STATE OF KANSAS v. JOSEPH DONALDSON (2017)

Joseph V. Donaldson appeals from lower court decisions dismissing for lack of jurisdiction his motion to correct an illegal sentence which challenged the retroactive application of the 2011 amendments to the Kansas Offender Registration Act (KORA), K.S.A. 22-4901 et seq. See State v. Donaldson, No. 108,801, 2015 WL 1782344, at *7 (Kan. App. 2015) (unpublished opinion) (“We are not persuaded that the trial court erred in determining that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider Donaldson's motion challenging the retroactive application of the 2011 amendments to KORA.”). We granted Donaldson's petition for review.

Our recent decisions in State v. Wood, 306 Kan. 283, 393 P.3d 631 (2017), and State v. Reese, 306 Kan. 279, 393 P.3d 599 (2017), resolve Donaldson's appeal. There, we first held that courts have jurisdiction to entertain motions to correct illegal sentences at any time. We then held that the definition of an illegal sentence does not include a sentence that allegedly violates a constitutional provision. Wood, 306 Kan. at 284-85; Reese, 306 Kan. at 281.

Thus, according to our holdings in Wood and Reese, the lower courts had jurisdiction to hear and consider Donaldson's motion as a motion to correct an illegal sentence made pursuant to K.S.A. 22-3504. But that motion advanced no meritorious argument demonstrating Donaldson's sentence was illegal, so his claim fails on the merits. Thus, we affirm the outcome below, albeit for different reasons. See State v. Williams, 303 Kan. 585, 595, 363 P.3d 1101 (2016) (affirming judgment as right for the wrong reason).

Affirmed.

The opinion of the court was delivered by STEGALL, J.: