TOPEKA � Roger Werholtz directed prison systems in Kansas and Colorado, and questions raised about viability of capital punishment were always personal.

�It�s easy to think about the death penalty in the abstract when you don�t have to play an active part in playing it out,� he said. �It�s not quite so easy when you have a defined role, which I did in both Kansas and Colorado.�

On Monday, Werholtz told the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee that he supported legislation in Kansas to abolish the death penalty. House Bill 2167 wouldn�t alter pending death sentences in Kansas, but would prohibit after July 1 imposition of new sentences of death. The maximum penalty in capital cases in Kansas would become life without the possibility of parole.

Kansas has 10 inmates on death row but hasn�t executed anyone in more than half a century.

Werholtz said he was moved by sentiment of two families of the last two officers killed by inmates in the Colorado system. He said their message was clear and direct.

�Neither family supported the death penalty,� he said. �Their motivation was that they did not want another family member of a corrections employee to experience what they experienced. They wanted the money Colorado expends on death penalty prosecutions for prisoners to be redirected to make Colorado prisons safer � fewer vacant positions, less mandatory overtime, better equipment and technology, better inmate programs.�

The committee took no vote on the House bill, which is sponsored by 15 moderate Republicans, Democrats and conservative GOP legislators.

Legislature divided

Rep. Russell Jennings, the Republican chairman of the committee, said there was no plan �at this point� to press for action in the committee or with the full House. The Legislature is deeply divided on the issue of repeal, he said, and one option would be to leave the measure until the 2018 legislative session.

Opposition to the bill was presented exclusively through written testimony, including a statement from Attorney General Derek Schmidt. He said the state�s capital punishment law was a constitutionally sound option for juries in search of justice.

�Whatever your views,� Schmidt said, �I urge you to resolve this matter based on those fundamental concepts that underlie the death penalty � notions of justice, of life, of morality, or religious belief. I would discourage you from cheapening this debate by allowing it to devolve into a dollars-and-cents calculation, a cold mathematical approach.�

Kim Parker, representing the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, said the death penalty in Kansas was reserved for the most heinous murders. Most first-degree murder suspects are prosecuted under the Hard 50 sentencing statute due to the limited circumstances allowed by the state�s capital murder law, Parker said.

Differing perspectives





In the House committee hearing, advocates of the bill shared perspectives of those falsely accused of murder, of family members who lost a loved one, of defense lawyers who handle these cases, of tight-fisted fiscal conservatives, of pro-life activists who decry executions, of members of the faith community who speak in terms of religious principles.

Monsignor Stuart Swetland, president of Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kan., said the issue of capital punishment was difficult to speak about because grave injustices had been perpetrated and victims and their families had suffered greatly.

�Opposition to the death penalty in no way lessens one�s awareness of the evil that some are capable of committing,� Swetland said. �It does say that there is a better way. Death should never be seen as a solution to our problems. It is not the solution to violent crime.�

Four children of the late Patricia Kimmi, who was slain in November 2009 in rural Holton, shared a joint statement with the committee that urged passage of the repeal bill because the death penalty was �not consistent with our family�s pro-life values, nor would it have helped us heal after our mother�s murder.�

�Because of our mom�s strong faith in God, we know that she would not have wanted the death penalty. She taught us to value all life � a core ethic that simply does not call for the death penalty. Mom always said, �You can�t be half pro-life.� �