Kansas court: Brothers Due Own Capital Hearings
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court ordered separate capital murder sentencing hearings for two brothers after concluding they were pitted against each other in their first, joint hearing. The issue lay behind the court's decisions yesterday (FRI) to overturn the death sentences for Jonathan and Reginald Carr in connection with a December 2000 crime spree that ended with the shootings of four people in a Wichita soccer field. They had a joint sentencing hearing in Sedgwick County District Court in 2002. But 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 court said Reginald Carr's case may have been unfairly hurt by "hopelessly tangled" ties to his brother's case.
=========
Kansas Governor 'Sunned' by Carr Ruling
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says he's stunned by Kansas Supreme Court decisions overturning the death sentences of two brothers for a December 2000 robbery, rape and kidnapping spree that ended with four fatal shootings in Wichita field. Brownback said yesterday (FRI) that the decisions in the cases of Jonathan and Reginald Carr unnecessarily reopen the wounds from what he called a tragic moment in Wichita history. In overturning the death sentences, the court's majority said the brothers should have had separate sentencing proceedings to determine whether they faced lethal injection or life in prison. The court also overturned three of each man's four capital murder convictions. Brownback called the crimes brutal and heinous and said the Carrs were convicted by a jury of their peers before an elected trial-court judge.
========
Lawrence Man Sentenced for Raping Student
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 41-year-old Lawrence man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping a University of Kansas student in 1997. The Lawrence Journal-World reports Robert E. Grey was sentenced Friday to the least amount of time possible under Kansas sentencing guidelines. He was convicted in a retrial in May for raping a 20-year-old university junior. The new sentence is 16 months shorter than one issued after Grey's first conviction in 2009. A Kansas Court of Appeals panel awarded Grey a retrial last year after finding that prosecutorial misconduct deprived him of a fair trial the first time. The case went cold for years until authorities linked a fingerprint found on the victim's car to Grey. Grey has already served nearly seven years, which will count toward time served.
=========
Roberts Boosts TV Ads Ahead of Kansas Primary
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts has intensified his television advertising ahead of the Republican primary to run a new spot highlighting a state medical board investigation of tea party challenger Milton Wolf. The new ad began airing statewide Friday as part of what Roberts' said was a $350,000 push before the Aug. 5 election. Wolf spokesman Ben Hartman called the ad misleading. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported this week that the medical board is investigating Wolf over his past postings of graphic X-ray images on a personal Facebook page. The newspaper said it received a letter from a board attorney, asking it to share information in its possession about the postings. Wolf is a Leawood radiologist and acknowledged posting the X-ray images and dark humor commentary in 2010. He apologized publicly.