Kansas Supreme Court reverses convictions for failure to pay $20 administrative fee

Sims’ case began more than a dozen years ago when he claimed he was indigent and unable to pay the $20 fee each of three times he filled out the offender registration document in Wyandotte County.

The Supreme Court, which chose not to conduct oral arguments earlier this year on this case, agreed last week that all three convictions must be reversed. The five justices who took part were split in their reasoning.

Justice Caleb Stegall’s concurrence, which was joined by Justices K.J. Wall and Larkin Walsh, argued the Kansas Legislature likely surpassed the limit of its police power under the Kansas Constitution by imposing strict criminal liability for those unable to pay the fee.

This three-justice plurality viewed the statute as arbitrary and expressed doubt it served a legitimate state interest in terms of public safety. In other words, these justices suggested the mandate violated constitutional due process rights.

“Sims was convicted of three crimes — two of them felonies — over a matter of $60 after showing up to the sheriff’s office to register pursuant to KORA,” Stegall wrote. “Indigency aside, I cannot image what evils the government must protect the public from by tossing into prison a registered offender who actually registers but who owes $20 in KORA fees.”

Chief Justice Eric Rosen’s separate concurrence, endorsed by Justice Dan Biles, said Sims’ convictions had to be dismissed because prosecutors didn’t timely appeal.

Justice Melissa Taylor Standridge was not a participant in Supreme Court deliberations because of her involvement with the case at the Court of Appeals level. The seventh position on the Supreme Court was vacant because of the retirement of Chief Justice Marla Luckert.

Sims was convicted of aggravated sodomy and two counts of rape. He was sentenced to prison in 2005 and paroled before his sentence expired in 2016. Under the Kansas Offender Registration Act, he must register every three months for the rest of his life. Kansas considers the first registry infraction a misdemeanor, but subsequent violations were felonies.

Sims completed the registration forms in October 2013, January 2014 and April 2014, but didn’t pay the fee within 15 days as mandated by state law. He claimed he was indigent and argued it would be unconstitutional to impose criminal penalties for nonpayment of fees based on “substantive” due process guarantees.

Because no judge declared him indigent before the 2013 and 2014 incidents, Wyandotte County District Judge Bill Klapper convicted him of all three offenses. He included in the record a statement about a “problem with the statute.” The Kansas Court of Appeals upheld Sims’ convictions in 2017.

Before the Supreme Court considered Sims’ appeal, the Court of Appeals decided in a separate 2018 case that nonpayment of offender registration fees violated “procedural” due process rights. Sims’ appellate counsel asked the Supreme Court to take that outcome into account.

In a rare order, the Supreme Court in 2019 retained jurisdiction of Sims’ appeal but asked the district court to consider whether his trial attorney performed deficiently by not raising procedural due process arguments. The district court said in 2020 that Sims had been prejudiced at trial. The Supreme Court asked that a copy of the district court finding be filed with the Supreme Court within 30 days. Neither party met that deadline.

In 2024, the Supreme Court received a copy of the district court’s decision. Rosen’s opinion said the delay meant the state no longer had an opportunity to appeal. Questions of the law’s constitutionality should be left for another day, he said.