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