2 Convicted in Kan. Soccer Slayings

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[Sometimes thre is justice. Now let's hope they get the death penalty.]

Mon Nov 4, 8:21 PM ET

By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Two brothers were convicted Monday of five murders, including the slayings of four friends who were forced to engage in sexual acts with each other before they were taken to a snowy soccer field and shot.

Reginald Carr, 24, and Jonathan Carr, 22, did not show any visible reaction when the verdicts were read after a nearly two-month trial. Reginald Carr was in shackles, as he had been throughout much of the trial after allegedly threatening deputies.

The same jury will be asked to decide if the brothers should be sentenced to death or life in prison; the penalty phase begins Tuesday.

Prosecutors, who argued that the defendants were motivated by greed and lust, said they will seek the death penalty. Defense attorneys declined comment, saying the trial was not yet over.

Earlier, lawyers for each of the brothers sought to blame the other for the crimes. Jonathan Carr's attorney said Jonathan was innocent of some of the crimes and that Reginald was the leader in the quadruple murder. Reginald's attorney contended that most DNA evidence pointed to Jonathan.

Each brother faced the same 47 counts for the crime spree, with Reginald Carr facing an additional three counts for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The most notorious of the crimes was on Dec. 14-15, when two men entered a Wichita home. The two women and three men inside were forced to engage in sexual acts with each other and to withdraw money from ATMs. The women were repeatedly raped before the five friends were taken to the soccer field, forced to kneel in the snow and were shot in the back of the head.

Befort's girlfriend, then a 25-year-old teacher, survived the shooting and ran bleeding and naked through the snow to seek help. She identified the Carr brothers as the assailants.

The Carrs were convicted of capital murder in the Dec. 15, 2000, deaths of Aaron Sander, 29; Brad Heyka, 27; Jason Befort, 26; and Heather Muller, 25. They were convicted of first-degree murder for the Dec. 11, 2000, shooting of Wichita symphony cellist Ann Walenta.

Outside court, the victims' relatives hugged each other, as well as prosecutors and an investigator who worked on the case.

"This should not happen in Wichita," Detective Ken Landwehr said. "That scene ... was a war, rather than anything else. It belonged in Bosnia."

A total of 97 witnesses testified and more than 850 pieces of evidence were admitted. Only five of the witnesses were for the defense and all five testified on behalf of Reginald Carr, not Jonathan.

Reginald Carr also was convicted in a Dec. 7, 2000, abduction in which a man was forced to withdraw cash from ATMs but was unharmed.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2002

Answers

death by gunshot to the back of the head, just like what they gave the victims.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 2002

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