The US Supreme Court yesterday reinstated a previously overturned death sentence. George Russell Kayer (66) was sentenced to the maximum sentence in 1997 for shooting his friend Delbert L. Haas after visiting a casino. The background to the act is said to have been debts that the gambling addict made with his victim.
Bipolar and addict
In yesterday’s ruling, the United States Supreme Court overturned a court of appeals decision from last year. This had determined that George Kayer had not been adequately represented legally in the 1997 trial. As a result, the exonerating details of the man’s psychological state were not sufficiently appreciated.
The death sentence did not include the fact that Kayer suffered from bipolar disorder, nor that he suffered from massive addiction problems during the period of the crime. The Supreme Court did not deny the illnesses either, stated in its Grounds for judgment [Seite auf Englisch] however firmly:
However, sensible lawyers could debate the extent to which these factors significantly affected his ability to assess the illegality of his conduct or to behave in accordance with the law at the time of the murder.
Murder after visiting the casino
The murder occurred in 1994 when Kayer was on a gambling trip in Nevada with his then girlfriend Lisa K. and the later victim Delbert Haas. In order to be able to play in Laughlin, south of Las Vegas, the then 30-year-old had borrowed money from Haas.
Laughlin has the third largest casino density in Nevada after Las Vegas and Reno. The city of 7,500 people is named after the gambling mogul Don Laughlin (89), who founded the Riverside Resort here in 1966.
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After he had lost the unspecified sum within a short time, Lisa K. later told the police, her boyfriend told her that he now “must kill Delbert”.
When the victim briefly left the car on the way back, Kayer followed him and killed him with a shot in the back of the head. He then took away the wallet and keys from the dead man and later stole money, valuables and weapons from his house.
Lisa K. turned to the police ten days after the crime and reported Kayer. The move is said to have been preceded by a dispute because Kayer had lost all the stolen goods while gambling.
After a few months as a “lifelong” [Seite auf Englisch] in Arizona State Prison, George Kayer is now back in solitary confinement on death row, in which he has already spent over 20 years. It is not known when the sentence could be carried out.
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