Kansas jury decides Carr brothers should be executed

WICHITA, Kan. -- Jurors decided Thursday evening two brothers convicted in the execution-style slayings of four friends on a snow-covered soccer field should be put to death.

It took jurors about seven hours to decide the fate of Reginald Carr, who turned 25 Thursday, and his brother Jonathan, 22, who were convicted last week of capital murder for the Dec. 15, 2000, deaths of four people, and of attempted murder for the shooting of a fifth person that day.

The brothers also were convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting of another woman four days before the Dec. 15 murders.

The Carrs showed no visible emotion as the sentences were read.

Jurors earlier this month returned capital murder convictions in the deaths of Aaron Sander, 29, Brad Heyka, 27, Jason Befort, 26, and Heather Muller, 25. All four were shot execution-style in the back of the head as they knelt side-by-side in the field.

One survived

Befort's girlfriend, then a 25-year-old teacher, was also was shot in the head in the field, but escaped and ran naked through the snow to get help. She survived to testify against the brothers.

Many of the family members of the victims held hands with each other as the verdicts were read. Outside the courtroom, they tearfully hugged District Attorney Nola Foulston. Family members have declined to comment until after Friday's sentencing.

The grim details of a nine-day rampage have been closely monitored by a community still shaken nearly two years after the slayings. The trial has lasted more than two months.

The most notorious of the crimes happened during two days in December 2000 when two armed intruders 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 field and shot.

Ron Evans, the attorney for Jonathan Carr, said his client was "not happy" after hearing the verdict.

"I feel real bad for Jonathan," Evans said. "They convicted him of doing a bad thing, a horrible thing -- but I like him. That is what I told the jury. It is the truth."