State v. Carr

Summary

On remand, the court affirmed the defendant's death sentence after resolving the remaining constitutional and penalty-phase issues visible in the opinion. It held that the Kansas Constitution's protection of an inalienable right to life does not bar capital punishment after a valid capital-murder conviction, that death qualification does not violate the state jury-trial guarantee, and that the challenged mitigation instruction was legally sufficient. The court also held that the previously identified state-law severance error continued into the penalty phase but was harmless, and that the aggravating-circumstance notice was constitutionally sufficient.