Lethal injection hasn’t been used in Kansas since the death penalty was reinstated in 1994, and capital punishment hasn’t been used since the mid-1960s — but lawmakers are considering an option method at this time.
The Office of Kansas attorney General has introduced House Bill 2782 for consideration. This would give the Department of Corrections the ability to use hypoxia instead of lethal injections as chosen by the department secretary. District courts would have to issue a warrant to the Department of Corrections secretary for a death sentence to be carried out.
This follows the recent use of nitrogen hypoxia in the Alabama case against Kenneth Eugene Smith after the death of a woman in 1988. Hypoxia uses a high concentration of nitrogen, which eventually replaces oxygen in the body and leads to death.
There are nine inmates who have capital punishment sentences in Kansas, three of which are either from the area or who were arrested locally:
*Scott Cheever was sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of Greenwood County Sheriff Matt Samuels
*James Kahler was sentenced to death in 2011 for the murders of several family members near Burlingame
*Kyle Flack was arrested in Emporia and later sentenced to death in 2016 for the deaths of several people in Franklin County
A hearing on HB 2782 is tentatively set for Thursday.
