State of Kansas, Appellee, v. Olivia Dawn Phinney, Appellant. (2026)

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Olivia Dawn Phinney appeals her sentence after pleading no contest to a driving related charge. This court granted Phinney's motion for summary disposition under Supreme Court Rule 7.041A (2026 Kan. S. Ct. R. at 48). Finding no error, the sentence imposed by the district court is affirmed.

Factual and Procedural Background

Phinney pled no contest to a third or subsequent offense of misdemeanor driving while suspended, in violation of K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 8-262(a)(1). As part of the plea, count one of the complaint provided that Phinney's license was suspended because she had previously violated K.S.A. 40-3104. The district court sentenced Phinney to 12 months in jail of which she was to serve 90 days, 15 days in jail and 75 days on house arrest, after which her sentence was suspended in lieu of 12 months of unsupervised probation. The court also ordered her to pay a $1,500 fine, $108 in court costs, $468 in attorney fees, and a $45 booking fee.

Phinney appeals. There were no transcripts of the district court proceedings submitted on appeal.

Discussion

Under K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 8-262(a)(1), a person can be charged with a misdemeanor offense for driving a motor vehicle on a Kansas highway while that “person's privilege to obtain a driver's license is suspended or revoked pursuant to K.S.A. 8-252a.” After being so convicted and sentenced, Phinney appeals two aspects of her sentence—the 90 days of confinement and the $1,500 fine.

A person convicted under K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 8-262(a)(1) must pay $100 as part of their sentence, among other required penalties. See K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 8-262(a)(1), (b) and (c). Relevant to this case, a person found guilty under subsection (a)(1) for a third (or subsequent) time “shall be sentenced to not less than 90 days of confinement and fined not less than $1,500 if such person's privilege to drive a motor vehicle is canceled, suspended or revoked because” they were previously convicted of violating K.S.A. 40-3104 for failure to carry vehicle liability insurance coverage. K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 8-262(c)(1)(B).

Phinney pled no contest to count one of the complaint, which provided, in relevant part, that Phinney's license had previously been revoked because of violations of K.S.A. 40-3104 for failure to carry vehicle liability insurance coverage:

“That on or about January 4, 2025, in Jackson County, Kansas, Olivia Dawn Phinney did unlawfully operate a motor vehicle on a highway of this state at a time when the defendant's privilege to do so was canceled, suspended, or revoked and the offender has two or more prior convictions for the same offense ․ and the offender's privilege to drive a motor vehicle was canceled, suspended, or revoked because she was convicted of violating the provisions of K.S.A. 40-3104, and amendments thereto, relating to motor vehicle liability insurance coverage, a class A misdemeanor, in violation of K.S.A. 8-262(a)(l) & (c)(1) & (2).”

So, the reason Phinney's driver's license was suspended at the time was because she had failed to carry motor vehicle liability insurance coverage.

When a person's privilege to drive a motor vehicle is suspended because that person fails to carry motor vehicle insurance and is later found guilty of a third or subsequent conviction under K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 8-262(a)(1), Kansas law dictates that the district court must sentence the person “to not less than 90 days of confinement” and fine the person “not less than $1,500.” K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 8-262(c)(1). That is what the district court did here.

Conclusion

At times, Kansas law requires the imposition of certain penalties in connection with driving violations, which is what occurred in this case. Finding no error in the district court's sentence, it is affirmed.

Affirmed.

Per Curiam: