The Kansas Supreme
Court on Friday July 25th overturned the death sentences of two brothers convicted
of killing four friends who were robbed and forced to have sex with each other before being shot to death and left in a snow-covered Wichita
field.
The court also struck down three of the four capital murder convictions each against Jonathan Carr (pictured right) and Reginald Carr (pictured left), citing procedural problems at the brothers' joint trial for its decisions. It upheld one capital murder conviction for each of them. Continue...
Prosecutors
said the brothers broke into a Wichita home in December 2000 and forced
the five people there to have sex with each other and later to withdraw
money from ATMs. Two women were raped repeatedly before all five were
taken to a soccer field and shot while they were kneeling. Four of them -
29-year-old Aaron Sander, 27-year-old Brad Heyka, 26-year-old Jason
Befort and 25-year-old Heather Muller - died.
One of the women survived a gunshot wound to the head and she ran naked through the snow to seek help. She became a key witness at the brothers' trial on the capital murder convictions.
The killings ended a series of crimes that authorities alleged the Carr brothers committed over nine days in December 2000.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in overturning the Carr brothers' death sentences because the presiding judge did not hold separate sentencing proceedings for each man.
In overturning most of their capital murder convictions, the majority said the instructions to jurors had been flawed because the judge tied those charges to the rape of the surviving victim, not the deceased ones.
The brothers' cases will return to Sedgwick County District Court for further proceedings
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and several GOP legislators were immediately critical of the decisions, which involved crimes that 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 legislators said the ruling shows the court's unwillingness to uphold a death sentence, and the governor said he was stunned.
'They were convicted by a jury of their peers in front of an elected local judge,' Brownback said in a statement.
'Today's ruling unnecessarily reopens wounds of a tragic moment in Wichita's history.'
Heyka's father, Larry Heyka, also expressed disappointment and said he was struggling to make sense of the rulings, which totaled nearly 480 pages.
'Hopefully going forward, we will all understand what these rulings really mean,' said Heyka, who is from Council Grove.
Attorneys for the brothers did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said he's not sure whether his office will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but he promised to continue pursuing death sentences.
Jonathan Carr, now 34, and Reginald Carr, 36, were in their early 20s when the crimes occurred.
Together, they were convicted of 93 counts, including rape, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
The state Supreme Court upheld a total of 57 convictions against them.
Most of the overturned convictions involved the allegations of forcing their victims to engage in sex acts.
The court also struck down three of the four capital murder convictions each against Jonathan Carr (pictured right) and Reginald Carr (pictured left), citing procedural problems at the brothers' joint trial for its decisions. It upheld one capital murder conviction for each of them. Continue...
Jonathan Carr in court during the first day of his
murder trial in Sedgwick County District Court, Monday, Oct. 7, 2002, in
Wichita, Kansas |
One of the women survived a gunshot wound to the head and she ran naked through the snow to seek help. She became a key witness at the brothers' trial on the capital murder convictions.
The killings ended a series of crimes that authorities alleged the Carr brothers committed over nine days in December 2000.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in overturning the Carr brothers' death sentences because the presiding judge did not hold separate sentencing proceedings for each man.
In overturning most of their capital murder convictions, the majority said the instructions to jurors had been flawed because the judge tied those charges to the rape of the surviving victim, not the deceased ones.
The brothers' cases will return to Sedgwick County District Court for further proceedings
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and several GOP legislators were immediately critical of the decisions, which involved crimes that 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 legislators said the ruling shows the court's unwillingness to uphold a death sentence, and the governor said he was stunned.
'They were convicted by a jury of their peers in front of an elected local judge,' Brownback said in a statement.
'Today's ruling unnecessarily reopens wounds of a tragic moment in Wichita's history.'
Heyka's father, Larry Heyka, also expressed disappointment and said he was struggling to make sense of the rulings, which totaled nearly 480 pages.
'Hopefully going forward, we will all understand what these rulings really mean,' said Heyka, who is from Council Grove.
Attorneys for the brothers did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said he's not sure whether his office will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but he promised to continue pursuing death sentences.
Jonathan Carr, now 34, and Reginald Carr, 36, were in their early 20s when the crimes occurred.
Together, they were convicted of 93 counts, including rape, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
The state Supreme Court upheld a total of 57 convictions against them.
Most of the overturned convictions involved the allegations of forcing their victims to engage in sex acts.
Culled from UK Daily Mail
68 comments:
crazyy..patoswife@gmail.com
Their luck# I will be cool if people start calling me 'LIB Princess' pretex4luv@yahoo.com
This is unbelievable
Nawaa....see fine guys, see d kain life de chose to live..... Wat???? De must be sick.
What more must a man do to go to jail? Dis is inhumane, a good lawyer shouldn't always work the magic
Dey shld b sentenced to death penalty. . Seems dey bribed d judge. . Deir offence plenty oo.. plus dey ar very wicked
Another Devilish act?? Not again..well there is this Rom 6:23 n this john 3:17..BishopDammy# ..imahiadammy@gmail.com
Nawa ooo, this is terrible!!!
Linda chere kwa o, when is your own seventh day of rest and worship? there's GOD o....chaiiiiii
Linda Baby you no dey go church?
#Shontelle
wow wat a waste of family, useless brothers @zeedollz
Λπϑ †Ñ’ƹ Guy Way Plate His Hair Na Fine Dude oooo. (Linda's Man)
Ehehe!what shall we not hear?
Things God will judge on the last day are just numerous. How could this people still be living !??? Smh
THEY SHUD BE JAILED FOR LIFE ..........
Devilish humans...
you killed someone and you escaped death sentence, remember GOD will judge you wheather you like it or not, dont think you can go unpunished
danskila1@gmail.com
Di bekee...na wa ooo
Evils brothers. They shouldn't be allowed back into a human society. Some people would just make u wish them death even if you know its wrong.
I smell something..........
Abiola Taiwo
Damn those brothers are cold hearted! How you gon do som'n like that to a fellow human?! I love America! The technicalities in their laws mean that a person can escape a murder he so clear committed because charges against them were not properly filed! That's some sh*t!
Heartless and thoughtless. Jopeyemi@gmail.com BBM 32F0BEFB
Sad
that's rubbish... tomjohnn.1@gmail.com
W(6! They may escape the sentence,but never Karma's.karma always struggles to reassert the pattern that's meant to be.!
Na wa o. Okay!
OMG...d brothers shld b killed...srzli
D heart of man is desperately wicked.lydia.aloh@mail.com
Perverts.
Wickedness! May God forgive them
Hmmm it is well
this is grievious, very terrible judilucy2011@gmail.com
The title and story contradict. Title says they escaped the death penalty; story says one of each of their capital convictions was upheld by the courts. SMH once again @ man's cruelty to man. Two evil people from one family.
Eya,I think sey na only for Nigeria corruption dey
You don't have to go to hell to see the devil... the two faces above saves you the trip!
This is horrendous,why would they kill them,justice must be served.
Cooldavoe@yahoo.com
D wicked shall never go unpunish,morons
#Em jay#####
sick people everywhere.there wad a time armed ròbbers were doing d is in Aba.they make sons have sex with their mum or sisters and force d rest of d family to watch.na wa for waec.Ijaycrazy
Cute bots bad habit marydanladi180@gmail.com
Na wa o damigal0709@yahoo.com
I don't know what evidence they presented, but if u ask me, they should be given life in prison atleast oo..
Why did the court overturn the sentence, but they murdered their victims.
Linda u no go CHURCH??
a.k.a EDWIN CHINEDU AZUBUKO said...
.
May the souls of the dead R.I.P.....
.
.
***CURRENTLY IN JUPITER***
Congrats
If this had happened in Nigeria we would have condemned our country, but it is happening in the almighty UK. I can't believe this people actually escaped death sentence. What a sad ending!
Capital punishment straight away!!
DEVILS!!! Kill both of dem! Ds s simply Devilish!
Dats d law 4 u, going by d book d attorney of d brodas is gud @ his job. It ll be really sad if justice by "death sentence" isn't granted cuz wat dey wat was inhumane
Well that's Man's Judgement...Jehovah's judgement nko...
why nah...nkemdirimeverista111@gmail.com
Cn u shut d hell up!!!! What's our own with calling u princess watevr!!!!! Would it change ur acct statement Jeez......
see their fine face and evil mind
Bad judgement , this is why people take the laws into their hands.
spirit of the bastard child
I wouldn't have made any sense of this but for television series such as Criminal minds and Boston Legal.The American Judiciary system is really Laughable.
Na wa for the evil of men and women, sylvie23385@yahoo.com
Lol funni henroga@gmail.com
Madness...
Ugochi4luv25@yahoo.com
hummm hummm email:davidoutomi@gmail.com
hummm hummm email:davidoutomi@gmail.com
deer s God OK email:davidoutomi@gmail.com
God where at we going...davidoutomi@gmail.com
Evil dat men do henroga@gmail.com
This killing is too much , lord help us
They should be killed
They cannot escape God,s Judgement. Ngozijohnson@gmail.com
Dis is EVIL,kushbarbie@ymail.com
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