Ultimately, the Court hinted that none of the death penalty’s supposed justifications are persuasive, but it also added that its unconstitutionality "may conceivably be applied" in other circumstances.
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In short, that Court questioned “the propriety of spending Kansans’ money and causing the victims’ families the extended anguish in keeping a death penalty that the State has not and apparently never will impose.”
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While on one hand finding it could not rule on the constitutionality of the Kansas death penalty, the Court nonetheless issued a 15-page decision primarily detailing its concerns with the death penalty.
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Yet, every method that states have approved have resulted in chaos, and the firing squad is no different. www.theguardian.com/...
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His case will also provide the state prosecutors to represent their local citizenry by standing firm against the death penalty, even as the federal government may pursue a pressure campaign.
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The Court, in admonishing the prosecutor for his disregard of integrity, described his actions as “‘tak[ing] us into the dark, unseen, ugly, shocking nightmare vision of a prosecutor who loves victory more than he loves justice.’”
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Juries are supposed to be a place of open and frank conversation, and having someone listen in destroys that trust; moreover, the destruction of trust also degrades the legal profession as a whole.
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This is the kind of judicial humility that allows our legal system to prosper.

We would do well to have more of it.
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... After all, we are only human. But our saving grace is in our aspiration to become more perfect. And achieving that relies not only in our successes when justice is done, but also in maintaining a robust ability to recognize and correct our failures to do justice."
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In his concurring opinion, Justice Richardson made an even more extensive point on the criminal justice system, writing: “It comes with no surprise that our criminal justice system will make mistakes and reach unjust outcomes despite our honest best efforts. ...
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Death penalty trials have been rarer in Harris County in the past few decades, but the county has continued to seek execution dates for those on the Row and has retained its title as the most prolific execution county in the state. www.houstonpublicmed....
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