Defense ordered to provide witness information in ongoing Thurber case

The hearing is to determine whether Thurber, sentence to death in the killing an Arkansas City woman in 2007, is considered intellectually disabled under current legal standards.

A motion filed Nov. 18 by Jeffrey Dazey, Thurber’s public defender, asked the Cowley County district court to reconsider a discovery order issued in September 2022 requiring the defense to disclose the name of a witnesses who was interviewed, and a brief summary of what the witness said. Dazey argued that following this order would violate Thurber’s right to counsel and his right against self-incrimination, as guaranteed by both the United States and Kansas constitutions. Disclosing this information would violate Thurber’s rights, Dazey said, because no determination has been made regarding which, if any, witnesses the defense may call to testify at a hearing.

Dazey requested that the order be vacated and that a protective order be issued prohibiting the State of Kansas from using witness names and summaries of what they said to the defense team.

In the state’s response, filed on Dec. 9, prosecutor Jessica Domme with the Kansas attorney general’s office said that the order is allowed under Kansas state statute. She also said the state is concerned that the evidentiary hearing could be delayed if the defense discovery is not provided on time.

In a hearing held Jan. 4 in Cowley County District Court, Judge Nick St. Peter ordered Thurber’s defense to file the discovery document in questions. He also ordered the defense to disclose the names and other pertinent information for any experts under contract with them by Jan. 6, although the state cannot contact these experts until Feb. 24. The defenses’ request for a protective order was denied.

During an appeal hearing in October 2017, Thurber’s attorney argued that his client’s sentence should be reduced from death to life in prison because Thurber is intellectually disabled, and there was misconduct by prosecutors during the trial.

The Kansas Supreme Court upheld the conviction in a 5-2 decision released in June 2018, but postponed ruling on the death sentence until the district court could reconsider Thurber’s claim of intellectual disability.

Thurber, of Arkansas City, was convicted of murdering Jodi Sanderholm by a Cowley County jury. He is one of 10 inmates currently on Kansas death row and is incarcerated at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.