Kansas Death Penalty Law Held Unconstitutional
by TChris
In a victory for death penalty opponents, the Kansas Supreme Court today (by a 4-3 vote) declared the state's death penalty unconstitutional.
The Kansas law as written requires jurors to vote for death if the “aggravating factors” offered by prosecutors and the “mitigating factors” offered by the defense balance each other out, the justices said. In essence the fact that a tie goes to the state renders the law unconstitutional, the court said.
The court declined to rewrite the statute in order to save it, concluding that it is the legislature's job to decide whether the statute should be amended to restore the death penalty. The court's decision is here.
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