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State & Federal

Kansas

News & Developments


News

Jan 20, 2023

Kansas Capital Defendant Moves to Bar Death Penalty, Invoking State Constitution’s ​‘Strict Scrutiny’ For Life and Liberty Issues

A Kansas cap­i­tal defen­dant is chal­leng­ing the prosecution’s deci­sion to pur­sue the death penal­ty in his case, invok­ing a height­ened stan­dard of review the Kansas con­sti­tu­tion applies to infringe­ments of fun­da­men­tal rights.

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Jan 26, 2022

Kansas Supreme Court Rules that Death Penalty Does Not Violate State Constitution’s ​‘Inalienable’ Right to Life

The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the state’s death penal­ty against two death-row pris­on­ers’ chal­lenges that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment vio­lates the ​“inalien­able” right to life enshrined in the Kansas state constitution.

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Nov 16, 2020

Kansas Death-Row Prisoners File Suit Challenging Conditions of Confinement

Two death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers in Kansas have filed a fed­er­al law­suit alleg­ing that the state’s pol­i­cy of auto­mat­ic soli­tary con­fine­ment for death-row pris­on­ers is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. The two pris­on­ers, Sidney Gleason and Scott Cheever, have been held in iso­la­tion for 14 and 12 years, respec­tive­ly. Seven of the ten peo­ple on Kansas’ death row have been kept in soli­tary con­fine­ment for more than ten years.

Read More

Mar 23, 2020

News Brief — U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Kansas Death-Row Prisoner on Right to Present an Insanity Defense

NEWS (3/​23/​20): U.S. Supreme Court — The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a Kansas death-row pris­on­er who had argued his con­vic­tion vio­lat­ed due process because he had not been per­mit­ted to present an insan­i­ty defense. In a 6 – 3 deci­sion authored by Justice Elena Kagan, the Court upheld the con­vic­tion of James Kahler for mur­der­ing his estranged wife, two teenage daugh­ters, and a fourth fam­i­ly mem­ber in 2009, while in a state of severe depres­sion from the break­down of his marriage.

Read More

Oct 09, 2019

Supreme Court Opens 2019 – 2020 Term with Consideration of Death Penalty Cases

The 2019 – 2020 U.S. Supreme Court term opened on October 7 with the Court declin­ing to review chal­lenges to death-penal­ty court deci­sions from a num­ber of states and with the Court hear­ing argu­ment in a Kansas death-penal­ty case rais­ing con­sti­tu­tion­al ques­tions about a defendant’s right to present an insan­i­ty defense.

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Nov 07, 2017

NEW VOICES: Former Law Enforcement Officials Say Arizona, Kansas Should End Death Penalty

Former high-rank­ing law enforce­ment offi­cials from Arizona and Kansas have called on their states to end the death penal­ty. In sep­a­rate op-ed sto­ries one week apart, for­mer Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard (pic­tured, left) and for­mer Kansas Secretary of Corrections Roger Werholtz (pic­tured, right) con­clude that the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment schemes in their states have failed and should be aban­doned. In a November 5 op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star head­lined Arizona’s 40-year exper­i­ment with the death penal­ty has failed, Attorney General Goddard said ​“Arizona does not have a good track…

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Nov 18, 2016

BOOKS: ​“The Case of Rose Bird,” and the Continuing Power of Money in Judicial Elections

In 1986, California vot­ers removed Rose Bird, the state’s first female supreme court chief jus­tice, from office after con­ser­v­a­tive groups spent more than $10 mil­lion in a recall effort that por­trayed her as ​“soft on crime,” empha­siz­ing her court opin­ions over­turn­ing death sen­tences that had been uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly imposed. Ten years lat­er, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White lost a reten­tion elec­tion after death penal­ty pro­po­nents and oth­er con­ser­v­a­tive groups tar­get­ed her for vot­ing with the court major­i­ty in a 3 – 2 deci­sion over­turn­ing a death sen­tence that had been imposed in…

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Nov 09, 2016

Pro-Death Penalty Referenda Prevail in 3 States; Kansas Retains 4 Justices Attacked for Death Penalty Decisions

Voters in three states approved pro-death penal­ty bal­lot ques­tions Tuesday, while in a fourth, vot­ers turned back an effort to oust four Justices who had been crit­i­cized for grant­i­ng defen­dants relief in cap­i­tal cas­es. Amid wide­spread agree­ment that California​’s death penal­ty sys­tem is bro­ken, the state’s vot­ers reject­ed Proposition 62, which would have abol­ished the state’s death penal­ty and replaced it with life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole plus resti­tu­tion, and nar­row­ly approved a com­pet­ing bal­lot ini­tia­tive, Proposition 66, which seeks to lim­it state court death penal­ty appeals and expe­dite executions.…

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May 18, 2016

Support for the Death Penalty by Republican Legislators No Longer a Sure Thing

One year after the Nebraska leg­is­la­ture vot­ed to repeal the death penal­ty and over­rode a guber­na­to­r­i­al veto of that mea­sure, actions in leg­is­la­tures across the coun­try sug­gest that the state’s efforts sig­nalled a grow­ing move­ment against the death penal­ty by con­ser­v­a­tive leg­is­la­tors and that sup­port for the death penal­ty among Republican leg­is­la­tors is no longer a giv­en. Reporting in The Washington Post, Amber Phillips writes that Republican leg­is­la­tors in ten states spon­sored or co-spon­sored leg­is­la­tion to repeal cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment dur­ing the cur­rent leg­isla­tive ses­sions. She reports that although these repeal…

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Jan 20, 2016

U.S. Supreme Court Reverses 3 Kansas Decisions Overturning Death Penalties

In an 8 – 1 deci­sion in Kansas v. Carr, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the deci­sions of the Kansas Supreme Court grant­i­ng new sen­tenc­ing hear­ings in three cap­i­tal cas­es, restor­ing the death sen­tences of Jonathan Carr, Reginald Carr, Jr., and Sidney Gleason pend­ing fur­ther appel­late review. The Kansas Supreme Court had vacat­ed the men’s death sen­tences because the jury had not been informed, as required by the Kansas Supreme Court, that mit­i­gat­ing fac­tors pre­sent­ed dur­ing the sen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ing to spare a defen­dan­t’s life do not need to be proven beyond a…

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Aug 26, 2015

NEW VOICES: Kansas Federation of College Republicans Urges Repeal of Death Penalty

The Kansas Federation of College Republicans unan­i­mous­ly adopt­ed a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for repeal of the death penal­ty in their state. ​“More young con­ser­v­a­tives like myself rec­og­nize that our bro­ken and fal­li­ble sys­tem of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in no way match­es up with our con­ser­v­a­tive val­ues,” said Dalton Glasscock, a Wichita State University stu­dent and chair­man of the fed­er­a­tion. Citing pro-life views and fis­cal respon­si­bil­i­ty, the group urged Kansas leg­is­la­tors to repeal the state’s death penal­ty. Eric Pahls, pres­i­dent of Kansas University College Republicans, said, ​“I think if, as Republicans, we call…

Read More
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Timeline

1907 - Governor Hoch abolishes Kansas’ death penalty for the first time.

1935 - The death penalty is reinstated in Kansas.

1965 - George York and James Latham are executed in a double hanging. These are the last executions Kansas has carried out to date.

1979-1985 - The Kansas State Legislature attempts to reinstate the death penalty, but Governor Carlin vetoes reinstatement legislation during this period.

1994 - The current Kansas death penalty statute is enacted once Governor Finney allowed it into law without her signature.

1995 - The Kansas legislature abolishes the affirmative insanity defense which allowed a defendant to be acquitted if they did not understand the difference between right and wrong at the time of their crime.

2001 - In State v. Kleypas, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state statute, which allowed the imposition of the death penalty when mitigating and aggravating factors were of equal weight, is unconstitutional under the 8th amendment.

2006 - In Kansas v. Marsh, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the Kansas death penalty statute does not violate the 8th amendment, reversing the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Kleypas. As long as juries are able to consider all of the relevant mitigating evidences, states can require the death penalty when aggravating and mitigating factors are equally balanced.

2013 - In Kansas v. Cheever, the Kansas Supreme Court determines that the Fifth amendment does not prevent the prosecution from introducing psychiatric evidence to rebut psychiatric evidenced presented by the defense.

2016 - In Kansas v. Carr, the U.S. Supreme Court reverse the decisions of the Kansas Supreme Court, restoring the death sentences of Jonathan Carr, Reginald Carr, Jr., and Sidney Gleason. The Kansas Supreme Court had vacated the men’s death sentences because the jury was not informed that mitigating factors presented during the sentencing proceedings to spare a defendant’s life do not need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

2020 - In Kahler v. Kansas, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that Kansas’ approach towards providing for an insanity defense based on mental disease or defect does not violate due process. The state is not required to adopt an insanity test to determine a defendant’s understanding of right and wrong at the time of the crime.

2022 - The Kansas Supreme Court affirms the death sentences of Jonathan and Reginald Carr, concluding that the Kansas constitution does not stipulate that the inalienable right to life and liberty could not be forfeited.

Famous Cases

The Clutter Family

The murders of Herbert Clutter, his wife and two of his children in Holcomb became one of Kansas’ most famous cases when Truman Capote chronicled the murders and the trial in his 1966 book, “In Cold Blood.”

Richard “Dick” Hickok and Perry Smith, two parolees, were convicted of the murders. They were both executed by hanging on April 14, 1965.

Michael Marsh

Marsh was convicted and sentenced to death for the killings of Marry Ane and Marry Elizabeth Pusch in 1996. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty statute was unconstitutional because of its requirement that, when a jury finds during a sentencing hearing that the mitigating and aggravating factors are equal, they must choose death.

The US Supreme Court overturned this decision in June 2006. Justice Scalia wrote a concurring opinion in this case where he claimed:

“It should be noted at the outset that the dissent does not discuss a single case—not one—in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent’s name would be shouted from the rooftops by the abolition lobby.”

See DPIC’s webpage Executed But Possibly Innocent for examples of cases in which likely innocent death-row prisoners have been executed.

Notable Exonerations

While there have been no death penalty exonerations in Kansas, there have been notable felony exonerations including the cases of Eddie James Lowery and Joe Jones.

• Eddie James Lowery was convicted of rape in 1982 after he falsely confessed to a crime he did not commit. Lowery was questioned for an entire day with no food and no rest, and was not provided a lawyer when he requested one. Under duress, he confessed to the rape hoping to be found innocent during his trial. Instead, because he was not under arrest at the time, the court allowed his false confession to be used in the trial. He was paroled after nearly 10 years, and was not exonerated by DNA evidence until 2002.

• Joe Jones was convicted of kidnapping, assault and rape in 1986 and given a life sentence. The victim identified a different man when presented with a photo array, but identified Jones as her rapist in person. Jones was exonerated by DNA evidence in 1992 after court officials allowed the rape kit to be tested.

Notable Commutations/Clemencies

Before his term ended, Governor George Docking (1957-1960) commuted the sentences of two of the five inmates on death row, Earl Wilson and Bobbie Joe Spencer. Governor Docking was also responsible for a hiatus in Kansas executions between 1954 and 1960. The only executions that took place in Kansas during those years were at the US Army and Air Force Disciplinary Barracks.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

• The Kansas death penalty has been abolished and reinstated three times. The state’s death penalty was first abolished on January 30, 1907 by Governor Hoch. For that reason, January 30 is celebrated by KCADP as “Abolition Day” in Kansas.

• In 1935, the death penalty was reinstated, but no executions took place under the law until 1944. Kansas had this death penalty statute in effect until the 1972 US Supreme Court ruling that struck down the death penalty.

• After the 1976 US Supreme Court rulings that upheld the constitutionality of several states’ death penalty statutes, the Kansas legislature made numerous attempts to reinstate the death penalty. Governor Carlin vetoed reinstatement legislation in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1985. The current death penalty statute was enacted in 1994 when Governor Finney allowed it to become law without her signature.

• In 2010, the Kansas Senate was one vote short of voting to replace the death penalty with life without the possibility of parole for the crime of aggravated murder.

Other Interesting Facts

• Of states that still allow the death penalty, Kansas was the last state to reinstate the death penalty in the modern era. (New York reinstated its death penalty in 1995, but abolished it in 2007.)

• Kansas has not executed anyone since 1965.

• The U.S. Military’s death row is located at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Ad Astra per Aspera Statue on the Capitol Dome. Ad Astra per Aspera, mean­ing ​“To the Stars through Difficulty” is the Kansas State Motto. Photo by David Cook.

Resources

  • Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty
  • Department of Corrections
  • Prosecutors
  • Public defender’s office
  • Victims’ services

Kansas Execution Totals Since 1976

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 0
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 57
  • Current Death Row Population: 9
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 0
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 0
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): April 23, 1994
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 0
  • Location of Death Row/Executions: El Dorado Correctional Facility Administrative Segregation Unit, El Dorado, KS (Women: Topeka)
  • Capital: Topeka
  • Region: Midwest
  • Population: 2,937,880*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 3.6
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: Yes
  • Method of Execution: Lethal Injection
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Governor may receive a non-binding recommendation of clemency from a board or advisory group
  • Governor: Laura Kelly

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