State v. Phipps

The defendant pled no contest to two felonies and two misdemeanors, and sentenced to consecutive terms of confinement. The defendant appealed his sentence. The Kansas Supreme Court held that the defendant’s completion of his sentence during the pendency of the appeal rendered the case moot. The court also overruled its prior decision in State v. Roat, eliminating prudential exceptions to mootness and reaffirming that mootness is a jurisdictional doctrine under the Kansas Constitution. The adjustment of deference to stare decisis was warranted for the mootness issue because it involved a constitutional question of judicial power, the court said.