State of Kansas, Respondent
Toby Crouse, Counsel of Record
In 1995, Kansas passed a law changing the grounds under which defendants in state criminal proceedings could claim a lack of culpability due to insanity or diminished mental capacity, limiting it only to individuals who had no intent to commit a crime. A defendant’s mental illness or failure to understand that an action was morally wrong was no longer sufficient to avoid conviction. Because of this, James Kraig Kahler was unable to claim insanity as a defense after he was charged with four counts of murder for killing his estranged wife, his two daughters and their great-grandmother in 2009. After he was sentenced to death, he appealed to …
