Probation Revocation? Not if You’re a Day Late and a Procedure Short

Katelyn Girod, Staff Editor

State v. Darkis, No. 122,706, (Kan. Jan. 28, 2022)

Issue: May a district court revoke a criminal defendant’s probation and remand the defendant to prison using procedures other than a warrant for arrest or notice to appear, more than 30 days after the period of probation ends?

Answer: No.

Facts: Darkis began probation after serving time for marijuana possession.  More than 30 days after his probation ended, Darkis’s intensive supervising officer (ISO) filed an arrest and detain notice asserting Darkis violated his probation.  Then, the district court revoked his probation.

Discussion: The Kansas Supreme Court analyzed K.S.A. § 22-3716(a) which authorizes a court to issue a warrant for arrest or a notice to appear for a criminal defendant who violates the conditions of probation.  The statute also deputizes court services and community correctional officers to arrest a violating defendant without a warrant under certain conditions.  K.S.A. § 22-3716(e) gives a court an additional 30 days to issue a warrant for arrest or notice to appear. 

The Kansas Supreme Court held that K.S.A. § 22-3716(e) gives the additional time only to a court, not to the other officers deputized in subsection (a), and only for the procedures authorized by subsection (a).  In other words, to arrest, hold a hearing for, sanction, or resentence criminal defendants for violating conditions of their probation, all action must be taken before the probation period ends.  The only exception is that a court gets an additional 30 days to issue a warrant or notice to appear.

Here, Darkis was arrested following his ISO’s arrest letter, a procedure not identified in K.S.A. § 22-3716(a), and an action taken by a party other than the court.  The Kansas Supreme Court cited State v. Gordon, which explains that K.S.A. § 22-3716(e) is meant to discourage a defendant from blowing off probation conditions near the end of the probation period, knowing it would be difficult for supervising officers to file revocation documents with the court in time.

Key Authorities:

Kan. Stat. Ann. § 22-3716.

State v. Skolaut, 182 P.3d 1231, 1239 (Kan. 2008) (holding probation revocation requires a warrant, petition, or show cause order to be filed within 30 days of the probation period ending).

State v. Gordon, 66 P.3d 903, 908, 909 (Kan. 2003) (holding a court has the authority to revoke probation when it follows the procedures in Kan. Stat. Ann. § 22-3176(a) within 30 days of probation ending and discussing the statute’s underlying policy).