Some might really wonder what the judge ate for breakfast when seeing prison sentences tacked on to death sentences, as most recently with Scott Cheever. It’s not like he’s going to serve prison time after he’s executed.
But lawyers will tell you there are good reasons for this in the legal world. First, no one really knows what’s going to happen with the death penalty in the future, especially in Kansas, where there hasn’t been an execution since 1965. The death penalty could be abolished. The legislature could change the law.
Also, on appeal, each conviction of each crime is reviewed separately, so the judge needs to sentence each count by itself. Plus, as Judge Mike Ward pointed out in Cheever’s sentence, all those attempted murder convictions he received — for firing on deputies and state troopers trying to arrest him — all had victims. And they all deserve to see justice.
Of course, if the state does carry out Cheever’s execution, the other sentences are meaningless. But down the road if the law or sentence changes, he still has to serve his 61 years for the other crimes.
Says Marc Bennett, an assistant district attorney in Sedgwick County: “We have every reason to seek the longest possible sentence to ensure that the worst offenders are kept away from society, no matter what unforeseen event takes place in the appellate process or in the legislature.”