1.
PAGE 10A
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
LAWRENCE
Increased speeding fines cause worry among students
KAITLYN KLEIN
kklein@kansan.com
The Lawrence City Commission unanimously approved an ordinance to increase the cost of speeding in Lawrence at a meeting Tuesday night.
The new law raises the baseline speeding fee to $80, which applies
to violators going 10 mph over the posted speed. This is a 60 percent increase from the previous fee. Assistant City Attorney Maria Kaminska presented the ordinance to the commission and said that the reason for the increase was to keep in line with surrounding cities. According to a May survey conducted by the Municipal Court Manager, a ticket for the same violations in Olathe, Baldwin City and Overland Park cost an average of $83.83. Students on a budget may want to considering slowing down to avoid the added costs of a ticket. Michael Portman, a junior from Garland, Texas, received his first speeding tick-
et in Lawrence last April. "I hate the idea of it costing more," Portman said. "I am a poor college student." Jessa Bernstein, a senior from San Francisco, said she doesn't have a problem with increasing the price of speeding tickets as long as it benefits city programs. But she said that she is skeptical of
its effectiveness if it is only being raised to crack down on speeders.
"The cops here seem pretty laid back," Bernstein said. "But since the town's biggest issues involve crowd control after games and dealing with drunk people, cops have plenty of time to bust people for driving infractions." The ordinance will take effect
The ordinance will take effect
Oct. 1. To read the ordinance.
visit http://lawrencecs.org/assets/agendas/cc/2013/09-03-13/
ca_traffic_fines_ordinance.html
- Edited by Sarah Kramer
Kansas Senate sends Brownback revised Hard 50 law
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, questions defense attorney Randall Hodgkinson as Hodgkinson opposes an opponent to the proposed "Hard 50" bill Wednesday at the Statehouse in Topeka.
TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate sent Gov. Sam Brownback a bill Wednesday revising a state law that allows 50-year prison terms in certain murder cases, in a move that fixes a constitutional flaw and gives families of the victims more certainty that defendants will receive the proper punishment.
The legislation, prompted by a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling, requires juries rather than judges to decide if the facts of a case
ASSOCIATED PRESS
land Park. "There are people who create heinous acts of murder who could get out of prison."
arrant a sentence of 50 years without parole. Legislators considered the measure during a two-day special session rather than waiting until their next annual session convenes in January.
Brownback, who called legislators back to Topeka for the two-day session, praised lawmakers for taking action quickly. The Republican governor is expected to sign the bill within the coming weeks. "The broad bipartisan support for the 'Hard 50' sentencing guidelines can be seen in the unanimous votes in both the House and Senate," Brownback said in a statement.
Senators voted 40-0 to approve the bill, one day after the House approved the measure 122-0. It revises the state's
Kansas adopted the "Hard 50" in 1999, replacing a mandatory 40-
"There are people who create heinous acts of murder who could get out of prison."
so-called "Hard 50" law in reaction to the Supreme Court's opinion in a Virginia case. The high court ruled that giving judges the sole authority to determine whether to impose a mandatory minimum sentence was unconstitutional.
"It is a crisis," said Sen. Greg Smith, whose 18-year-old daughter, Kelsey, was raped and killed in 2007 after being kidnapped outside a Target store in Over-
GREG SMITH Kansas senator
avoid arrest or prosecution; a clear intention by the defendant for the murder to be heinous, atrocious or cruel; or a prior felony conviction in which the defendant inflicted great bodily harm on another person or caused him or her death.
There would be no restrictive list of mitigating factors for jurors to consider or for defense attorneys to offer during trial.
growing debate over capital punishment at the time. Kansas reinstated the death penalty in 1994.
and the demean penalty. It is 15-20
The new law would apply to about 45 cases that are being tried or are on appeal. It would require jurors to weigh a limited list of aggravating circumstances during their deliberations to determine whether to recommend the 50-year sentence.
The aggravating circumstances include: murder for hire; murder to
Attorney General Derek Schmidt said the legislation "closed the wound" to keep the number of cases that could be exempt from the 50-year sentence from growing.
"In a historically short session, they remained focused, fixed the problem and have given us the tools we need to maximize the likelihood that we can preserve existing 'Hard 50' sentences," Schmidt said after the Senate vote, "and perhaps more importantly, to ensure after this bill is published that the killers who commit particularly heinous homicides will know again that Kansas intends for them to remain behind bars for at least 50 years."
Schmidt, who asked Brownback to call the special session to fix the law, said the changes would not apply to the 106 defendants who have been sentenced to a Hard 40 or 50 since 1990. The former
Senate majority leader said defendants in those cases already exhausted their appeals and could only be considered for a proposed new sentence if a court vacated their prison sentences on other grounds.
However, defense attorney Randall Hodgkinson raised questions about the proposed legislation as it pertained to evidence of prior convictions of a defendant that could influence a jury's decision to impose the mandatory 50-year sentence.
in the case of Sen. Smith's daughter, the new law would not apply Edwin Hall was convicted in the slaying and sentenced to life in prison without parole after he pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty
But Smith said legislators "had the back" of those families in the 45 cases in which the law will apply. He said the longer prison sentences were important to keep families from facing parole hearings repeatedly with 25-year sentences.
"The families of the victims relive the event every time it's brought up." Smith said.
THEU
CAMP
JOSE
imedr
There gineerie graduat-
ty's Ce Ice Sho $90,000 is rese
new tye rately
NATI
ASS
M
The mon
for
be