If this former aclu attorney had her way, there would be no capital punishment, and unrestricted third trimester abortions would be the law of the land.
Posted on 04/16/2008 12:42:52 PM PDT by The_Republican
Proponents and opponents of imposing the death penalty for rape of a child underwent intense questioning Wednesday from a seemingly divided Supreme Court.
The hour-long argument came in the case of inmate Patrick Kennedy, sentenced to death for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Kennedy's lawyer, Jeffrey L. Fisher, told the court the death penalty for child rape under Louisiana law violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia challenged Fisher's position that the Louisiana law is too broad and that not enough states have enacted the death penalty for child rape to justify the Supreme Court's support for it.
"The trend has been more and more states are imposing the death penalty," said Roberts.
Louisiana is among five states that have imposed the death penalty for child rape since 1995.
The case represents a potentially different direction for a court that in recent years has narrowed the death penalty, overturning it for murderers who are juveniles or are mentally retarded.
Kennedy is "exquisitely culpable" and he has committed a crime that is "just unspeakable," Texas Solicitor General R. Ted Cruz told the court.
Louisiana prosecutor Juliet Clark described the injuries of Kennedy's stepdaughter, which required surgery, arguing that a crime of such savagery warrants Kennedy's execution.
Justice Stephen Breyer expressed concern that "suddenly we will be in the business" of broadening the death penalty for crimes other than murder.
"I am not a moralist, I am a judge," said Breyer (Not to mention an ahole) .
Kennedy is one of only two people, both in Louisiana, on death row in the United States for raping a child without also killing the victim.
No one has been executed for anything other than murder in 44 years. In 1977, the court ruled out executions for rapists whose victims are adults.
It left open the issue of whether raping a child could lead to death.
Arguments in the Louisiana case came on the same day the high court settled an issue that had put executions across the nation on hold for months. The justices turned back a challenge to procedures for execution by lethal injection in Kentucky. Similar methods are used by roughly three dozen states.
Besides Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas also allow executions of someone convicted of child rape, although the latter four states never have applied the death penalty to child rapists. Missouri, led by Gov. Matt Blunt, is considering a similar law.
Those states say there is a trend toward toughening penalties for people who victimize children and contend that death is an appropriate punishment for so horrific a crime as the rape of a child.
Kennedy's lawyers say more states have rejected the death penalty for child rapists and that the reasoning of the court's 1977 decision — that death is an excessive penalty for a rapist who does not also kill — should apply even when the victim is a child.
Groups that work to prevent sexual violence also have sided with Kennedy. They say victims often know their attacker — a relative or family friend — and that more rapes will go unreported if children have to worry that their words might lead to an execution.
The other inmate, Richard Davis, was sentenced to death in the Shreveport area in December. He has just begun appealing his conviction and sentence.
if we are going to have a death penalty in this country, child rapists should be at the top of the list.
Death....
.... by bongo-bongo!
First Degree Murder.
Forcible Rape.
Kidnapping of a Child (excluding parental kidnapping).
Treason.
All should be capital crimes in all States.
How about death for all rapists. For child rapists, death by broomstick
I missed it - what were they?
You didn't capitalize the "A"?
LOL!
While I am a strong supporter of the death penalty, allowing execution for rape leaves me a bit concerned.
Imagine if you will that an 18 year old boy and a 16 year old girl “get busy” and the folks come home. Girl is scared and cries rape. Now the boy could be executed for what otherwise would have been passed over.
Or think of some kid, under the influence of some angry mom or liberal doc who convinces the kid that daddy did wrong.
Not saying I’m against the idea ... I’m just cautious.
If this is at issue, I guess draw-and-quartering is right out?
How about radiation poisoning? Letting them slowly melt?
Acid?
Or maybe starvation in a hot filthy cell, plenty of water, but with food just out of reach?
I think ASB above addressed that concern in post #4. Forcible Rape. The one you are describing won’t fall in that category.
So you know that joke too? Anything done to a child must have a severe penalty. In NYC we had this case of the boyfriend torturing and basically killing this little girl Nixmary Brown (she was waked down the street from me). I don’t what this dude is pleading, but he definitely needn’t be on this earth. And the stupid mother is such a fart head. But a law like that will never go over in NYC-—too liberal.....and more kids will be killed, raped, abused whatever.
Washington - Lethal-injection procedures in Kentucky do not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
In a 7-to-2 decision announced on Wednesday, the US Supreme Court upheld the injection procedures used by Kentucky officials to execute condemned prisoners. The majority justices ruled that the existing procedures do not pose a "substantial risk of serious harm."
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
You are right. Definitely no need for this person on planet earth. What possible good is he to anyone alive? He only has one potential: get out of jail, rape more children.
He should not only die, his death should be televised.
If this former aclu attorney had her way, there would be no capital punishment, and unrestricted third trimester abortions would be the law of the land.
I totally agree. If people don’t like it, consider if your daughter was raped.
You know...AMAZINGLY, many men who rape children murder them, even though they knew they wouldn't have gotten the death penalty for just forcibly raping them? Why do they do that? So they won't get caught?
I would think the exact opposite would be the case. A child victim would be less likely to report a rape if she thought the rapist would be getting out of prison to come after her later. If she knew he would never hurt her again, she'd more likely help put him away.
That's just my best male-who'll-never-have-to-face-this guess.
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