(Flickr Photo by queenkv) The recent special legislative session in Kansas could lead to new bills for consideration in 2014. Lawmakers returned to Topeka to rewrite the state’s Hard 50 sentencing law, and the discussions prompted talk about other criminal sentences. Senator David Haley, a Kansas City Democrat, says he wanted to discuss a possible repeal of the death penalty, but decided against it. He says he didn’t want to prolong the Hard 50 discussion by bringing up other issues.
Senator Terry Bruce, a Republican from Hutchinson, also floated the idea of making more first-degree murder charges eligible to draw a Hard 50 sentence.