By: Derek Hawkins//January 27, 2016//
US Supreme Court
Case Name: Kansas v. Carr
Case No.: 14-449
Practice Area: Capital Punishment – Jury Instructions
8th Amendment does not require capital-sentencing courts to instruct jury that mitigating circumstances need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
“A Kansas jury sentenced respondents Reginald and Jonathan Carr, brothers, to death after a joint sentencing proceeding. Respondents were convicted of various charges stemming from a notorious crime spree that culminated in the brutal rape, robbery, kidnaping, and execution-style shooting of five young men and women. The Kansas Supreme Court vacated the death sentences in each case, holding that the sentencing instructions violated the Eighth Amendment by failing “to affirmatively inform the jury that mitigating circumstances need only be proved to the satisfaction of the individual juror in that juror’s sentencing decision and not beyond a reasonable doubt.” It also held that the Carrs’ Eighth Amendment right “to an individualized capital sentencing determination” was violated by the trial court’s failure to sever their sentencing proceedings.”
Reversed and Remanded
Justice Sotomayor Dissenting