Posted on 10/10/2002 10:08:53 PM PDT by kattracks
Editorial note: Readers may find some material in this article objectionable.)
(CNSNews.com) - Prosecutors in Wichita, Kan. are seeking the death penalty for two African-American brothers accused of murdering five white people and wounding a sixth in a shooting spree that has become known locally as the "Wichita Massacre" and the "Wichita Horror."
Some residents in the area claim the murders would have been prosecuted as hate crimes had the skin color of the alleged gunmen and their victims been reversed. However, Sedgwick County, Kansas District Attorney Nola Foulston reportedly said she would not charge the suspects with committing hate crimes because she believes the murders were motivated by robbery and not racial hatred.
Foulston noted that the state of Kansas does not have a hate crime statute. She refused interview requests from CNSNews.com for more comment on the story.
A spokesman for Foulston said the district attorney is under a gag order not to talk about the case until it's over. Attorneys Val Wachtel and Jay Greeno representing the defendants, Jonathan and Reginald Carr, confirmed they were also under a gag order.
A spokesperson for Sedgwick County District Judge Paul Clark, who is the presiding judge in the case, told CNSNews.com that the gag order was imposed during the jury selection and other pre-trial activity and was not in effect now.
Meanwhile, trial testimony continued Thursday.
The Carr brothers have been charged with 113 counts of murder, robbery, rape and other crimes. The two are accused of unleashing a crime spree that began Dec. 7, 2000 when they allegedly kidnapped a 23-year old man from a Wichita convenience store and robbed him.
Several days later, according to prosecutors, the Carrs shot a female outside her Wichita home. She died several days later from her injuries.
On Dec.14, the Carrs allegedly broke into the home of three young men who were hosting two female guests. Later that night, prosecutors said the Carrs drove the five people to a deserted soccer field, forced them to kneel in the snow and shot each of them in the back of the head.
Prosecutors said the brothers then drove a truck over the four dead bodies.
The surviving female, whose name is not being released, testified Wednesday that she ran naked for over a mile in freezing temperatures to the nearest house to get help. She also testified that a plastic hair clip deflected the bullet and prevented it from entering her skull.
She identified both Jonathan and Reginald Carr as the armed intruders who attacked her.
Her four friends who died were identified as Jason Befort, a local high school teacher; Brad Heyka, a director of finance with a local financial services company; Heather Muller, a local preschool teacher; and Aaron Sandler, a former financial analyst who had been studying to become a priest.
The trial is expected to last four to six weeks. It has sparked debate within the Wichita citizenry.
"If this had been two white males accused of killing four black individuals, the media would be on a feeding frenzy and every satellite news organization would be in Wichita doing live reports," said Trent Hungate of Wichita in a recent letter to the Wichita Eagle newspaper.
The Wichita Eagle itself, in its Thursday editorial, wrote "reliving horrible crime is hard for the community."
"The defendants are being fairly treated by the court and aggressively defended by their lawyers. We must presume their innocence until they are proved guilty. They are getting their day in court. So are the victims," the paper stated.
"The randomness of the attacks was especially chilling. It could have been anyone. But we go on with our work, hold our loved ones a little closer, and face down our fears as best we can. The survivors are showing us how," the editorial concluded.
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But you've already told us that those statutes do exist:
Do those 'statues' exist or not? You're the only on the thread that has alluded to their existance......
And As I said earlier, the Liberal DA would never enforce such laws so why would I advocate them.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=1908
Fifth Paragraph of the section titled "Has no Bearing"
"Mrs. Foulston dodges the racial question by pointing out that Kansas does not have a hate crime statute, but the state does specify harsher penalties for bias crimes.
So you do not know the statutes yourself, you're simply relying on frontpage.com?
Ahhhhhh.........
LOL
From the article (from the American Renaissance, no less...:):
Given that the Carr brothers face the death penalty, this is a moot point, but Mrs. Foulston has made no attempt to apply these provisions.
I suspect psycho knows perfectly well that you are right however he thinks he can throw enough nonsense into the argument to confuse at least a few.
Of course I guess there is a possibility that he really is a psycho. My guess would be a junior high student who stayed home today.
Even they admit that the (alleged) existence of race bias enhancement (aka hate crime) statutes is moot in this case, but they need to bust someone's chops even so. That's how they keep you salivating when they ring the bell, republicman. 
Let's hope that they allow you to loosen the collar at night......
Translation--you just lost the argument and you know it.
Don't know the DA, myself. Does sound quite efficient, though - in capital cases such as this, any racial bias enhancement would be superfluous, as I said early on. There's nothing to be gained by investigating a moot point (as your frontpage.com / American Renaissance handlers call it), is there?
Let's cheer the lady on, shall we, and hope for a speedy guilty verdict & execution.
Your frontpage.com / American Renaissance handlers DO want a conviction, don't they? I mean, even without additional penalties due to race bias? I mean, dead will be OK for them? Or do they go for the Miracle Max 'multiple levels of dead' theory?
you've never addressed how your precious DA would put up all those suspurfluous counts but never even investigate whether it was a bias crime.
Hours of rape, sexual abuse, and forced intercourse aren't a problem in Kansas?
Early on in this case it was reported Mr. Heyka used to live in Dodge City where the Carr brothers are from. Is this coincidence? (Probably).
How did these guys get into the house? It was noted one of the residents had made sure it was locked up properly before he went to bed.
Just wondering.
It appears that Aaron Sander opened the door, probably after they knocked on it.
The woman testified she watched "ER" and made Befort a sandwich before the two of them went to bed for the night. He shut off the lights and locked the doors before going to bed at 10:45 p.m.http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/765713/postsSometime after 11 p.m., the woman testified, they heard Sander talking to someone at the front door, and a man burst into the bedroom moments later. A second armed man brought Sander into the room and gathered the other occupants into the room.
But that is not the issue.
The issues are these: first, and foremost, that this crime is one of the most horrible crimes in American history- and that issue stands on its own without further explanation. The second issue is this (and not even the liberals who downplay the possible racial implication of the crime itself can explain it)- this crime is not receiving one-one thousandth of the attention it would receive were the races of perps and victims reversed. Why? Again, why.
That's the real lesson to be learned here, a lesson in exactly how the Frankfurt School and its disciples have already won.
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