Scott Cheever – white, age 25

Sentenced in Greenwood County, Kansas

By: a jury

Date of crime: January 19, 2005

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Cheever fatally shot Sheriff Matt Samuels (age 42) as the sheriff was trying to serve him with warrants.

Prosecutor(s): Barry Disney, Lanny Welch, David Lind; Ross McIlvain

Defense lawyer(s): Ron Evans, Tim Frieden

Sources: Wichita Eagle 11/2/07 (2007 WLNR 21627194), 1/24/08 (2008 WLNR 1315412); www.kansas.com/cheever/; www.kake.com/home/headlines/14044827.html; www.emporiagazette.com/news/2006/oct/26/state_try_scott_cheever_murder/; www.emporiagazette.com/news/2007/nov/02/jury_recommends_death_scott_cheever/

  
Gary Kleypas – white, age 41 (resentence upon appellate reversal)

Sentenced in Wyandotte County, Kansas

By: a jury

Date of crime: 1996

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Kleypas murdered Carrie Williams (age 20). Williams was sexually assaulted, severely beaten and stabbed seven times through the heart. The prosecution presented three aggravating circumstances: Kleypas killed Williams to avoid prosecution, knowing that she could identify him; Kleypas has been convicted of murder before, in Missouri; Williams was killed in an especially heinous, atrocious and cruel manner. The defense argued that Kleypas suffered from mental illness while incarcerated and was not treated for it. Kleypas was originally sentenced in 1997. He was the first person to receive the death sentence after Kansas reinstated the death penalty in 1994. However, in 2004, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. But, in 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, setting up Kleypas’ this resentencing, in which he was again sentenced to death.

Prosecutor(s): Veronica Dersch

Defense lawyer(s): Tom Frieden

Sources: Kansas City Star 9/9/08 (2008 WLNR 17051305), 9/16/08 (2008 WLNR 17542483)