The death penalty is not in Kansas anymore

With thanks to Howard Bashman at How Appealing for the tip, there is big news from Kansan.  Today in Kansas v. Marsh, No. 81,135 (Kan. Dec. 17, 2004), the Kansas Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, declared the state’s death penalty law is unconstitutional.

The Marsh decision is long and intricate, but this Wichita Eagle story provides the highlights of a ruling that, in the article’s terms, is “not a sweeping indictment of capital punishment but rather identified a technical error in the law the state Legislature could fix during their upcoming session.”  Additional coverage of the ruling is also available in this AP article.