On May 31, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to con­sid­er the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Kansas’ death penal­ty law. The cur­rent statute requires that a death sen­tence be imposed when a jury finds that the aggra­vat­ing and mit­i­gat­ing cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the crime have equal weight (i.e., a tie results in death). When review­ing Michael Marsh’s death sen­tence in 2004, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state’s statute was uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, hold­ing that the above process did not com­port with the fun­da­men­tal respect for human­i­ty under­ly­ing the Eighth Amendment. Upon peti­tion of the State of Kansas, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the Kansas deci­sion. Additionally, the Supreme Court will con­sid­er two ques­tions relat­ed to the Court’s juris­dic­tion over the case. The case is Kansas v. Marsh, No. 04 – 1170. 

See DPIC’s Supreme Court page for a longer dis­cus­sion of the issues.

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