HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Hutchinson man who received an eight-year departure from his sentence in the death of a Hutchinson man saw that sentence reversed by the Kansas Court of Appeals.
Nineteen-year-old Taylor Lukone was given the two-year sentence for a conviction of reckless second-degree murder in the death of 51-year-old Jose Lopez. Lukone rammed Lopez with his car as he rode his bicycle. The incident happened following a confrontation between two parties.
At the time Judge Trish Rose granted her own departure in the case going against the plea agreement from both the state and the defense. Rose said Lukone’s lack of criminal history and his age as reasons for the 99-month departure.
But the Court of Appeals disagreed and has ordered a new sentence which could run from nine to 11-years in prison.
The Court of Appeals stated that the extent of Rose’s departure was not proportionate to the severity level of Lukone's crimes. As a result, Rose’s 99-month departure was outside the framework of the legal standards and statutory limitations placed on it by the KSGA grid. Thus, this constituted an abuse of discretion.
The Court of Appeals ruling went on to say that anger that leads a person to murder someone in revenge is not condoned under the KSGA. And anger unrestrained, like the murder in this case, is required to be punished according to the grid under the KSGA.