The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the life sentences for a man who pleaded guilty in the deaths of a Wichita couple who were killed on the orders of a carnival worker as part of a fictitious “carnival mafia” initiation.
Michael Fowler pleaded guilty to two counts premeditated first-degree murder in the killings of Alfred and Pauline Carpenter. He was one of four people convicted for their roles in the couple’s deaths in July 2018.
Barton County District Court sentenced Fowler to two consecutive "hard 50" life terms for the murders and a concurrent 21-month term for theft. On direct appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed Fowler's sentences.
"The Court rejected Fowler's claim that the district court abused its discretion by refusing to grant a downward departure sentence, citing the court's comprehensive analysis that determined the mitigating factors advanced by Fowler did not constitute substantial and compelling reasons to depart from the statutory presumptive sentence," the state's high court said in its ruling.
The Carpenters were killed after working at the Barton County Fair. Their bodies were found in a national forest near Van Buren, Arkansas.
Three others convicted in the case were previously sentenced to prison.
Kimberly Younger was sentenced to life plus 20 years for capital murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder and theft. Rusty Frasier was sentenced to life without parole for 50 years on each of two counts of first-degree murder. Christine Tenney was sentenced to nearly six years for aggravated robbery and eight months for obstructing apprehension.