A death row inmate found in Emporia shortly after four people were killed near Ottawa will have his latest appeal next week in front of the Kansas Supreme Court.
Kyle Flack has numerous items he plans to bring before the state high court during his hearing, which begins Monday. Flack says:
*His right to present a defense was violated when the district court judge decided not to grant two motions to continue the case
*District court made a reversible error by admitting Flack’s statements made while in custody and after allegedly invoking his Miranda rights
*District court erred by denying Flack’s challenge to jurors for cause
*Prosecution erred with several statements made during the jury selection and closing argument phases
*State’s charging decision on heinous, atrocious or cruel aggravating circumstances was “defective” because one of the murders was charged as heinous while the capital murder charge was based on the killing of more than one person
*Prosecution erred by refusing a defense request to modify certain jury instructions
*District court erred by refusing to adjust certain instructions in the penalty phase
*A death sentence is prohibited under the Eighth Amendment because Flack suffers from severe mental illness
*Cumulative errors require reversal of Flack’s sentence
*The Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights does not allow the death penalty
*The death qualification during the jury selection process violated the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights’ right to a jury trial
Flack was convicted of capital murder in 2016 for killing Kaylie Bailey, her toddler daughter Lana, as well as Steven White and Andrew Stout back in May 2013. Flack was found and arrested in Emporia. Lana Bailey’s body was ultimately found in Osage County.
Nine Kansas inmates are currently on death row, including James Kraig Kahler in the murders of four family members in Burlingame in 2009 and Scott Cheever in the murder of then-Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels in 2005. The state has not executed an inmate since 1965. Executions were not allowed between 1972-1994.
