FILE - This combination of 2013 file photos provided by the Kansas Department of Corrections shows Reginald Carr, left, and Jonathan Carr. The Kansas Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments from attorneys Thursday, May 4, 2017, considering for a second time whether to spare the two brothers from being executed for four murders in December 2000 in what became known as "the Wichita massacre" after earlier rulings in the men's favor sparked a political backlash. (Kansas Department of Corrections via AP, File)
May 03, 2017 - 11:07 PM
TOPEKA, Kan. - The Kansas Supreme Court is considering for a second time whether to spare two brothers from being executed for four murders in what became known as "the Wichita massacre" after earlier rulings in the men's favour sparked a political backlash.
The justices were hearing arguments from attorneys Thursday in the cases of Jonathan and Reginald Carr. The brothers were convicted of dozens of crimes against five people in December 2000 that ended with the victims being shot in a snow-covered Wichita field, with one woman surviving to testify against the brothers.
The crimes were among the most notorious in the state since the 1959 slayings of a western Kansas family that inspired the book "In Cold Blood." The state has 10 men on death row, including the Carrs, but it has not executed anyone since hangings in 1965.
The Kansas court overturned the Carr brothers' death sentences in July 2014, citing flaws in their joint trial and sentencing hearing. The decisions stunned the victims' families and friends, as well as legislators. Critics launched unsuccessful efforts to oust six of the seven justices in the 2014 and 2016 elections.
The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the Kansas court's rulings in a sometimes scathing January 2016 opinion. The nation's highest court returned the men's cases to the Kansas court for further reviews.
The Carr brothers' attorneys are raising some of the same legal questions again, arguing that the Kansas Constitution requires the death sentences to be overturned even if the U.S. Constitution doesn't. The Kansas court has the last word on "state law" issues. There is one new justice since the court last ruled in 2014.
The Kansas court previously concluded that the two men should have had separate sentencing hearings. Jonathan Carr argued that he was not as responsible as his brother for the crimes and that Reginald Carr had been a bad influence on him during their troubled childhoods.
The Kansas court also said the judge's instructions to jurors during sentencing were flawed.
Prosecutors said the brothers broke into a home in December 2000 and forced the three men and two women there to have sex with each other and later to withdraw money from ATMs. The women were raped repeatedly before all five were taken to a soccer field and shot. The four victims who died were Aaron Sander, 29; Brad Heyka, 27; Jason Befort, 26, and Heather Muller, 25.
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News from © The Associated Press, 2017