Seven could again face execution
Former death row inmates who still could face execution if the U.S. Supreme Court reinstates Kansas’ capital punishment law:
Douglas S. Belt.
Age: 43. Date of birth, Nov. 19, 1961.
County (where convicted): Sedgwick.
Convicted of: One count each, capital murder, for killing the victim of an attempted rape; attempted rape, and aggravated arson.
The crimes: The June 25, 2002, decapitation of 43-year-old Lucille Gallegos, who was killed in a vacant apartment in a complex where she worked as a maid. Prosecutors said Belt set fire to the apartment after killing her.
Sentenced to die: Nov. 17, 2004.
Note: In 2003, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation acknowledged last year that Belt was mistakenly cleared of a 1991 rape when another person’s DNA sample was accidentally labeled with his name in an agency lab. His own sample had been labeled “unknown.”
Jonathan D. Carr.
Age: 25. Date of birth, March 30, 1980.
County: Sedgwick.
Convicted of: Four counts, capital murder, for killing victims of rape, criminal sodomy or aggravated criminal sodomy; one count, first-degree murder; one count, attempted first-degree murder; five counts, aggravated kidnapping; 13 counts, rape; seven counts, attempted rape; three counts, aggravated criminal sodomy; five counts, aggravated robbery; one count, aggravated burglary; one count, burglary; one count, theft; one count, cruelty to animals.
The crimes: The Dec. 11, 2000, shooting death of Ann Walenta, a 55-year-old cellist with the Wichita Symphony, outside her Wichita home; the Dec. 15, 2000, execution-style shootings of Jason Befort, 26, Brad Heyka, 27, Heather Muller, 25, and Aaron Sander, 29, in a snow-covered soccer field, and the kidnapping of those four friends and a fifth woman, who survived a shooting. The five friends were forced to have sex with each other and withdraw money from an automated teller machine.
Sentenced to die: Nov. 15, 2002.
Note: He and Reginald D. Carr Jr. are brothers.
Reginald D. Carr Jr.
Age: 27. Date of birth, Nov. 14, 1977.
County: Sedgwick.
Convicted of: Same as Jonathan D. Carr.
The crimes: Same as Jonathan D. Carr.
Sentenced to die: Nov. 15, 2002.
Gary W. Kleypas.
Age: 49. Date of birth, Oct. 8, 1955.
County: Crawford.
Convicted of: One count, capital murder, for killing of a victim of rape, criminal sodomy or aggravated criminal sodomy; one count, attempted rape, and one count, aggravated burglary.
The crime: The March 30, 1996, stabbing of 20-year-old Pittsburg State University student Carrie Williams, following a sexual assault on her, in her apartment.
Sentenced to die: March 11, 1998. The Kansas Supreme Court overturned his sentence in 2001, and he was awaiting resentencing, with death still a possibility, when the court struck down the state’s death penalty law in December.
Michael L. Marsh II
Age: 29. Date of birth, Aug. 12, 1975.
County: Sedgwick.
Convicted of: One count, capital murder, for the killing of more than one person; one count, first-degree murder; one count, aggravated arson, and one count, aggravated burglary.
The crimes: The June 17, 1996, shooting and stabbing death of 21-year-old Marry Pusch in her Wichita home and the burning of her home, which also caused the death of her 19-month-old daughter.
Sentenced to die: April 16, 1998. In December, the Kansas Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty law in considering his appeal.
John E. Robinson Sr.
Age: 61. Date of birth, Dec. 27, 1943.
County: Johnson.
Convicted of: Two counts, capital murder, for killing during a kidnapping; one count, first-degree murder; one count, aggravated kidnapping; one count, theft; one count aggravated interference with parental custody.
The crimes: The killings of Suzette Trouten, 27, of Newport, Mich., and Izabela Lewicka, 21, of West Lafayette, Ind., whose bodies were discovered on June 3, 2000, inside 85-gallon barrels on Robinson’s property in Linn County. Also, the 1985 death of Lisa Stasi, a 19-year-old whose body was never found.
Sentenced to die: Jan. 24, 2003.
Note: pleaded guilty to five other murders in Missouri.
Gavin D. Scott.
Age: 27. Date of birth, March 4, 1978.
County: Sedgwick.
Convicted of: One count, capital murder, for the killing of more than one person; one count, first-degree murder; one count, aggravated burglary; one county, criminal possession of a firearm, and one count, theft.
The crimes: The Sept. 13, 1996 shooting deaths of Doug and Elizabeth Brittain in their Goddard home, during a burglary.
Sentenced to die: Aug. 16, 1999.
By the numbers
Executions
Current through May 25, 2005:
Texas 344
Virginia 94
Oklahoma 77
Missouri 64
Florida 60
Georgia 38
North Carolina 36
South Carolina 33
Alabama 31
Louisiana 27
Arkansas 26
Arizona 22
Ohio 16
Delaware 13
Indiana 14
Illinois 12
California 11
Nevada 11
Mississippi 6
Utah 6
Maryland 4
Washington 4
Nebraska 3
Pennsylvania 3
Kentucky 2
Montana 2
Oregon 2
Colorado 1
Idaho 1
New Mexico 1
Tennessee 1
Wyoming 1
Total 966
Exonerations
Current through May 25, 2005
Florida 21
Illinois 18
Louisiana 8
Texas 8
Arizona 7
Oklahoma 7
Alabama 5
Georgia 5
North Carolina 5
Pennsylvania 5
Ohio 5
New Mexico 4
California 3
Massachusetts 3
Missouri 3
Indiana 2
South Carolina 2
Idaho 1
Kentucky 1
Maryland 1
Mississippi 1
Nebraska 1
Nevada 1
Virginia 1
Washington 1
Total 119
Methods
Lethal Injection 802
Electrocution 152
Gas Chamber 11
Hanging 3
Firing Squad 2