Print edition: 
A decision by the Kansas Attorney General's Office not to seek the death penalty in the killing of a Great Bend teen may hasten the pace of the case, legal experts say.
Prosecutors say they were concerned whether they could prove Adam Longoria qualified for the death penalty under Kansas law. But keeping the capital murder charges allows them to seek a sentence of life without parole.
Taking away the possibility of execution could simplify the pursuit of justice.
Longoria, 36, is charged in the sexual assault and death of Alicia DeBolt in August 2010. On Oct. 6, prosecutors told Barton County District Judge Hannelore Kitts they would not seek the death penalty.
That should change how quickly the case moves through the justice system, saving Kansans hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"It really can be much more like a first-degree murder case," said Sarah Johnson, an attorney who handles appeals representing death row inmates in Kansas.
Death penalty cases cost about a half-million dollars more than those where the defendant does not face execution. That's according to a 2003 state study, which remains the most recent comprehensive information available.
Part of that cost comes from lengthy death penalty proceedings.
"In death penalty cases there are really two trials," said Elizabeth Cateforis, an associate professor who teaches death penalty law at the University of Kansas. "First the jury has to determine whether or not a defendant is guilty. Then there's like another trial to determine whether to impose death."
During that sentencing phase, the defense is required to present what are known as mitigating circumstances.
Those may include psychological evaluations and details about the background of the defendant. They are not meant to excuse the crime, but rather present reasons why the jury should consider a non-death sentence.
"The defense is expected to overturn every nook and cranny of a defendant's life, and the state has to do the same in order to prepare to answer those," Johnson said. "When you don't have the death penalty, you don't have to hire a mitigation specialist."
The average capital murder case where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty costs Kansas taxpayers $1.2 million, according to the 2003 state audit requested by legislators. Cases not involving the death penalty averaged $750,000 — including the costs of a life prison sentence.
The state, meanwhile, must prove "aggravating factors," proving the crime was worse than other murders.
In order for jurors to find that the defendant should die, they must unanimously determine aggravating factors outweigh mitigating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt.
Attorneys on both sides of the Longoria case are prohibited from discussing details outside of court. But a brief filed by Deputy Attorney General Vic Braden explained the state's difficulty proving the aggravating factors required by law in a death penalty case. They include:
* The victim was killed in an attempt by the accused to avoid arrest.
* The victim was killed because he or she was a witness to a crime.
* The victim was killed in an especially "heinous and cruel manner."
Braden said the state's theory is that Longoria was obsessed with the girl and killed her after sexually assaulting her. That leaves little evidence of the first two factors, Braden said.
DeBolt's body was bound with duct tape and set on fire. Braden said evidence obtained since last year supports a theory that she died before her body was set on fire.
"Although this prosecutor and probably many citizens of Kansas find the act of burning the body of a 14-year-old girls as evil ,(state law) does not list desecration of a victim's body as an aggravating circumstance for the death penalty," Braden wrote.
In an inconsistency of laws, burning a body could be used to seek a sentence of life without parole for 50 years in a non-capital murder case.
Jury selection should also be streamlined because prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
The average death penalty case in Kansas requires an average jury pool of 230 people, compared with 83 for cases not involving the death penalty, the state study showed.
Jurors also have to be "death qualified," meaning they are willing to consider and impose a death sentence.
"Frankly it takes death from looming over everyone's head as they work on a case," Cateforis said.
Cases involving the death penalty can involve 200 or more pretrial motions. There have been nearly 150 motions and responses filed so far in Longoria's case.
A lack of death sentence also shortens appeals, which can last more than a decade for an inmate facing execution.
Normally, an appeal filed to the Kansas Supreme Court runs 50 pages. For death penalty cases, arguments can range from 300 to 600 pages.
No death sentence in this state, meanwhile, has withstood challenge on appeal, since Kansas enacted a law allowing for capital punishment in 1994.
Currently, nine men face death sentences in Kansas. All of their sentences are under appeal. A 10th awaits a decision by the state's Supreme Court.
Kansas has not executed anyone since 1965.
Not having a death penalty doesn't detract from the facts surrounding DeBolt's death. But it changes how the case is viewed legally.
"It's a serious case, whether or not it is a capital case," Cateforis said. "But it won't receive the same kind of focus on appeal. It won't take the same kind of resources to go after it, and it will reviewed on appeal in a different light."
