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By Adam Liptak, New York Times News Service
August 31, 2003
The sentencing to death of a Louisiana man last week for raping an 8-year-old girl has reopened a debate about whether crimes that do not involve killings may ever be punished by death.
There has not been an execution for rape in the United States since 1964, and no one has been executed for any crime that did not involve a killing since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
The Louisiana law under which the man, Patrick O. Kennedy, was convicted allows the death penalty for the rape of a child younger than 12. It was enacted in 1995.
Graham da Ponte, one of Kennedy's attorneys, said the punishment was disproportionate to the crime.
A number of states and the federal government have laws on the books that allow the death penalty for crimes not involving killing. Among them are treason, espionage, kidnapping, aircraft hijacking and large-scale drug trafficking. California allows executions for train wrecking and for perjury that leads to another's execution.
Florida and Montana have broad capital rape laws on the books that do not distinguish by the victim's age, though the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that the Florida law is unconstitutional.
In 1977, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty may not be imposed for the rape of an adult woman. The penalty was, the court ruled, disproportionate to the crime and therefore forbidden as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
Legal experts differed on whether the reasoning of that case would also forbid executions in cases involving the rape of a child.
When Louisiana enacted its law in 1995, a few legislators argued against it based on concerns about its constitutionality. Others wondered whether it would encourage rapists of children to kill their victims on the theory that they would have nothing to lose.
In 1996, the Louisiana Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision, ruled that the law was constitutional.
The case ended in a plea bargain for a life sentence. Louisiana prosecutors have pursued other cases under the child rape law, but Kennedy's is the first case in which the jury returned a death sentence.
Legal experts say the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to hear Kennedy's case if the Louisiana courts uphold his death sentence.
Kennedy was accused of raping an 8-year-old relative, injuring her so badly that she required surgery. The girl, who is now 13, testified against him. His goddaughter also testified, at the penalty phase of the trial. Now in her 20s, the woman said that Kennedy had raped her on three occasions when she was 8 or 9.
Assistant District Attorney Donnie Rowan told the jury in Gretna, La., that these acts warranted execution.
"He made the choice to take the innocence of those two girls and throw it into the dirt," Rowan said.
August 31, 2003
The sentencing to death of a Louisiana man last week for raping an 8-year-old girl has reopened a debate about whether crimes that do not involve killings may ever be punished by death.
There has not been an execution for rape in the United States since 1964, and no one has been executed for any crime that did not involve a killing since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
The Louisiana law under which the man, Patrick O. Kennedy, was convicted allows the death penalty for the rape of a child younger than 12. It was enacted in 1995.
Graham da Ponte, one of Kennedy's attorneys, said the punishment was disproportionate to the crime.
A number of states and the federal government have laws on the books that allow the death penalty for crimes not involving killing. Among them are treason, espionage, kidnapping, aircraft hijacking and large-scale drug trafficking. California allows executions for train wrecking and for perjury that leads to another's execution.
Florida and Montana have broad capital rape laws on the books that do not distinguish by the victim's age, though the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that the Florida law is unconstitutional.
In 1977, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty may not be imposed for the rape of an adult woman. The penalty was, the court ruled, disproportionate to the crime and therefore forbidden as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
Legal experts differed on whether the reasoning of that case would also forbid executions in cases involving the rape of a child.
When Louisiana enacted its law in 1995, a few legislators argued against it based on concerns about its constitutionality. Others wondered whether it would encourage rapists of children to kill their victims on the theory that they would have nothing to lose.
In 1996, the Louisiana Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision, ruled that the law was constitutional.
The case ended in a plea bargain for a life sentence. Louisiana prosecutors have pursued other cases under the child rape law, but Kennedy's is the first case in which the jury returned a death sentence.
Legal experts say the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to hear Kennedy's case if the Louisiana courts uphold his death sentence.
Kennedy was accused of raping an 8-year-old relative, injuring her so badly that she required surgery. The girl, who is now 13, testified against him. His goddaughter also testified, at the penalty phase of the trial. Now in her 20s, the woman said that Kennedy had raped her on three occasions when she was 8 or 9.
Assistant District Attorney Donnie Rowan told the jury in Gretna, La., that these acts warranted execution.
"He made the choice to take the innocence of those two girls and throw it into the dirt," Rowan said.
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