The Carrs later invaded a home in east Wichita. They included the robbery and kidnapping of a former Wichita State baseball player and the shooting of a Wichita Symphony member, who later died of her injuries. The Carr brothers were convicted in a series of crimes that occurred in December 2000. “While some of (Reginald) Carr’s remaining issues demonstrate that his trial was less than perfect, none suggest he received anything other than a fair trial,” Justice Kenyen “KJ” Wall Jr. It said any errors that occurred would not have affected the death sentence verdict. The court also reviewed more than 20 penalty phase errors that were raised by attorneys for the defendants but not addressed by the U.S. It said “a defendant who has been convicted of capital murder beyond reasonable doubt forfeits this right, and the state is free to impose lawful punishment for the crime.” The state high court ruled that the death penalty does not violate the “inalienable right to life” in the Kansas Constitution. It returned the case to Kansas, which led to Friday’s separate rulings, one for each brother. In 2016, the high court overturned the decision by the state’s supreme court, ruling the Carrs’ constitutional rights were not violated. Supreme Court, with Schmidt arguing before the justices.
The court also ruled that the jury should have been told that evidence of the men’s troubled childhoods and other factors weighing against a death sentence did not have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.īennett and Schmidt appealed to the U.S.
The legal saga began when the state Supreme Court overturned the brothers’ death sentences in 2014, saying they should have had separate sentencing hearings after being convicted. “Although the wheels of justice may turn slowly, they do ultimately propel us all forward,” Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a statement. The court’s action Friday was the latest in a long, winding judicial path that began after the Carrs were convicted in 2001. “All of them expressed relief that we’re this far along and that they are certainly pleased with today’s resolution of this stage.” “I think that the simplest way to put what I heard from everybody was relief,” Bennett said. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, whose office prosecuted the case, said he contacted family members of the victims and the woman who survived the attack after the ruling was released. The two were convicted in a series of robberies, assaults and murders in Wichita more than 20 years ago. The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the death sentences of brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr on Friday.
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