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Kahler found guilty in quadruple homicide

After less than two and a half hours of deliberation, an Osage County jury today returned guilty verdicts of capital murder, four counts of first-degree murder and a single count of aggravated burglary against former Columbia Water and Light Director Kraig Kahler. He was found guilty of shooting his wife, Karen Kahler, 44; their daughters, Emily, 18, and Lauren, 16; and Dorothy Wight, 89, Karen Kahler’s grandmother, at Wight’s home on Nov. 28, 2009.

Sentencing proceedings will begin Monday, with further witnesses being called. Prosecutors' possible witnesses Monday are psychiatrist William Logan and forensic pathologist Erik Mitchell, both of whom also testified during the trial. The defense plans to call three or four witnesses as well. The jury will then reconvene to determine Kahler’s sentence of death or life in prison without parole.

If sentenced to death, Kahler will join eight other men on death row in Kansas. The last execution in Kansas, a hanging, took place in 1965. There has not been an execution in Kansas since the death penalty was brought back in 1994. The method is lethal injection, although it has never been used.

There have been 24 executions in the history of Kansas.

Defense attorney Tom Haney said after the verdict that taking the case to trial had been the best option, as the state never offered a plea deal to Kahler other than on capital murder charges. He said he plans to call Kahler’s parents and brother back to testify at Monday’s sentencing hearing, plus psychiatrist Stephen Peterson, who earlier testified that Kahler was severely depressed and mentally overwhelmed.

Kahler’s murder trial began Aug. 8 with a week of jury selection. It concluded today after eight days of witness testimony in Osage County District Court.

The defendant’s insanity defense apparently was not plausible, according to the jury’s verdict.

The Kansas Legislature in 1995 abolished the traditional insanity defense. The current statute forced Kahler’s defense to show he lacked the mental state required in elements of the crimes he is charged with as a result of a mental disease or defect. Those elements are intent and premeditation.

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