Failure to find exception to intermediate sanctions scheme requires remand

Caroline M. Zuschek won in State v. Clapp, No. 112,842 (Kan. September 7, 2018), obtaining remand in a Reno County drug and weapons prosecution. The district court revoked Mr. Clapp's probation due to technical violations, but did not impose an intermediate sanction. The KSC held that failure to make explicit findings regarding possible bypass of the mandatory intermediate sanction scheme required remand:

In revoking Clapp's probation and imposing his underlying sentence, the district court did not mention K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 22-3716(c)(9), nor did it make any explicit findings regarding how imposing an intermediate sanction would jeopardize the safety of the public or be contrary to Clapp's welfare. Any suggestion that the district court was implicitly relying on the bypass provision of subsection (c)(9) when revoking Clapp's probation at the hearing is belied by the journal entry. 

The KSC also rejected the state's claim that remand was futile because the district court would simply make the necessary findings. The KSC held that the duty to make the findings is mandatory and also would facilitate appellate review, even if the state was right.