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Sides clash over proposed changes to Hard 50 law By Scott Rothschild srothschild@ljworld.com
TOPEKA — State legislators on Monday proposed patching the Kansas law that requires heinous murderers to serve at least 50 years in prison, but defense attorneys said the fix wouldn’t last. The so-called Hard 50 law was thrown into question by a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme
Court. Those sentenced to life in prison under the law must serve at least 50 years in prison before they can be eligible for parole. But the Supreme Court in June ruled in an unrelated case that aggravating factors of the crime that qualify the defendant for a minimum sentence must be determined by a jury and not a judge.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt requested that Gov. Sam Brownback call a special session of the Legislature so that legislators could fix the law. Brownback set the session for Sept. 3. That led to Monday’s meeting of the Special Judiciary Committee, where Schmidt offered a proposed bill that he said would address the court’s decision and put the jury
in charge of determining whether aggravating circumstances, such as whether the victim was killed in an especially cruel manner, warranted a Hard 50 sentence. There are currently 106 offenders in state prison sentenced to either a Hard 50 sentence or the older sentence of Hard 40. Under the proposed law, most of these would be re-sentenced before a
jury, officials said. And there are 35 more offenders charged under the Hard 50 but who haven’t been tried yet. The initial estimated price tag on the extra proceedings is $878,408. Prosecutors and law enforcement agencies supported Schmidt, but attorneys who represent defendants said the proposed fix would produce more constitutional prob-
lems and invite lengthy and expensive legal challenges. “We need to fix the problem and not just create more tune-ups down the road,� said Jessica Glendening, an attorney from Lawrence who serves on the board of the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Please see HARD 50, page 2A
Drought status improves, but water a concern
Worth the wait
By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com
Recent rains in Douglas County have partially replenished area reservoirs and restored some soil moisture, improving drought conditions — but not enough to officially declare the drought over. State officials said Monday that Gov. Sam Brownback has issued an executive order improving the county’s drought status to “warning� from “emergency,� even as many other Kansas counties had their drought designaBrownback tions lifted or continued. “One of our primary concerns is water supply,� said Diane Coe, an environmental scientist with the Kansas Water Office. “Counties that are left under a warning are still behind based on data we formulated. Both soil moisture and reservoir levels are low.� So far in August, the National Weather Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo
Please see DROUGHT, page 2A
JUDE MONYE, PICTURED ABOVE, of Lawrence, and his Nigerian teammates were awarded silver medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, but they were later given gold medals after U.S. team members admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. The team flew to Lagos, Nigeria, in July to meet Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan to receive their gold medals.
Study: Aquifer Olympian receives gold ... after 13 years will be depleted in five decades
By Ian Cummings
icummings@ljworld.com
It’s been five years since Jude Monye received a phone call informing him that he had won a gold medal. The call was a long time coming: Monye had represented Nigeria in the 2000 Olympics. And the medal itself would take even longer. But it is here now, and for Monye the years of waiting for his gold have stretched the race of his life from three-minutes into 13
years. Before settling in Lawrence, Monye had won a silver medal with the Nigerian 4x400 relay team at the Sydney Olympics. The United States team won the gold in that race but was later disqualified in a scandal involving performanceenhancing drugs. Setting the record straight took a long time — too much time, Monye says — and it wasn’t until 2008 that the International Olympic Committee officially stripped the U.S.
‘What is going on?’ Years passed, and Monye’s life changed. His son, Keelan, was born in 2011. The same year, his team captain in the Olympics, Sunday Bada, died in
Nigeria. Monye’s job in Lawrence, as a claims specialist at Vangent, Inc., became a career. He had come to Lawrence in 2002 to train with Kansas University track coach Stanley Redwine but was sidelined by an injury and made his home here. He is still devoted to track and field, as a spectator and an agent for U.S. athletes, but hasn’t run competitively in years. All along, Monye, origi-
WICHITA — If state farmers keep irrigating crops at present levels, an estimated 69 percent of the water in the High Plains Aquifer will depleted within 50 years, according to a study released Monday. Although the High Plains Aquifer supplies 30 percent of the nation’s irrigated groundwater and extends beneath parts of eight states in the Great Plains, this latest study focused on the Ogallala aquifer that lies under-
Please see MEDAL, page 4A
Please see AQUIFER, page 2A
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team of its medals and Monye learned that his team would trade their silver medals for gold medals. The ceremony was to be arranged soon, according to the IOC. It would send word when a date was set. Monye waited. And waited.
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Associated Press
Vol.155/No.239 20 pages
Possible gameday parking Puzzles 9B Sports 1B-4B, 10B Television 10A, 2B, 9B WellCommons 5A-7A
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Today’s forecast, page 10A
By Roxana Hegeman
City commissioners are hopeful that the new parking garage on Vermont Street, which will be one of the gameday shuttle stops, will be open in time for the first KU home football game on Sept. 7. Page 3A
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