The Kansas City Star's Prime Buzz blog reports, "Blunt files SCOTUS brief favoring death penalty for child rapists."
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt today filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the death penalty for child rapists.
The amici curiae, or “friends of the court” brief supports the state of Louisiana, which is defending before the court a law authorizing the death penalty for offenders who rape children under the age of 12.
Blunt proposed a similar law for Missouri last December and bills have been introduced in both houses to do so, although neither has been heard in committee.
Opponents argue such laws only encourage child rapists to kill their victims.
The brief references the case of Michael Devlin, the suburban St. Louis man who kidnapped two boys — one for more than four years — and repeatedly sexually abused them before being caught early last year. Devlin has since been sentenced to prison for 170 years and 74 life sentences.
The brief goes on to argue that the court “should not foreclose a national debate on appropriate punishment for child rape” and that discussion at the state level is the best way to determine the national consensus on the issue.
Blunt’s brief is also signed by 28 state lawmakers, including Kansas City-area Republicans Sen. Luann Ridgeway and Reps. Jason Brown and Tim Flook.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has, "Blunt weighs in on case that could impact 'Devlin's Law',"
reported by Jake Wagman.
Gov. Matt Blunt has entered the debate in a U.S. Supreme Court case that could decide whether the next Michael Devlin gets the death penalty.
Blunt’s office announced today it has filed an amicus brief in Kennedy v. Louisiana, the case of a man sentenced to death for raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter at their home near New Orleans.
The case would have broad implications around the U.S., and particularly in Missouri.
After Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby were rescued from their captor last year, State Sen. John Loudon announced he was sponsoring legislation that would make the kidnapping and rape of a child a potentially capital offense.
At issue in Kennedy- and in Loudon’s “Devlin Law” - is a fundamental constitutional question: Does enforcing the death penalty for a crime other than murder violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban against “cruel and unusual punishment?”
The Louisiana Supreme Court believes it doesn’t, saying in its lower-court ruling that “if the court is going to exercise its independent judgment to validate the death penalty for any non-homicide crime, it is going to be child rape.”
Blunt, essentially, makes the same argument in a press release today.
“Violent sex offenses against children are unspeakable crimes, crimes so horrific that they defy comprehension and demand harsh punishment,” Blunt said. “Crimes like these deserve the most serious punishment we can possibly deliver.”
The opposition will most likely rely on an earlier decision, Coker v. Georgia, which said that while rape is a heinous crime, only murder meets the criteria for the state’s highest penalty.
Oral arguments in the Kennedy case are scheduled for next month. It’s unclear how the timing of the case will effect the bill in Jefferson City.
Earlier coverage of the Missouri proposal is here. The Jessica's Law index is here. More on Kennedy v. Louisiana, via SCOTUSwiki; More on Coker v. Georgia, via Oyez.
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