
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Johnson County physician who killed two of her children in an arson fire wants a new sentencing hearing.
The Kansas City Star reports that Debora Green argues that her life sentence with no chance of parole for 40 years is unconstitutional. Green, now 63, was found guilty of starting the 1995 fire that engulfed her Prairie Village home.
A number of Kansas inmates are seeking to be resentenced after a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found that the kind of sentence Green received must be considered by a jury. Green’s sentence was imposed solely by a judge.
Since the ruling, the Kansas Supreme Court has reversed several murder sentences that were decided by judges, not juries.
A hearing on Green’s motion is scheduled for Jan. 22.