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Article: US Supreme Court upholds Kansas' death penalty law; Justice Alito casts tie-breaking vote
- Article from:
- Westside Gazette
- Article date:
- June 29, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright The Gazette Newspaper Group Jun 29-Jul 5, 2006. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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"Basically, the court has put its stamp of approval on a sentencing scheme that requires a jury to impose the death penalty when it has doubts."
-Sean O'Brian, Law Professor at Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
In a major 5-4 decision that will likely have far-reaching ramifications in the future, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kansas' death penalty law, ruling on June 26 that aggravating factors presented by the prosecution are not constitutionally mandated to outweigh mitigating factors presented by the defense, and where there is a 50-50 jury split in capital cases where aggravating and mitigating factors are equal for all intents and purposes, a death sentence must be meted out. ...