Governor Sam Brownback during his Kansas State Fair debate with Paul Davis (Photo credit: Charlie Riedel/The Associated Press)
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Governor Sam Brownback is seeking more power to appoint Kansas Supreme Court justices and is using a Wichita murder case to make it a campaign issue. The Republican incumbent addressed the topic Tuesday during his fourth and final debate with Democratic challenger Paul Davis. Davis said Brownback was "exploiting" the case of brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr, whose death sentences for a quadruple homicide were vacated by the state Supreme Court in July. Brownback's campaign released a new ad on Tuesday focusing on judicial philosophy. During the debate, he repeatedly assailed the Supreme Court as "liberal" while contending Davis wants to appoint liberal justices. The Carr brothers were convicted of killing four people execution-style in a Wichita soccer field in December 2000.