State v. Gideon, 894 P.2d 850 (Kan. 1995)

Cases | State v. Gideon, 894 P.2d 850 (Kan. 1995) | 2018

The defendant was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated criminal sodomy, and rape, and was received a hard 40 sentence. The victim’s family was permitted to make statements at the sentencing proceeding regarding how the death affected them and what the penalty should be. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the hard 40 sentence was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or other arbitrary factors. The supreme court did not find reversible error. Though the victims’ statements recommending the death penalty and stating that the defendant should not have been released from prison after his prior offense should not have been presented to the jury, the statements were made to the court and not to a jury. The court could properly determine what weight, if any, to give to the statements. The court gave ample reasons for imposing the hard 40 sentence that were not related to the statements.