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Thread: Kansas Capital Punishment News

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Audit of Kan. death penalty rejected

    A Kansas legislator who opposes capital punishment won't get the study he wants of the costs of the death penalty.

    House Republican Steven Becker is a retired trial judge from Buhler. He has introduced legislation to repeal the death penalty statute and sought an audit of its costs.

    Kansas Public Radio reports (http://bit.ly/1dTdP7q ) the Legislative Post Audit Committee decided Tuesday against pursuing Becker's request.

    The committee's vice chair, Sen. Jeff Longbine, says there aren't enough resources to approve all requested audits. But Longbine also says a death penalty audit could be considered in the future.

    Kansas has not performed any executions since reinstating capital punishment in 1994.

    Becker wants to know how much capital cases cost the state and local governments, and how much could be saved by eliminating the death sentence.

    http://www.timesunion.com/news/artic...ed-4682292.php
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  2. #12
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    Kan. lawmakers could debate death penalty in 2014

    Kansas lawmakers expect a lively debate next year on whether to revisit the state's penalties for murder.

    Some are pushing for tougher prison sentences, while others are seeking to repeal capital punishment following an unsuccessful effort this past session.

    The issue surfaced this month as legislators met briefly to fix a constitutional flaw in the Hard 50 sentencing procedure for offenders convicted of premeditated first-degree murder.

    The state took the action following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said juries, not judges, must consider whether the facts in a case should prompt mandatory minimum sentences.

    Senate Vice President Jeff King says the special session brought into focus the need for policymakers to re-examine whether the state's murder sentences are adequate when compared to other crimes.

    http://www.newschannel10.com/story/2...enalty-in-2014
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  3. #13
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    Senators to take up death penalty measures

    One bill would limit appellate process, other would remove death penalty


    By Tim Carpenter

    Wichita brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr were sentenced to death in 2002 for their role in a brazen crime spree culminating in the murder of five people and the attempted slaying of a woman shot in the head.

    The Kansas Supreme Court didn't hear oral argument of their first appeal in that capital punishment case until December 2013.

    "Eleven years is too long to hear the Supreme Court appeal in a death penalty case," said Sen. Jeff King, R-Independence.

    King, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, scheduled hearings for Thursday on contrary bills related to capital punishment. A bill endorsed by King attempts to speed the state's judicial process for courts to weigh life-or-death appeals to around three years.

    The Senate committee also plans to take testimony on a bill offered by Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, to replace Kansas' death penalty with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

    "I feel it's an important issue any time we talk about government having sole authority to take lives," she said.

    Kansas reimposed the death penalty in 1994, but no one has been executed. Thirteen men have been sentenced to death in that time. Five death sentences were overturned by the Supreme Court, and eight appeals are pending in the state.

    The Kansas Judicial Council, which offers advice to lawmakers on legal matters, is working on an updated study of the cost of handling the state's death penalty cases. A council committee met Tuesday to work out details of a draft report focusing on cases emerging after the 2003 cost study of the issue by the Legislative Post Audit Committee. It won't be finished by Thursday's hearing in the Senate.

    "We cannot have a completed report," said committee chairman Stephen Robison, of Wichita. "We don't have the bottom line. The committee could say the cost of death penalty cases is extraordinarily more costly than non-death penalty cases."

    In 2003, the Legislature's auditing arm concluded costs of death penalty cases to taxpayers was about 70 percent greater than those not brought under the capital punishment law.

    Preliminary findings of the committee:

    ■ In the past three years, the seven Supreme Court justices have devoted 2,000 hours to death penalty appeals. Two lawyers work full-time on these special cases, and the court employs research attorneys to delve into capital punishment cases.

    ■ Justices commit approximately 20 times more hours to death penalty cases than to appeals not tied to capital punishment.

    ■ The Kansas Department of Corrections spends $49,380 annually to hold death row inmates in administration segregation. The cost of a general-population inmate is $24,690 per year.

    ■ Days of district court proceedings for capital cases are more than twice the total of non-death penalty cases.

    The other Senate bill, filed Tuesday at King's direction, would attempt to speed the appellate process in capital cases to several years — rather than the decade-plus approach of the Carr brothers, who were placed on death row after convicted of murder, assault, rape and robbery.

    King said the bill would require the Supreme Court to issue a decision on a death penalty appeal within six months of conducting oral argument. This piece reflects the experience of Barton County killer Sidney Gleason. His appeal was heard by the state's highest court in October 2012, but no opinion has been filed.

    The number of extensions in filing briefs in capital punishment appeal cases would be limited to two, with the goal of completing this process within 270 days of the initial filing date. Exceptions to the maximum would have to be authorized at a hearing of the Supreme Court based on "unique and extraordinary circumstances."

    This provision was included to mitigate time-consuming delays routinely sought by lawyers on both sides of appeals. In the Carr brothers' case, about three dozen extensions were granted for filing briefs.

    The length of these written legal arguments would be restricted to 100 pages for the main briefs — no exceptions. Reply briefs would be capped at 30 pages. King said said appellate briefs have exceeded 400 pages in length.

    http://cjonline.com/news/2014-01-14/...nalty-measures

  4. #14
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    Kan. death penalty appeals bill advances

    TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate committee is recommending passage of a bill shortening the process of appealing death sentences for capital murder.

    The action Monday sends the measure, along with several other judicial bills, to the full Senate for debate in the coming weeks.

    Death sentences in Kansas are automatically appealed to the state Supreme Court. Currently, inmates can wait a decade or more before their appeals are completed.

    Senate Majority Leader Jeff King says the bill would require the appeals to be completed within three years of a capital murder conviction. It also limits the scope of the appeals to issues raised on objection during the trial.

    King is an Independence Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

    http://www.chron.com/news/article/Ka...es-5181190.php

  5. #15
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    Kan. Senate taking up death penalty appeal changes

    The Kansas Senate is considering a bill shortening the time for inmates convicted of capital murder to appeal their death sentences to the state Supreme Court.

    The measure on Wednesday's debate calendar would specify time limits for filing documents in such appeals and for the Supreme Court to hear arguments on them.

    The changes were sought by proponents of capital punishment concerned about the pace at which death penalty appeals reach the high court — in some cases, more than a decade.

    Kansas enacted capital punishment in 1994 but has yet to carry out an execution. Nine men are under death sentences in state prisons.

    http://www.chron.com/news/article/Ka...es-5226981.php
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    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  6. #16
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    Is this similar to the "Timely Justice Act", in Florida?
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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  7. #17
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    Senate votes to expedite executions

    Bill up for final action Thursday would limit appeals process for death row inmates

    By Andy Marso

    The Senate gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill to speed up the appeals process for death row inmates — despite concerns it could increase the likelihood of the state executing someone who was wrongly convicted.

    Sen. Jeff King, R-Independence, said Kansas hasn’t executed anyone in the 20 years since the reinstatement of the death penalty. He said the state currently has a lenient appeals timeline that has caused execution dates to be long delayed, even for those convicted of heinous crimes, like Wichita brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr.

    “In the 20 years since the reinstatement of the death penalty, no case in Kansas has made it past even the first appeal,” King said. “No state in the union will allow the Carr brothers to delay, delay, delay their appeals as we have done in Kansas.”

    Senate Substitute for House Bill 2389 moves to final Senate action Thursday. It would put hard deadlines on when the transcript and court records of a capital murder case must be prepared, as well as when the appellate briefs are due.

    In order to help judicial staff members hit those deadlines, the bill would mandate that capital cases take precedent, allowing court reporters to file extensions for other cases to expedite work on death penalty cases.

    It also would limit the direct appeals process to 31/2 years, though King noted that capital murder defendants still would be able to access two other levels of appeals.

    "We’re talking about on average of 11 years of time for these appeals to occur even if (HB) 2389 becomes law," King said. "We’re not talking about a three-year appellate process.”

    Still, opponents of the bill worried that any acceleration of appeals could speed an innocent person to their death at the hands of the state.

    Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said he personally knew a man who served three years in Kansas for rape before new evidence exonerated him.

    The appellate bill emerged this session at the same time as a study showing what capital punishment is costing the state judiciary, largely because of lengthy appeals. The bill could undercut the cost argument for a separate bill to repeal the death penalty that had a committee hearing early in the session but hasn’t advanced.

    Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, unsuccessfully tried an amendment to mandate a $5 million payment to the estate of anyone the state executed who was later exonerated.

    Haley called the law allowing capital punishment a "barbaric, chest-bump of a statute" and asked his colleagues what price they would put on the life of an innocent person who is executed.

    “In our justice system sometimes the wrong person is convicted," Haley said. "I don’t think that’s an epiphany here.”

    King said there are already remedies within state law, including a wrongful death lawsuit.

    Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, another death penalty opponent, said some capital murder defendants are represented by public defenders who work large caseloads for relatively little pay, and she worried about putting deadlines on them combing through hundreds of pages that are "like a scientific document, not a novel."

    “So now we’re going to hurry things up, and mistakes can be made," McGinn said. "We’re not talking about folks already on death row. We’re talking from this day forward we’re going to speed this process up. I hope it doesn’t happen, but some day we could be like other states and end up executing an innocent person.”

    http://cjonline.com/news/2014-02-12/...ite-executions

  8. #18
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    Kansas Senate approves death penalty appeals changes

    TOPEKA — Kansas senators on Thursday approved a measure shortening the time for inmates to appeal death sentences to the state Supreme Court, despite concerns from opponents about the state rushing to judgment.

    The 27-13 vote sent the bill to the House for consideration. The measure is the first significant change to the death penalty appeals process since capital punishment was reinstated in Kansas in 1994.

    The measure creates a 3 1/2-year time limit for the appeals to be heard and decided by the court. It also sets limits on the length of documents that can be filed in death penalty appeals to the state court, and requires the appeals to be placed ahead of all other cases pending before the justices.

    The measure would not affect any subsequent appeals, including those made to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    Supporters have argued that the Kansas death penalty process was taking too long to get from a capital murder conviction to an execution. No one has been executed in the state since 1965. Nine men are under death sentences in state prisons, and no execution dates have been set because appeals are still pending in state courts.

    Sen. Greg Smith, vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said legislators should not focus entirely on those sentenced to death but also on the families of victims who have to wait for justice to be carried out.

    “My aye vote is for the forgotten voices, the voice who is never heard in the chamber,” said Smith, R-Overland Park, whose daughter was abducted and killed in suburban Kansas City in 2007.

    Edwin Hall pleaded guilty to capital murder, rape, sodomy and kidnapping to avoid the death penalty and is serving life without the possibility of parole.

    “We talk of the injustice of the process, protecting the rights of the accused or the pace of proceedings,” Smith said. “We don’t talk about the immoral, vicious slaughter of the victims.”

    Opponents argued the changes weaken the death penalty’s integrity and increase the chances an innocent person will be executed. Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1980s that death penalty procedures must “aspire to the highest standard of reliability.”

    “As a supporter of the Kansas death penalty law, I believe that passage (of this bill) would severely weaken the very integrity of those statutes,” Holland said.

    http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/13...#storylink=cpy

  9. #19
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Kansas death penalty appeals changes unresolved

    TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas legislators are expected to try again to pass a measure that would shorten the time allowed for death row inmates to appeal their convictions before the state Supreme Court.

    The measure is one of several lingering issues remaining for legislators to resolve when they return Wednesday to the Statehouse to resume their session.

    The death penalty changes would limit the amount of time that attorneys would have to file briefs with the Kansas Supreme Court in direct appeals by inmates and appeals on issues related to the convictions.

    Supporters say the changes will expedite the appeals process.

    The bill is in a compromise agreement that also would make certain law enforcement documents related to arrests and search warrants available for public view.

    http://www.kctv5.com/story/25348899/...ges-unresolved
    Last edited by Helen; 04-26-2014 at 02:17 PM.
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #20
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    Kansas unlikely to change death penalty appeals

    By JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

    TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators who oppose a proposal aimed at expediting appeals in death penalty cases appeared Thursday to have blocked its passage this year.

    House and Senate negotiators on criminal justice issues abandoned the measure Thursday night, only hours after the full House refused on a procedural voice vote to clear the way for action in both chambers on the measure.

    The negotiators had been working on a bill that would both set deadlines in capital murder appeals and make some law enforcement records available to the public. The three senators and three House members cut the two proposals apart and saved the open records proposal, which come up for final votes in each chamber Friday.

    The death penalty changes would have given attorneys less than a year to file their legal arguments with the Kansas Supreme Court, which must review every capital murder case. The length of their filings also would have been limited, and the Supreme Court would have had a year after the filings were finished to render a decision. However, the high court would have retained some discretion to extend deadlines.

    Kansas enacted its current death penalty law in 1994 but has yet to execute anyone. Nine men have been sentenced to death and none is expected to face lethal injection for at least several more years. Some legislators argue that appeals drag out unnecessarily, thwarting the will of juries and causing pain to victims' families.

    "We'll have to have that conversation next year," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King, an Independence Republican and a leading advocate of the changes.

    King had said that even with the changes, death penalty appeals likely would take an average of nearly 11 years to run their course.

    But two of the six negotiators opposed the death penalty language, and the Legislature's rules required both chambers to agree to move ahead with the legislation despite the dissenters' qualms. Senators agreed, but the House rejected the idea on a voice vote, with a resounding collective shout of "no."

    "The bill had no chance of passing with those provisions in it — passing the House," said Rep. John Rubin, a Shawnee Republican and chairman of the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee.

    Rubin supported the death penalty provisions, but the more pressing goal for him was allowing public access to law enforcement documents on arrests and searches, which are now closed in Kansas.

    Prosecutors had been nervous about opening such records to the public. Rubin said the proposal would increase transparency in law enforcement activities and bring Kansas in line with the rest of the nation.

    "It's important for Kansas to end its position as an outlier state," Rubin said.

    http://www.newstimes.com/news/articl...es-5446188.php

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