Gearing up
(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Aug. 26, 2013)
This is the week that…hold your breath…members of the Kansas Legislature start thinking in earnest about just how—or whether—to make political points during the special session of the Legislature that starts next week.
Do they propose to amend that fix for the state’s Hard-50 murder sentence that the U.S. Supreme Court says is unconstitutional because it allows a judge, not the jury, to decide whether the standard 25-year sentence can be doubled to 50 due to aggravating circumstances in the commission of the crime?