Capital Punishment Information
by
Nancy Burghart
—
last modified
Nov 14, 2023 03:06 PM
The State of Kansas has not conducted an execution since 1965.
- The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty laws in 40 states, including Kansas, in 1972. After several previous attempts, the 1994 Legislature enacted a death penalty law, which Governor Joan Finney allowed to become law without her signature. The statute took effect on July 1, 1994.
- Kansas statute established the death penalty by lethal injection as a sentencing option for offenders 18 years of age and older who are convicted of capital murder (K.S.A. 21-3439).
- A number of inmates have been convicted of capital murder but sentenced to life in prison (with a minimum term of 25 years to parole eligibility) instead of death.
- Kansas does not have a separate “death row.” Inmates sentenced to death are typically housed in El Dorado Correctional Facility (EDCF), along with other inmates who are in administrative segregation.
- Inmate Scott Cheever was sentenced to death for the murder of Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels. Inmate Cheever is held in the Administrative Segregation Unit at Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF) due to the number of friends and family of Sheriff Samuels who are employed at EDCF.
- In the event that a female inmate is sentenced to death, she will be held at the Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF), the only facility for female inmates in Kansas.
- Inmates managed at EDCF or TCF will be transferred to the Lansing Correctional Facility within a week of the scheduled date of the execution.
- The average annual cost of incarceration at the El Dorado Correctional Facility for Fiscal Year 2016 was $25,596.
|
KANSAS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT INMATES (as of November 2016) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | KDOC# | Race | Date of Birth | Date Capital Sentence Imposed | County of Conviction |
| Kyle Trevor Flack | 84374 | White | Jun 18, 1985 | May 18, 2016 | Franklin |
| James Kraig Kahler | 101355 | White | Jan. 15, 1963 | Oct. 11, 2011 | Osage |
| Justin Eugene Thurber | 93868 | White | March 14, 1983 | March 20, 2009 | Cowley |
| Gary Wayne Kleypas | 66129 | White | Oct. 8, 1955 | Dec. 3, 2008 | Crawford |
| Scott Dever Cheever | 72423 | White | Aug. 19, 1981 | January 23, 2008 | Greenwood |
| Sidney John Gleason | 64187 | Black | April 22, 1979 | Aug. 28, 2006 | Barton |
| John Edward Robinson, Sr. | 45690 | White | Dec. 27, 1943 | Jan. 21, 2003 | Johnson |
| Johnathan Daniel Carr | 76065 | Black | March 30, 1980 | Nov. 15, 2002 | Sedgwick |
| Reginald Dexter Carr, Jr. | 63942 | Black | Nov. 14, 1977 | Nov. 15, 2002 | Sedgwick |
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