The US Supreme Court [official website] heard oral arguments [day call, PDF] in three Kansas death penalty cases Wednesday. In two cases titled Kansas v. Carr [transcript, PDF], the court must determine whether the Eighth Amendment [text] right to an “individualized sentencing” was violated by the decision not to sever the sentencing phase of a co-defendant’s trial. The Carr brothers were convicted of murder and sentenced to death. They argue that being sentenced together unfairly prejudiced the jury, and the Supreme Court of Kansas agreed, overturning their death sentence.

The other issue in the case involved mitigating factors, which also resulted in an overturned death sentence in the linked case of Kansas v. Gleason [transcript, PDF]. In all three cases, the court must decide whether, under the Eighth Amendment, jury members in a capital case should be affirmatively instructed that mitigating circumstances do not need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, or if they should be permitted to weigh and assess any mitigating circumstances individually. A majority of justices appeared to back the death penalty in these cases, with Justice Samuel Alito noting the particularly brutal nature of the defendants’ crimes.