Kansas man sentenced to death for killing two people
4:54 p.m. Monday, August 28, 2006
A judge sentenced a Kansas man to death by lethal injection today.
Atty. Gen. Phill Kline made that announcement today in reference to the killing of two Great Bend residents in 2004.
"The imposition of this penalty is appropriate and just considering the brutal and heinous nature of this double murder," said Kline, who successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court that the Kansas death penalty law was constitutional.
A jury convicted Sidney Gleason, 27, last April of capital murder, first-degree murder, agravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and possession of a firearm in connection with the February 21, 2004, shooting deaths of Darren Wornkey and Mikiala "Miki" Martinez. The jury recommended the death penalty during the sentencing phase.
District Judge Hannelore Kitts pronounced Gleason's sentence after denying a motion made by Gleason's defense attorneys to dismiss the case and a motion for a new trial.
The Punishment
Gleason received the death sentence.
He also received life in prison without parole for 50 years for the count of first-degree murder
586 months in prison for the count of aggravated kidnapping
509 months for the count of aggravated robbery
8 months for the count of possession of a firearm.
Gleason and his cousin, Damian Thompson, 27, kidnapped and killed Martinez because they feared she might tell police about a previous crime - the stabbing and robbery of 76-year old Paul Elliott in Great Bend. Gleason and Thompson killed Wornkey, an acquaintance of Martinez, as they kidnapped her.
Thompson is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder for the murder of Martinez. He will be eligible for parole in 2029.
"I'd like to thank the Great Bend Police Department, Barton County Sheriff's Office, Rice County Sheriff's Office, Lyons Police Department, Kansas Highway Patrol, Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Investigatio Division of the Attorney General for their outstanding efforts in this case," said Attorney General Kline.
Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Stephen Maxwell prosecuted the case on behalf of Attorney General Kline along with Barton County Attorney Douglas Matthews.
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