State of Kansas, Appellee v. Jimmy Lee Murdock, Appellant.

Summary

The court held that a sentence's legality under the illegal-sentence statute is determined by the law in effect when the sentence was pronounced, so a later change in law cannot retroactively make a lawful sentence illegal. Because Murdock's second sentence complied with the court's mandate and was lawful under then-controlling law, the district court erred by correcting it and imposing a longer sentence. The court reversed and remanded with directions to reinstate the second sentence.