Court upholds death sentence for child rape

[AliceInWonderland]

Court upholds death sentence for child rape

Story Highlights
• Louisiana Supreme Court rules in favor of death penalty for child rape
• Lawyers say test case could go to U.S. Supreme Court
• 1977 ruling says execution is cruel and unusual punishment in sex cases
• Patrick Kennedy, 42, convicted of raping relative as she sorted Girl Scout cookies

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Louisiana's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a man may be executed for raping an 8-year-old girl, and lawyers say his case may become the test for whether the nation's highest court upholds the death penalty for someone who rapes a child.

Both sides say the sentence for Patrick Kennedy, 42, could expand a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that held the death penalty for rape violated the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The high court said then that its ruling applied only to adult victims.

Attorney Jelpi Picou, director of the New Orleans-based Capital Appeals Project, said he will ask the Louisiana Supreme Court for a rehearing and, if rejected, will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"As horrid as (rape) is and as harshly as we believe it should be condemned, death is inappropriate in this case," Picou said.

Louisiana law allows the death penalty for the aggravated rape of someone less than 12 years old.

"He's the only person in the United States on death row for non-homicide rape," Picou said.

Kennedy was convicted in 2003 of raping a relative as she sorted Girl Scout cookies in the garage of her home in suburban New Orleans. He bragged to one man that the girl "became a lady today," deputies said.

His defense attorney at the time argued that blood testing was inconclusive and that the victim -- who didn't report that Kennedy was her rapist until 21 months later -- was pressured to change her story.

In Tuesday's opinion, Justice Jeffrey Victory wrote, "Our state Legislature and this court have determined this category of aggravated rapist to be among those deserving of the death penalty, and, short of a first-degree murderer, we can think of no other non-homicide crime more deserving."

Victory wrote that the Louisiana law meets the U.S. Supreme Court test requiring an aggravating circumstance -- in this case the age of the victim -- to justify the death penalty.

The governors of South Carolina and Oklahoma signed laws last year allowing the death penalty for people who repeatedly rape children. Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said he doesn't know of any successful prosecution under either of those laws.

A bill that would allow the death penalty for a second offense of child rape is awaiting the governor's decision in Texas.

Georgia law allows death as a penalty for rape. Dieter said Florida and Montana also have such laws, but authorities have said the penalty would be invoked only for rape of a child.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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YES! AND MORE OF THESE SHOULD BE HANDED OUT TO DAMN CHILD PREDATORS!!!! there's nothing lower on this earth imo.

[McJag]

Well, he can become a man walking to the death chamber-the worthless jack ass. 8!

[MrsDark]

If you're gonna let him live, at least chop it his dick off, saute it, and feed it to the fucker. And if we're gonna be killing him, do it anyway for good measure. Why make his death far easier than the rest of her life will be?

[AliceInWonderland]

^ yes I'm also for castration of these sickos! any child predators and/or rapist monsters.

[nwgirl]

Buh-bye!

[Anne2007]

When people say to me the Death Penalty is not a deterrent, I always reply "At least they don't do the crime again when their punishment is meted out."

[lalala]

The problem in those cases is not that the Death Penalty is not a deterrent, it's that it could push a child rapist to murder the child to avoid the risk of his testimony

[McJag]

Originally Posted by lalala

The problem in those cases is not that the Death Penalty is not a deterrent, it's that it could push a child rapist to murder the child to avoid the risk of his testimony

We all ready have the death penalty for cop killing ,etc. Some kill-some don't. Most child rape cases already end with a dead child. I don't see this being the case at all,really.

[Just Kill Me]

A wrote a paper discussing the different types of rape and what would cause a predator to kill thier victim. Most people who kill the victim are repeat offenders who don't want to get caught again...

[greysfang]

Originally Posted by AliceInWonderland

YES! AND MORE OF THESE SHOULD BE HANDED OUT TO DAMN CHILD PREDATORS!!!! there's nothing lower on this earth imo.

Amen.

[AliceInWonderland]

Originally Posted by Anne2007

When people say to me the Death Penalty is not a deterrent, I always reply "At least they don't do the crime again when their punishment is meted out."

exactly - this whole story makes me sick.

[VenusInFauxFurs]

I think they deserve they death penalty. I fucking hate pedophiles and I will never have compassion on them ever. Let the fuckers fry and if such a place exists I hope they burn in fucking hell for all eternity.

[AliceInWonderland]

^ they also say that they are virtually impossible to rehabilitate so why bother with them at all, get them out of our society! And if I had a son who did something like that; I'd do it myself to him!

[blissfullyunaware]

Originally Posted by VenusInFauxFurs

I think they deserve they death penalty. I fucking hate pedophiles and I will never have compassion on them ever. Let the fuckers fry and if such a place exists I hope they burn in fucking hell for all eternity.

I agree 100%

[Honey]

Paedos are gross..even other criminals hate them I think