US Supreme Court to hear Kansas appeals

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in three cases in which the Kansas Supreme Court set aside the death penalty for men convicted of capital murder.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the U.S. Supreme Court will consider the Kansas appeal of its own high court’s decision sometime during the Supreme Court’s next session, which begins in October.

The Kansas Supreme Court in 2014 upheld the capital murder convictions but vacated the death sentences of Wichita brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr and former Topekan Sidney Gleason.

The state then appealed the decision to overturn the death sentences to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed this past March to hear all three appeals. The issues the U.S. Supreme Court will consider include jury instruction and separate sentencing hearings.