Death penalty cases in Kan. take time

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An AP Member Exchange

By RON SYLVESTER

The Wichita Eagle

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Larry Williams expected to wait 10 years to see the death sentence carried out for his daughter's killer. Now, 13 years later, Williams said he may have to wait another decade before Gary Kleypas exhausts his appeals.

Lawyers understand the need for such scrutiny in death penalty cases, but others like Williams wonder whether the execution chamber in Lansing will ever be used.

"Oh, it's been frustrating for me in more ways than one, obviously losing your daughter but then the long court case," Williams said.

The length of time it takes to resolve a capital case is one reason the death penalty costs about 16 times more than life in prison, according to a 2003 Kansas study. States in which executions have been carried out estimate even higher costs for death sentences.

Kleypas, found guilty of raping and killing 20-year-old Carrie Williams in 1996, was the first person condemned to die in Kansas in more than 30 years. Since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1994, no one has been executed.

As Kansas' first capital punishment case since the death penalty was reinstated, Kleypas' case has taken more than a decade because of legal errors and questions about how people here should be put to death.

The state Supreme Court overturned Kleypas' sentencing because of instructions given to the jury about the death penalty. After another jury sentenced him to death last year, Kleypas' appeal process began again.

Because appeals are taken in order, the state's first death penalty case now takes its place at the end of the line behind nine others.

Kleypas, 40 at the time he was charged with Williams' murder, turned 54 last month.

Williams' father, 51 at the time of his daughter's death, is now 64.

"In all honesty, I don't think it will ever happen," Williams said of Kleypas' execution. "They've piddled around for so long, and they keep on piddling."

Prosecutors and defense lawyers say it takes time to work through a death sentence because of the intense legal scrutiny required for each case.

As the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, "death is different" from other sentences. It's a sentence that can't be corrected.

"No one wants to rush a case through the system," said Barry Disney, the prosecutor in Kleypas' case. "These cases get extraordinary judicial review, and it simply takes time to do that.

Williams and others would like to see the appeals process streamlined and shortened. That might expedite execution but could also increase the chances of an innocent person dying, critics say.

The Death Penalty Information Center lists 139 people who have been released from death row since 1973, after evidence pointed to their innocence.

"Most evidence of exonerations were not found until years after the crime," said Rebecca Woodman, a public defender who handles death penalty appeals in Kansas. "It has taken an average of 12 years before innocence has been discovered."

There have been 1,178 executions nationwide since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states could implement the death penalty in certain cases.

In Kleypas' case, his guilt has not been in question. Kleypas was on parole for murdering a 78-year-old woman in his hometown of Galena, Mo., when he enrolled in the nursing program at Pittsburg State University.

He confessed to raping and killing Williams, another Pittsburg State student, at her off-campus home.

Kleypas' appeal took five years, in part because of legal issues that had never been argued in Kansas.

Actually, Kleypas' appeal may have been filed faster than other cases, Woodman said, because six lawyers worked on examining the case and preparing legal arguments for the defense. Now, only two lawyers work full-time on a capital case.

Nationwide, inmates face a death sentence for an average of 12 years and nine months before being executed, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Adding to the time in Kansas have been three legal rulings that produced more trials or postponed appeals.

Death penalty cases are like two trials. In the first, a jury decides whether the defendant is guilty of capital murder. The trial then moves into a second phase, in which jurors are asked to weigh evidence for and against a death sentence. The jury must decide unanimously on death.

In reviewing Kleypas' case, the Kansas Supreme Court found a flaw in the law that justices said gave an unfair advantage to prosecutors seeking death.

Its ruling required jurors to receive different instructions on the law, forcing new sentencing for the first three men condemned to die in Kansas: Kleypas, Michael Marsh and Gavin Scott.

Before Kleypas' sentencing could be rescheduled, the Kansas high court handed down another key decision, this one in Marsh's case.

The court considered the same issues for Marsh as it had for Kleypas, but this time determined the law was unconstitutional and struck down the death penalty.

Phill Kline, then the state's attorney general, took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

For two years, the state's death penalty cases were put on hold. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2004 ruled the Kansas law constitutional.

Woodman, the public defender, then asked the court to consider the issue in light of the Kansas Bill of Rights, which would prevent review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Once again, death penalty cases in Kansas were put on hold for more than a year.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled the state's law constitutional in May 2008.

That September, Kleypas went before another jury in Kansas City, Kan., which again sentenced him to death.

Under the law, however, every death sentence receives an automatic review. Kleypas' new sentence will again begin the appeal process.

Next year, Kansas lawmakers are set to take up a bill to abolish the death penalty because of cost. It was introduced last year by state Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick.

A 2003 study showed that seeking the death penalty in Kansas cost on average $508,000 per case. A non-capital case cost $32,000.

Those condemned to death in Kansas lead a solitary life in prison while awaiting their execution.

Nine of the 10 men under death sentences reside in unit A at the El Dorado Correctional Facility. Scott Cheever is awaiting his death sentence in Lansing.

Cheever was convicted of killing Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels. Members of Samuels' family, including his widow, work at the prison in El Dorado.

Those facing death sentences are kept in isolation cells with limited human contact.

The only certainty about the death penalty in Kansas is that if the law continues to allow it, it will take years before someone dies by lethal injection in Lansing.

Disney, who prosecuted Kleypas and Cheever, said he expects future cases to move more quickly.

"It's like building a car," Disney said. "The first time you build a car, it's going to take longer and costs more money. The next one won't take as long or be as expensive."