TOPEKA – Standing with Attorney General Steve Six on Thursday, family members of the Carr brothers’ victims joined him in urging lawmakers not to abolish the death penalty.
On Monday, Senate Bill 208 is scheduled to for debate on the Senate floor. The proposal would abolish the death penalty for cases sentenced after July 1, 2009.
Six worried that the change could mean that death row inmates currently appealing their sentences – such as Michael Marsh and Gavin Scott – could be exempted from execution.
Family members also worried that Reginald and Jonathan Carr could escape the death penalty through appeals, if the law were changed.
It is’t about cost or closure, said Amy Scott, who was dating Brad Heyka, one of four people kidnapped and shot execution style on a Wichita soccer field in 2000 by brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr. A fifth person survived. The Carrs have been on death row since 2002.
“We’re never going to have closure because we’ve lost the people we loved so much,” she said. “I just think this is a matter of justice. This just needs to be finished to the end.”
The proposal comes from Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, who says all cost-saving measures should be considered while the state faces a budget crunch.
Prosecutors, such as Six, have argued that the cases do not necessarily cost more and justice should not be predicated on expense.
He urged Kansans to contact their lawmakers and express opposition to banning the death penalty.
Kansas has 10 men on death row. No one has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1994.
12 Comments
Unfortunately the death penalty is basically a joke. These clowns, along w/ Rader will die of old age before they ever get the needle.
How about instead of repealing it, we change it? Escort these monsters from sentencing straight to the chamber. Saving the taxpayers millions of dollars over the years, and giving the families of the victims closure.
There is a such thing as due process. allow just 2 appeals. If both appeals fail, you die the next week. Simple, Just, Cheap.
I agree, the death penalty should be kept and the process changed. If we have to play the lawyer games and have an appeal, make it just one in which the process is to be finished within 2 years. The only excess expense in this situation that differs from a life imprisonment is the fees the lawyers keep raking in as they prolong the process. Get it done!
I agree, the state(s) could save millions of dollars in legal fees by just limiting to two appeals. If they both flop, they walk the green mile.
Put in an express lane.. Dillions saved millions on wages by doing so Kansas couls save millions on taxes… 10 men.. 10 days total.. DONE!!! They have no rights we buried them with their Victims!!!!
Please, do not abolish the death penalty, instead, do not extend the time of the accused to more than one year beyond the crimes. Especially, in the case of the Carr brothers; such a savage and unbeliebavle crime. It is criminal to the loved ones of these young people to know the ones responsible for their deaths are probably smirking away as they lounge in their cells, watching TV and reading about themselves! Get on with it and let it be gone, as much as is possible.
What about the 130 death row inmates who have been found to be not guilty over the past 10 years or so? How can we justify continuing a practice that is so full of holes? Life without parole is bad enough — prolongs their suffering to make up for some of the suffering they caused. If you want revenge, consult your Bible. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” That means God gets to avenge things — not us.
How come we never hear anything about poor Emily Sander.; All those damm liberals are so concerned about justice for that scum bnag Mirales but nothing sabout Emily. Does anyone know thje status
cwilheim:
The death penalty isn’t vengeance. It is justice. And God directed man to carry it out.
Read these:
“Capital Punishment: New Testament Teaching”, 1998, Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., considered one of the most prominent Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century. See bottom. http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/SacredScripture/SacredScripture_014.htm
“The Death Penalty”, by Romano Amerio, a faithful Catholic Vatican insider, scholar, professor at the Academy of Lugano, consultant to the Preparatory Commission of Vatican II, and a peritus (expert theologian) at the Council. http://www.domid.blogspot.com/2007/05/amerio-on-capital-punishment.html
Forentics have all but eliminated any mistakes of getting the wrong person convicted. It has cleared up alot of prisoners and taken them out of the prison. Jury rule – if they are convicted let them face the music. Get on with it… 2 years for appeals and that is more than enough time to have their appeals heard. Their victims didn’t have any time. I agree victims families need closure.
Is death by hanging still the legal method of execution in Kansas? I believe Perry Edward Smith and Eugene Hickok of “In Cold Blood” were the last people to be put to death in Kansas. Must have been back in about 1960. Wonder how long it took after their convictions for their death penalties to be carried out?
As an alternative, perhaps Boeing could build a state-of-the-art guillotine. Painless and transportable. Might speed up justice in Kansas.
cwilheim…go smoke a cigarette and have a cup of coffee, you need it! Do you honestly think those 130 would be free today if they have received life sentences instead of death? No one would have lifted a finger in attempting to set them free otherwise. And don’t be throwing the Bible in the faces of us who believe in capital punishment. Your not God and God didn’t say any such-a-thing. Some dope with a feathered-tip pin, a piece of parchment and a scrambled alphabet soup brain came up with that scripture.