WICHITA | Larry Williams expected to wait 10 years to see the death sentence carried out for his daughter&rsquo;s killer. Now, 13 years later, Williams said he may have to wait another decade before Gary Kleypas exhausts his appeals.</p><p> Lawyers understand the need for such scrutiny in death penalty cases, but others like Williams wonder whether the execution chamber in Lansing will ever be used.</p><p> &ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s been frustrating for me in more ways than one, obviously losing your daughter but then the long court case,&rdquo; Williams said.</p><p> The length of time it takes to resolve a capital case is one reason the death penalty costs about 16 times more than life in prison, according to a 2003 Kansas study. States in which executions have been carried out estimate even higher costs for death sentences.</p><p> Kleypas, found guilty of raping and killing 20-year-old Carrie Williams in 1996, was the first person condemned to die in Kansas in more than 30 years. Since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1994, no one has been executed.</p><p> As Kansas&rsquo; first capital punishment case since the death penalty was reinstated, Kleypas&rsquo; case has taken more than a decade because of legal errors and questions about how people here should be put to death.</p><p> The state Supreme Court overturned Kleypas&rsquo; sentencing because of instructions given to the jury about the death penalty. After another jury sentenced him to death last year, Kleypas&rsquo; appeal process began again.</p><p> Because appeals are taken in order, the state&rsquo;s first death penalty case now takes its place at the end of the line behind nine others.</p><p> Kleypas, 40 at the time he was charged with Williams&rsquo; murder, turned 54 last month.</p><p> Williams&rsquo; father, 51 at the time of his daughter&rsquo;s death, is now 64.</p><p> &ldquo;In all honesty, I don&rsquo;t think it will ever happen,&rdquo; Williams said of Kleypas&rsquo; execution. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve piddled around for so long, and they keep on piddling.&rdquo;</p><p> Prosecutors and defense lawyers say it takes time to work through a death sentence because of the intense legal scrutiny required for each case.</p><p> As the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, &ldquo;death is different&rdquo; from other sentences. It&rsquo;s a sentence that can&rsquo;t be corrected.</p><p> &ldquo;No one wants to rush a case through the system,&rdquo; said Barry Disney, the prosecutor in Kleypas&rsquo; case. &ldquo;These cases get extraordinary judicial review, and it simply takes time to do that.</p><p> Williams and others would like to see the appeals process streamlined and shortened. That might expedite execution but could also increase the chances of an innocent person dying, critics say.</p><p> The Death Penalty Information Center lists 139 people who have been released from death row since 1973, after evidence pointed to their innocence.</p><p> &ldquo;Most evidence of exonerations were not found until years after the crime,&rdquo; said Rebecca Woodman, a public defender who handles death penalty appeals in Kansas. &ldquo;It has taken an average of 12 years before innocence has been discovered.&rdquo;</p><p> There have been 1,178 executions nationwide since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states could implement the death penalty in certain cases.</p><p> In Kleypas&rsquo; case, his guilt has not been in question. Kleypas was on parole for murdering a 78-year-old woman in his hometown of Galena, Mo., when he enrolled in the nursing program at Pittsburg State University.</p><p> He confessed to raping and killing Williams, another Pittsburg State student, at her off-campus home.