal history that were not originally attached to the criminal history worksheet, and the state may provide the appellate court with journal entries establishing a lack of prejudicial error. The court may take judicial notice of such journal entries, complaints, plea agreements, jury instructions and verdict forms for Kansas convictions when determining whether prejudicial error exists. The court may remand the case if there is a reasonable question as to whether prejudicial error exists.