[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, IND., KY., MO., ARK., KAN.

[Rick Halperin]

February 20


OHIO:

Gov. Mike DeWine freezes all Ohio executions while new method developed



Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday that there will be no more executions in Ohio 
until a new method of carrying them out can be developed and deemed 
constitutional by the courts.

“As long as the status quo remains, where we don’t have a protocol that has 
been found to be OK, we certainly cannot have any executions in Ohio,” DeWine 
told reporters at an Associated Press forum in Columbus. “That would not be 
right, at least in my opinion.”

Pressed on whether he personally supports the death penalty, DeWine paused. 
Seeming to choose his words carefully, he then said he was a sponsor of Ohio’s 
current capital punishment law, which took effect in 1981.

“It is the law of the state of Ohio. And I’ll let it go [not comment further] 
at this point. We are seeing clearly some challenges that you have all reported 
on in regard to carrying out the death penalty. But I’m not going to go further 
down that path any more today,” he said.

DeWine, a Republican, ordered a review of Ohio’s death penalty protocols last 
month after a federal magistrate judge wrote that Ohio’s method of carrying out 
executions would subject a condemned Ohio prisoner to “severe pain and needless 
suffering.” Judge Michael Merz wrote Ohio could proceed with the execution, 
since the inmate, Warren Henness, did not produce an alternative that is 
”available,” “feasible,” and can be “readily implemented,” required under a 
2015 United States Supreme Court ruling that upheld lethal injection.

DeWine delayed Henness’ execution from Feb. 13 to Sept. 12 while the review was 
underway. But on Tuesday, he declined to place a timetable on how long it might 
take for a new execution method to be developed, for it to be legally 
challenged and then found constitutional by the courts.

“I’ve dealt with the court system a long time, and I think it’s whenever you 
think you can figure out how fast or slow something’s going to take, you’re 
wrong,” he said.

Henness was convicted of murdering his drug-abuse counselor, Richard Myers, in 
1992, but he maintains his innocence. Ohio’s next inmate scheduled to be 
executed is Lima’s Cleveland R. Jackson, with a scheduled execution date of May 
29. He was convicted of murdering a teenager during a drug-related robbery in 
2002. Gregory Lott, convicted in the 1986 murder of an elderly East Cleveland 
man, is scheduled to be executed on Aug. 14.

Ohio’s method of execution is to inject the condemned with a combination of 
three drugs: midazolam (as a sedative), a paralytic drug, and potassium 
chloride to stop their heart. Death penalty opponents have challenged similar 
methods in other states, saying they are unconstitutional because they cause 
cruel and unusual punishment.

In his January opinion, Mertz, the federal magistrate judge, agreed with 
arguments made by Henness’s lawyers, writing that “it is certain or very 
likely” that the state’s prescribed dose of midazolam “cannot reduce 
consciousness to the level at which a condemned inmate will not experience the 
severe pain associated with injection of the paralytic drug or potassium 
chloride” or the “severe pain and needless suffering that is certain or very 
likely to be caused by the pulmonary edema which is very likely to be caused 
directly by the midazolam.”

DeWine’s review marks the 2nd time in 5 years Ohio has searched for a new 
method of execution. The state changed the drugs it uses for lethal injection 
after the January 2014 execution of Dennis B. McGuire took more than 25 
minutes.

(source: cleveland.com)

*********************

Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday that he is halting all executions until the state 
devises a new lethal injection protocol that overcomes any court challenges. 
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine stops executions, wants new protocol



Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday that he is halting executions until the state 
devises a new lethal injection protocol that overcomes any court challenges.

He did not issue a formal stay of all executions but said “Ohio is not going to 
execute someone under my watch when a federal judge has found it to be cruel 
and unusual punishment.”

He directed prison officials to come up with a new protocol, which will likely 
face legal challenge in federal court, he said.

“We certainly could have no executions during that period of time. I don’t want 
to predict dates, but we have to have the protocol, then it will be challenged, 
then we have a judge make a decision. So we have to through all that process 
before we could certainly move down the path toward an execution,” he said.

The next scheduled execution is May 29. DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the 
governor will decide whether to go ahead or delay that execution based on the 
facts at the time, including whether the federal judge’s ruling has been 
overturned.

When asked if he now has personal reservations about capital punishment, DeWine 
said, “It is the law of the state of Ohio. I’m going to let it go at that at 
this point. We are seeing, clearly, some challenges that you all have reported 
in regard to carrying out the death penalty. I’m not going to go down that path 
any more today.”

DeWine voted for the capital punishment law as a state senator nearly 40 years 
ago, long before DNA analysis of crime scene evidence led to exonerations from 
death rows across the country.

When asked if those exonerations have changed his view of the capital 
punishment, DeWine responded, “I think there is a lot of things we know today 
that we have the benefit of seeing how it has played out since 1981. We know 
more today.”

Related: Anger over effort to free convicted killer: ‘He beat my sons to death’

Last month, DeWine delayed the scheduled execution of Warren Keith Hanness 
after U.S. District Court Judge Michael Merz ruled that Ohio’s current 
execution protocol could cause the inmate “severe pain and needless suffering.”

It took Ohio more than 3 years to establish its current 3-drug lethal injection 
protocol, in part because of the difficulty many states have had finding drugs. 
The state carried out the 1st execution under the current system in 2017.

Because of Ohio’s use of midazolam, Merz called the constitutionality of the 
state’s system into question in a Jan. 14 ruling and said inmates could suffer 
an experience similar to water boarding.

However, Merz did not stop the execution. Instead, he said that under a test 
created by a previous U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Henness couldn’t demonstrate 
that a feasible execution alternative exists, and thus the execution could 
proceed.

Ohio has a long history with capital punishment, beginning in 1803 when it 
carried out executions by public hanging. The electric chair was used from 1897 
to 1963 and lethal injection has been the method since executions resumed in 
1999.

There are 137 inmates on Ohio Death Row, including Samuel Moreland of Dayton, 
who was found guilty of murdering 2 women and 3 children in November 1985. 
Moreland, who insists he is innocent, won the right for additional DNA testing, 
which has been delayed because of bureaucratic red tape.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Tuesday he is working with Montgomery 
County Prosecutor Mathias Heck and Moreland’s attorneys to have the state crime 
lab conduct the tests within 30 days.

----

Timeline of capital punishment in Ohio



A brief look at the history of capital punishment in Ohio:

1803-1885: Executions are carried out as public hangings in the counties where 
the crimes were committed.

1885: Executions are moved to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus.

1897: Electric chair replaces the gallows and a 17-year-old boy is the 1st 
prisoner to be electrocuted.

March 15, 1963: The electric chair is used for the last time when Donald 
Reinbolt, 29, is put to death. The electric chair was used to put 315 people to 
death.

1972: U.S. Supreme Court declares the death penalty is unconstitutional, 
reducing the death sentences for 65 inmates to life in prison. Death row is 
moved to Lucasville.

1974: Ohio lawmakers revise the state death penalty law but it is rejected four 
years later by the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result, 120 condemned prisoners’ 
sentences are commuted to life in prison.

Oct. 19, 1981: Current death penalty statute takes effect

January 1991: Days before leaving office, Gov. Richard Celeste commutes the 
death sentences for 8 inmates to life in prison

1993: Gov. George Voinovich signs a bill into law giving condemned prisoners a 
choice between electrocution and lethal injection, with the default method 
being lethal injection.

Feb. 19, 1999: inmate Wilford Berry becomes the 1st inmate to be executed in 
Ohio since 1963. He voluntarily waived all of his appeals and opted for lethal 
injection.

Nov. 15, 2001: Gov. Bob Taft signs a law that eliminated the electric chair as 
a form of execution.

Feb. 26, 2002: Ohio’s electric chair – “Old Sparky” – is retired and later 
donated to the Ohio Historical Society.

June 26, 2003: Taft commutes the sentence of Jerome Campbell to life in prison 
without parole.

October 2005: Death row is moved from Mansfield to the Ohio State Penitentiary 
in Youngstown.

Jan 9, 2008: Gov. Ted Strickland commutes John Spirko’s death sentence to life 
in prison without parole.

Feb. 12, 2009: Strickland commutes the sentence of inmate Jeffrey Hill to life 
with parole eligibility after 25 years.

Nov. 30, 2009: Ohio becomes the 1st state to adopt a 1-drug protocol for lethal 
injections.

June 4, 2010: Ted Strickland commutes Richard Nields’ sentence to life without 
parole.

Sept. 2, 2010: Strickland commutes Kevin Keith’s sentence to life without 
parole.

Nov. 15, 2010: Strickland commutes Sidney Cornwell’s sentence to life without 
parole.

May 2011: Gov. John Kasich commutes Shawn Hawkins’ sentence to life without 
parole.

Sept. 26, 2011: Kasich commutes Joseph Murphy’s sentence to life without 
parole.

January 2012: Death row is moved to Chillicothe Correctional Institution.

June 10, 2012: Kasich commutes John Eley’s sentence to life without parole.

Dec. 17, 2012: Kasich commutes Ron Post’s sentence to life without parole.

To date, Ohio has executed a total of 391 convicted murderers.

[source: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction]

(source: Dayton Daily News)

********************

Oral arguments: Juror with 'extreme bias' served in death penalty case



Attorneys representing a Cincinnati man now on death row for killing his young 
daughter told the Ohio Supreme Court Tuesday that he was convicted by a jury 
that had been contaminated by racial bias.

A key issue is an answer one juror gave on a sworn questionnaire before jury 
selection began in the 2016 trial of Glen Bates, who is black. Question 72 
asked jurors to indicate if they believed some racial or ethnic groups are more 
violent than others.

The juror, a white woman, checked "Strongly Agree." Asked to explain further, 
she wrote, "Blacks."

"She entered the jury room with her thumb on the scale for guilt," Alexis Hoag, 
senior counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, told justices during oral 
arguments.

The juror's answer, Hoag added, represented "extreme bias," and allowing her to 
serve in a death penalty case "undermines the integrity of our courts."

Bates, 36, was convicted in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court of aggravated 
murder and child endangering in the beating and starvation death of his 
2-year-old daughter, Glenara. His girlfriend, Andrea Bradley, pleaded guilty 
and is serving 15 years to life in prison.

Hoag said Bates' attorneys had been deficient by not seeking to remove the 
woman during jury selection for her apparent racial bias.

"Defense counsel, if operating competently, would have removed her," Hoag said. 
She added that there could not have been a strategic reason to allow the woman 
on the jury.

Justice Melody Stewart asked Hoag if one juror's beliefs could truly prejudice 
the entire panel.

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Hoag responded that 1 juror "does make all the difference," and that she 
believed the entire jury panel "struggled" with their verdict during 
approximately 3 hours of deliberations.

(source: Cincinnati Enquirer)








INDIANA:

Judge rejects argument for sparing Dansby execution



A judge has rejected efforts by a man charged with 4 murders – 1 of his unborn 
child – to avoid the death penalty as part of the sentencing phase of his 
upcoming trial.

Lawyers for Marcus Dansby, 23, asked the judge in separate motions filed in 
Allen Superior Court last year to declare Indiana's capital punishment statute 
unconstitutional and throw out the death penalty as an option because of his 
age – 20 – at the time of the killings.

Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull ruled against both arguments in an order 
issued Monday.

“On the defendant's claim that Indiana's sentencing statute is 
unconstitutional, the law is clearly against (Dansby) and for the State of 
Indiana,” she wrote.

Dansby is charged in the Sept.11, 2016, slayings of Traeven Harris, 18, 
Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, 18, and the fetus she was 
carrying. Trinity Hairston was shot and stabbed but survived, and Dansby is 
charged with attempted murder in that attack.

Prosecutors filed documents to seek the death penalty in 2017.

The state's death penalty law violates several portions of the U.S. and state 
constitutions and should be thrown out, defense attorneys Michelle Kraus and 
Robert Gevers wrote in a nearly 100-page filing in October. Capital punishment 
is “disproportionate and vindictive” and “has no deterrent effect,” their 
motion to set aside the death penalty states.

Kraus said at the time it was unlikely that Gull would grant the request, but 
she and Gevers followed it with a motion to exclude the death penalty. 
Executing someone younger than 21 when crimes were committed violates a 
constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, they argued.

They cite shifting opinions on the age at which offenders can be put to death; 
recent court decisions invalidating death sentences for young defendants; and 
increasing research on the maturity of young people's brains as reasons to 
reconsider executing prisoners.

It's an argument that has been successful in at least 1 state – Kentucky in 
2017 – and a Temple University psychologist testified in court here in December 
that human brains continue to mature until at least age 22, meaning younger 
people have trouble controlling their actions and considering the consequences 
of those actions.

Gull wasn't sold on the claims, calling them “interesting” but not convincing.

“(Dansby) has not shown any judicial or legislative inclination to exclude 
(his) age group from death penalty eligibility,” her order states.

Dansby's trial is scheduled to start in April and last more than a month, but 
his lawyers have asked for it to be postponed. They need more time to prepare, 
according to court documents. A hearing on that request is set for Thursday.

(source: The Journal Gazette)








KENTUCKY:

Prosecutor: Shemwell could still face death penalty in Audubon Avenue triple 
slaying



Daviess County Commonwealth's Attorney Bruce Kuegel said Tuesday that Cylar L. 
Shemwell could still face the death penalty for his role in a January shooting 
on Audubon Avenue that resulted in the deaths of three people.

Shemwell, 31, and Arnett B. Baines, 30, were indicted on three counts of murder 
and one count of first-degree assault in the Jan. 17 incident, where Jay 
Michael Sowders, 43, Robert D Smith, 35, and Christopher Carie, 18, all of 
Owensboro, were each fatally shot in the heard at Sowders' home in the 900 
block of Audubon Avenue. A fourth victim, Carmen Vanegas, 35, was also shot in 
the head and has been hospitalized since the incident.

Prosecutors have already announced their intention to seek the death penalty 
against Baines. Surveillance video from inside the home shows Baines shooting 
the victims in the head while Shemwell sits and watches, Owensboro Police 
Department Detective Todd Wilkerson testified previously.

Shemwell was in Daviess Circuit Court on Tuesday morning on a defense motion to 
reduce his bond. On Feb. 12, Circuit Court Judge Jay Wethington set Baines' 
bond at $265,000 full cash on the charges.

Leigh Jackson, head of the county public defender's office, argued Shemwell's 
bond should be reduced to either a low-cash or unsecured bond so he could be 
placed on house arrest. Jackson said a risk assessment conducted by pretrial 
services found Shemwell was considered a low-risk of not returning to court for 
hearings if he was released.

"Mr. Shemwell has a very low (risk) score, even in light of the charges against 
him," Jackson told Wethington. Jackson also asked that Shemwell be placed on 
house arrest in Jeffersonville, Indiana, at his mother's home. She said 
Shemwell doesn't have a "serious criminal record."

Kuegel, in turn, listed 6 misdemeanor cases where Shemwell failed to show up 
for hearings.

Jackson, in her argument, said prosecutors have only filed notice to seek the 
death penalty against Baines.

Kuegel told Wethington his office could still decide to seek the death penalty 
against Shemwell.

"There is new evidence coming in almost every day from the Owensboro Police 
Department," Kuegel said. "I'm not going to say we are going to file (for the 
death penalty), but right now there is overwhelming evidence that there is more 
going on with Mr. Shemwell" and his role in the incident, he said.

Jackson's motion to reduce Shemwell's bond said the evidence defense attorneys 
have seen shows "Shemwell was present at the time of the offenses alleged, and 
arguably ... did not act to prevent the crime, but nothing more."

Jackson repeated that argument in court. "Sitting is not a crime," she said.

Wethington set Shemwell's bond at $250,000 full-cash, rejecting the request for 
a low-cash or unsecured bond.

"I certainly disagree with the pretrial assessment in this case," Wethington 
said of the pretrial services' determination that Shemwell was a low-risk of 
not returning to court.

There is a possibility Shemwell will need a new defense team because some 
potential witnesses have pending charges in cases unrelated to the shooting and 
are already being represented by the public defender's office.

Jackson said her office would try to find a way to avoid conflicts so she and 
public defender Heather Blackburn can continue to represent Shemwell.

(source: messenger-inquirer.com)








MISSOURI:

Son on Death Row: Father of Craig Wood shares son's experience in prison



We heard from the family of Hailey Owens Monday night, on the 5 year 
anniversary of her tragic death.

The man convicted of killing her, Craig Michael Wood, is in on death row.

Tonight his family sat down with us to talk about their great loss as well.

"She had 45 minutes of terror that she endured-- things a little girl should 
never experience," said Greene County prosecutor Dan Patterson on the last day 
of the trial.

"His 49 years is not measured by the worst 50 minutes that he lived," said 
Craig Wood's defense attorney.

And the sentence handed down was death.

"This court assesses and declares the punishment to be death for the murder of 
Hailey Owens."

The case gripped our community and beyond. An innocent 10-year-old girl fell 
victim to Craig Michael Wood's pure evil act. Hailey was kidnapped off the 
sidewalk, brutally raped and murdered.

Hailey's family learned of the news first.

"It was really different when we got that phone call... when we got that phone 
call that said Hailey's been taken," said grandma Anita Barfield.

They were so hopeful she'd be found, but she was never to be seen alive again.

The man responsible was found to be Wood. He was 49 years old at the time, a 
paraprofessional teacher and coach.

"Five years later it's still unbelievable!" said Jim Wood, Craig's dad. "I 
talked to Craig the night of the event and that was a difficult encounter. But 
as we have worked through these over the years Craig has come to me like the 
son in the parable and asked for forgiveness and sought reconciliation and I 
like the father in that story, I forgave and responded."

Jim says he had no idea how far gone his son was.

"He just went down this terrible dark path, which he recognizes. And I don't 
want to get into our personal conversations, but he was telling me last night 
that today was the 18th and how he ever got into this place," Jim said.

Jim and his wife talk to Craig regularly, and see him twice a month on death 
row. They sit across a table from him face to face and talk for about 2 hours.

How do they go on?

"I have a deep faith and I think in all things there are good, and that's how 
we approach those. The measure of our character is based on how we can respond 
to these awful, traumatic events."

Jim says Craig is remorseful and has sought reconciliation.

"We all have to seek these forgivenesses from all of these offenses that we've 
done all our life, and he's no different than you or I, we're no different," 
Jim Wood said.

He has fought with the Owens family to get Hailey's law passed-- a measure that 
would speed up the Amber Alert system. Jim wishes he could've intervened before 
the unimaginable.

"I feel bad about that-- that I didn't recognize that somehow. I don't know how 
I could have, but trying to get a grasp around this.... Craig is not some 
terrible, violent person. He did an awful, terrible, violent thing, but that 
doesn't match up with the guy that I used to know. Still know frankly," he 
said. "I sat there last Saturday talking to Craig at the Potosi center and I'm 
sitting across the table listening to this man and we had this profound 
discussion about-- and knowing he's sitting in prison for this horrible crime 
he committed is just difficult to grasp to understand.

Now dealing with it is another matter. I'm going to deal with it in a positive 
manner."

The death penalty portion of the sentence will be appealed.

The average time from sentencing to execution is around 16 years.

(source: ky3.com)








ARKANSAS:

Bill would exempt mentally ill from death penalty



A state representative has revived a measure that would make it more difficult 
for a criminal with a serious mental illness to be sentenced to death.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, would require a 
diagnosis of a serious mental illness before and after a death row inmate's 
conviction. If the court determines the criminal has such an illness, he or she 
would instead serve life without parole.

Mental illness claims can tie up death penalty cases in court for years. 
Flowers said having this legislation in place at the start of the trial process 
would cut down on that.

"I believe it really helps families of victims because it helps prevent years 
and years and years of appeals," she said.

Flowers calls her bill bipartisan, noting she modeled it off one passed in 
Indiana that was sponsored by a Republican. However, one of her colleagues, St. 
Rep. Rebecca Petty, R-Rogers plans to fight it.

Petty's daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered when she was 12 years old. 
Her killer confessed to the crime and has been on death row for nearly 20 
years.

"Today the Arkansas Democrat's filed and ALL sponsored a bill to abolish the 
death penalty," Petty wrote in a post on Facebook. "I don't know about you but 
this makes me want to throw up. I am tired of my tax dollars paying for BABY 
KILLERS and COP KILLERS to sit on death row for many years. I am tired of 
legislators filing and sponsoring bills that go against the will of Arkansans. 
SICK AND TIRED!!!"

Flowers argues her legislation would not be retroactive.

According to the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC), there are currently 
30 men on death row in Arkansas.

An ADC spokesperson did not have a comment about the bill.

(source: KARK news)








KANSAS:

Legislators propose doing away with death penalty



A group of 32 bipartisan representatives came together to make sure the state 
doesn't have the chance to use the death penalty anymore.

Kansas hasn't had a person put to death in 54 years, but legislators proposed a 
bill that would make sure it wouldn't happen in the future.

On Tuesday, lawmakers on the Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee heard 
personal stories from those for and against the death penalty.

"Violence is not a solution to violence," said Therese Bangert, a sister of 
Charity of Leavenworth.

Others disagreed.

"Every single time that it comes up if you're one of those homicide survivors 
if you're a family member that survived your loved ones' homicide, today's just 
like that day all over again," said Greg Smith, who is for keeping the death 
penalty.

Kansas currently has 10 people on death row.

Greg Smith's daughter Kelsey was murdered in 2007. Her killer didn't get a 
death sentence.

"I believe in proportionality in the crime," said Smith. "Nobody asked Kelsey 
if it was okay to be murdered, nobody asked Kelsey if it was okay to be raped, 
nobody asked Kelsey if it was okay to be kidnapped, yet we worry about this 
other person that committed all these acts."

Sister Bangert said she has heard from many other murder victim's families 
about their positive healing process.

"The most powerful people who taught me about the need for forgiveness and 
accepting the abundance of God's mercy are the murder victim's families who say 
we are not for the death penalty."

Kansas would be the 21st state to abolish the death penalty.

If passed the bill would go into effect July 1, and no one in Kansas would be 
sentenced to death for committing a crime after that day. The 10 people on 
death row would not be affected.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said the bill should not be passed.

Abolishing the death penalty bills have been raised during many past 
legislative sessions and have failed to gain the necessary votes.

(source: KSNT news)

**********************

Kansas bill repealing death penalty evokes moral, religious, justice arguments



Sister Therese Bangert’s career as a volunteer police and fire chaplain in 
Kansas City, Kan., took her into the heart of darkness.

She witnessed fallout of life’s most painful moments -- murder, suicide and 
natural death. She was called to duty in 2016 when a gunman killed Kansas City, 
Kan., police Detective Brad Lancaster. The defendant was sentenced to life in 
prison, despite the judge’s belief many people thought the crime warranted 
death.

“My community, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, have a 30-year-old stance 
against the death penalty,” Bangert said. “I am even more convinced that the 
path to healing and wholeness and the grace God provides in abundance to all of 
us is not reflected in the death penalty.”

Bangert was among people offering insight Tuesday on a House bill repealing the 
capital punishment statute in Kansas. On July 1, it would be replaced with a 
new crime of aggravated murder punishable by life in prison without possibility 
of parole. Under House Bill 2282, death sentences already handed down in Kansas 
wouldn’t be rescinded.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt objected to the repeal bill, arguing the 
state’s death penalty was narrowly tailored, applied only in the most horrific 
cases and had withstood repeated constitutional challenge. He said eight years 
as attorney general, including arguing of two death penalty cases before the 
U.S. Supreme Court, strengthened his conviction that Kansas ought to retain 
capital punishment in state law.

“Whatever your views,” Schmidt said, “I urge you to resolve this matter based 
on those fundamental concepts that underlie the death penalty -- notions of 
justice, of life, of morality, of religious beliefs.”

He said the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee shouldn’t allow 
complaints about cost of death penalty cases to render debate into “a 
dollars-and-cents calculation, a cold mathematical approach that, in my view, 
obscures the very real dynamics at work.”

The state adopted the death penalty in 1994, but no one has been put to death 
in Kansas since 1965. 20 states have ended use of capital punishment. Repeal 
activity in the Kansas Legislature has been modest since the Senate rejected a 
bill in 2010.

During the committee hearing, a pair of former Republican legislators reached 
opposite conclusions on repeal. Former Johnson County Sen. Greg Smith outlined 
in detail why preservation of capital punishment was in the public’s interest, 
while former Rep. Steven Becker, of Buhler, said the potential for error was 
too high.

Smith offered comment as an employee of the Johnson County Sheriff’s 
Department. His belief repeal would be a miscarriage of justice was shaped by 
the murder of his daughter, Kelsey.

“I am not here to cast judgment on the validity of another homicide survivor’s 
feelings,” he said. “Yet, every time the Legislature decides to bring this 
issue up, you force every homicide survivor to relive their worst day. The 
pain, the grief, the shock and the horror all comes back as fresh as the day 
our loved one was murdered.”

Becker, who served 26 years as a district court judge, said application of an 
absolute penalty -- death -- was too risky because the criminal justice system 
was imperfect. In the United States, 164 people on death row have been 
exonerated, he said.

“How can we impose the absolute certainty of death when we do not require the 
absolute certainty of guilt?” he said.

(source: Dodge City Daily Globe)