The Kansas Supreme Court disagreed with Kahler, denying all ten allegations and affirming Kahler’s capital murder conviction and death sentence under K.S.A. supreme court of the united states in the supreme court of the united states james k. kahler, ) petitioner, ) v. ) no. That’s how it’s been since the 1800s England, and that’s the rule that has been established in this country from the start.
Kahler must argue the requirement to give the insanity defense is elsewhere in the Constitution. The three dissenting justices supported Kahler’s view. In contrast, a mitigating sentencing factor doesn’t result in an acquittal; the defendant is still convicted of the crime. One of the mitigating factors that Kansas identifies is mental illness. This is not an issue of constitutional interpretation per se. Those factors tell judges and juries what sort of facts and circumstances they should consider in deciding whether to impose a higher sentence or a lower sentence.
But, Kansas says, the Constitution doesn’t require a state to pick out who is “morally blameless,” in the way of the traditional rule. A mitigating sentencing factor is completely different from a defense to a crime. The majority said that Kansas’s current version -- the “mens rea” approach -- is an acceptable version of the insanity defense. In fact, Kansas notes, even determining who is “morally blameless” requires a policy call.
Imagine two defendants who are charged with murder—the intentional killing of another person. Similarly, the insanity defense in incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.Is Kansas’s “mens rea” rule an acceptable replacement of the traditional “insanity” defense? Kansas’s “mens rea” approach would grant that defendant a defense. A handful of states have abolished the defense. kansas, ) respondent. But given what the majority upheld in Kansas, we now know that those experiments can include a “defense” that, in reality, provides no protection at all.So how did the court uphold Kahler’s conviction?
If someone’s reality is so affected by illness that she murdered someone by pulling a gun trigger thinking it was a water gun, she didn’t actually form the intent for murder. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. This is going to be a big year in front of the Supreme Court. Oral argument is October 7, 2019. You can cancel anytime.The majority relied on two aspects of Kansas law to support its claim that Kansas has not abolished the insanity defense: laws that identify mental illness as a mitigating sentencing factor and a law that says it is “a defense to a prosecution” that “the defendant, as a result of mental disease or defect, lacked the culpable mental state required” for a crime. The second defendant says that she accidentally shot the victim while cleaning a firearm and that she didn’t intend to kill her. Justice Elena Kagan joined the five Republican-appointed justices in Kahler v. Kansas to uphold a murder conviction and death sentence for James Kahler, who … Kansas, like most other states, identifies aggravating and mitigating sentencing factors. The United States Supreme Court granted Kahler certiorari on March 18, 2019.
That’s the question in this case.Subscript is a legal education nonprofit promoting greater access to and understanding of law. Likely with more fireworks than the last few. Lisa Soronen, Executive Director of the State and Local Legal Center (SLLC), explains the case of Kahler v. Kansas, which will decide whether a state can abolish the insanity defense without violating the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Kansas says it’s people who can’t form the intent for the crime.According to Kahler, the “insanity defense,” which separates people who are morally blameless has been a part of Anglo-American criminal law since the 14th century. What Kansas has done, rather, is to make a policy judgment that the people it will go easy on are the ones that are so delusional that they were unable to form the intent for crime. The first defendant says he killed his victim, but he did so in self-defense.
If you value our work, please disable your ad blocker.I do, however, understand why the majority discussed the other Kansas law—after all, the law itself says that mental illness is “a defense to a prosecution.” But if we dig deeper, this law doesn’t actually give any rights to defendants.
What is morally blameless?
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