death penalty

  The Kansas House has rejected a bill that would have sped up death penalty appeals.

Some House members say they oppose the bill because they believe the courts should control the speed of the cases.

Buhler Representative Steven Becker opposes the bill because the death penalty measure has not gone through the normal process of committee review and a hearing before the full House.

"I think a bill of that magnitude needs to go through all the proper channels to make sure we all have a voice in it," Becker says. 

Testimony on a bill that would speed up death penalty appeals in Kansas concluded Tuesday at the state Legislature.

A staff member with the attorney general's office told a Senate committee that long filings and delays often extend the process. But Sarah Johnson, a defense attorney who has worked on death penalty cases, said the cases are very complex and a lot of time is needed to prepare.

Johnson said the bill could harm certain defense cases.

The Kansas Supreme Court heard death penalty appeals Tuesday from two brothers convicted in a quadruple murder.

The Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit will not be analyzing the costs of the state death penalty, at least for now.

A Kansas prosecutor says he's planning to retry a capital murder suspect rather than ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the man's convictions for killing two women in Topeka.