Who is and was on death row in Kansas? These are the inmates recommended for execution
Jurors have given 15 men death sentences since Kansas reinstated capital punishment in 1994. Nine remain on death row. Two died while appealing their cases. Four others had their death sentences overturned and are now serving life in prison, some with parole eligibility.
The men are listed below chronologically in order of when their crimes were committed. The county of conviction and year of their most-recent sentence appear in parentheses. The names of those who are still on death row are marked with an asterisk.
All but one of the men awaiting execution are housed in solitary confinement at the maximum security correctional facility in El Dorado. The other is housed at the men’s prison in Lansing because family members of the sheriff he killed work at the El Dorado facility.
So far, seven of their death sentences have been upheld by the Kansas Supreme Court. The last state executions in Kansas, by hanging, occurred in 1965.
Gary Kleypas (Crawford County, 2008)*: For the March 30, 1996, beating, rape and murder of 20-year-old Pittsburg State University student Carrie Williams in her apartment, a few doors down from where he lived. The state’s first death-row inmate, Kleypas was originally convicted and sentenced to death in 1998. But the Kansas Supreme Court overturned his sentence in 2001. Jurors condemned him to death again in 2008. His second death sentence was upheld in October 2016. Kleypas is 66 now.
Michael Marsh (Sedgwick County, 1998): Convicted of fatally shooting and stabbing Marry Ane Pusch on June 17, 1996, and setting a fire that killed her toddler daughter, Marry Elizabeth Pusch, after breaking into their home. The first Sedgwick County resident charged with capital murder, he initially was convicted and sentenced to death but was later ordered to have a new trial after a series of appellate court decisions. He eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was resentenced to life in prison in 2009. Now 46, Marsh is incarcerated at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
Gavin Scott (Sedgwick County, 2010): Convicted in the Sept. 13, 1996, shooting deaths of a couple, Doug and Beth Brittain, in their bed at their rural Goddard home. Scott was convicted and sentenced to die in 1998. But the trial judge threw out the sentence after discovering a juror had taken a Bible to court. Scott was sentenced to death again the next year. Following a series of appellate court rulings, though, he was resentenced to two life prison terms for two counts of first-degree murder. Now 44, he’s incarcerated at the Lansing Correctional Facility.
Stanley Elms (Sedgwick County, 2000): Convicted of capital murder for binding, raping and slitting the throat of his neighbor, 29-year-old Regina Gray, on May 4, 1998. In 2004, then-Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston dropped his death penalty and agreed to let Elms serve life in prison if he halted an appeal accusing prosecutors of misconduct at his trial. He was resentenced to a “Hard 40” life prison term, which means he must serve 40 years before he’s eligible for parole. Now 45, he’s incarcerated at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.
John E. Robinson Sr. (Johnson County, 2002)*: For the murders of Izabel Lewicka and Suzette Trouten, whose bodies were found in barrels on his property in rural Linn County. He was also sentenced to life in prison for killing Lisa Stasi, who disappeared in 1985 and was never found. Robinson also pleaded guilty in Missouri to five killings, receiving sentences of life without parole for each. The Kansas Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in November 2015, the first since lawmakers reinstated capital punishment in 1994. Robinson is 78 now.
Jonathan and Reginald Carr (Sedgwick County, 2002)*: For four execution-style shooting deaths in Wichita during a crime spree in December 2000. The Carrs were found guilty of invading a home, sexually abusing the five residents and forcing them to withdraw money from ATMs. Before the night was through, the brothers shot the group in a snowy soccer field on Dec. 15, 2000. Jason Befort, Brad Heyka, Heather Muller and Aaron Sander died. One woman survived to testify. The brothers also were convicted of the first-degree murder of Ann Walenta four days earlier during an attempted robbery. The Kansas Supreme Court threw out the Carrs’ death sentences in 2014, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision and sent the cases back for further review. Their death sentences were ultimately upheld in January 2022. Jonathan Carr is 41 now. Reginald Carr is 44.
Douglas Belt (Sedgwick County, 2004): For the June 25, 2002, sexual assault and decapitation of 43-year-old Lucille Gallegos in a vacant west Wichita apartment, where she was a housekeeper. Belt died in prison in April 2016, at age 54, before his appeal could be heard. The Kansas Supreme Court agreed to take up issues that could lead to Belt’s exoneration and upheld his capital murder conviction in October 2016.
Phillip Cheatham Jr., who now goes by King-Phillip Amman-Reu-El (Shawnee County, 2015): Convicted of capital murder in the shooting deaths of Annette Roberson and Gloria Jones after he opened fire on a Topeka duplex in December 2003. A third woman played dead and survived 19 gunshot wounds. In 2013, the Kansas Supreme Court threw out Cheatham’s convictions over incompetent counsel and ordered a new trial. His lawyer was subsequently disbarred. Cheatham avoided a death sentence a second time by pleading no contest capital murder and attempted first-degree murder in 2015 as jury selection was beginning for his second trial. Now 49, he is incarcerated at the prison in Hutchinson.
Sidney Gleason (Barton County, 2006)*: For the shooting deaths of Miki Martinez and her boyfriend, Darren Wornkey, on Feb. 24, 2004. Prosecutors said Gleason and his cousin Damian Thompson worried that Martinez would tell police about their involvement in the stabbing and robbery of a 76-year-old man, so Gleason killed her. The Kansas Supreme Court threw out his death sentence, imposed in 2006, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision and sent the case back for further review in 2015. The state’s High Court later upheld the sentence in February 2017. Gleason is 42 years old now.
Scott Cheever (Greenwood County, 2007)*: For the January 2005 shooting of Sheriff Matt Samuels during a drug raid at a home near Virgil, where authorities found a suspected methamphetamine lab. The Kansas Supreme Court overturned Cheever’s conviction in 2012, saying his right against self-incrimination was violated by prosecutors who used a court-ordered mental evaluation from a different trial against him. A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision, noting that Cheever’s own expert raised the issue of whether methamphetamine use had damaged his brain. The Kansas Supreme Court ultimately upheld Cheever’s death sentence in July 2016. Cheever is 40 years old now.
Justin Thurber (Cowley County, 2009)*: For the January 2007 abduction, sexual assault and killing of 19-year-old college student Jodi Sanderholm. Her body was found in a wooded area near where her car had been sunk in a lake. The Kansas Supreme Court upheld his capital murder conviction in June 2018 but postponed ruling on the death sentence until it knew whether he’s considered intellectually disabled under current legal standards. Thurber’s attorney argued that some evidence points to Thurber having a IQ score in the 70s and “low mental functioning.” Thurber is 39 years old now.
James Kraig Kahler (Osage County, 2011)*: For the November 2009 murders of his estranged wife, 44-year-old Karen Kahler; her grandmother, 89-year-old Dorothy Wight; and the Kahlers’ daughters, Emily, 18, and Lauren, 16. Kahler, who shot them to death with an assault rifle, was reportedly upset that his wife had allegedly taken a female lover and filed for divorce. The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and death sentence in February 2018. Kahler is 59 years old now.
Kyle Trevor Flack (Franklin County, 2016)*: For the May 1, 2013, shotgun slayings of Kaylie Bailey and her toddler, 18-month-old Lana Bailey, at an Ottawa-area farmhouse. He also killed two other adults, 30-year-old Andrew Stout and 31-year-old Steven White. The adults’ bodies were found on the farm property. The toddler’s body was discovered stuffed in a suitcase floating in a rural creek. The Kansas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Flack’s appeal in January but has not yet issued a ruling. Flack is 36 years old now.
Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. (Johnson County, 2015): For the April 13, 2014, shooting deaths of 14-year-old Reat Underwood, 69-year-old William Corporon and 53-year-old Terri LaManno outside Kansas City-area Jewish sites. Miller, a white supremacist, represented himself at trial, a rare occurrence in cases with such serious consequences. He died from natural causes on May 3, 2021, while on death row. He was 80. Kansas court records show his appeal was dismissed as moot the month after his death.
Sources: The Wichita Eagle news archives, Kansas Department of Corrections, Kansas Office of Judicial Administration
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 4:46 AM.
