Court: No Death Penalty For Raping Children

[MalahatTwo7]

I read this through a couple of times, and there is something (underlined) that seems contradictory. Can any one shed some light on this?

Court: No Death Penalty For Raping Children
Supreme Court Strikes Down Law

POSTED: 10:37 am EDT June 25, 2008
UPDATED: 11:12 am EDT June 25, 2008


WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday outlawed executions of people convicted of raping a child.

In a 5-4 vote, the court said the Louisiana law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in such cases violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. {and raping a child ISN'T????}

"The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion. His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented.

There has not been an execution in the United States for a crime that did not also involve the death of the victim in 44 years.

Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter in Louisiana. He is one of two people in the United States, both in Louisiana, who have been condemned to death for a rape that was not also accompanied by a killing.

The Supreme Court banned executions for rape in 1977 in a case in which the victim was an adult woman.

Forty-five states ban the death penalty for any kind of rape, and the other five states allow it for child rapists. Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas allow executions in such cases if the defendant had previously been convicted of raping a child.

The court struggled over how to apply standards laid out in decisions barring executions for the mentally retarded and people younger than 18 when they committed murder. In those cases, the court cited trends in the states away from capital punishment.

In this case, proponents of the Louisiana law said the trend was toward the death penalty, a point mentioned by Justice Samuel Alito in his dissent.

"The harm that is caused to the victims and to society at large by the worst child rapists is grave," Alito wrote. "It is the judgment of the Louisiana lawmakers and those in an increasing number of other states that these harms justify the death penalty."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.

[CaptOldTimer]

What a piece of $hit!

He will get his when he goes to prison and he will get more than he ever figured too!! :eek: :eek: ;)

[DaSharkie]

While I am conservative - the death penalty is a waste of time since the majority of these stellar specimens of human filth never get there.

This POS deserves to be dropped in the middle of the Atlantic blindfolded and told "swim."

[DaSharkie]

However Rick,

If there ever was a useless, low-life, scum-swilling, bottom-dwelling piece of human filth poisoning the gene pool and wasting oxygen, then this scumbag would be it. And the useless bleeding hearts at the ACLU, Amnesty International, and others would hold "Vigils" for this scumbag right up until he was fried.

Death penalty? Nah. Just let a prisoner stab him in the abdomen a dozen times with a knife dipped in urine and feces so he dies a slow and miserable and painful death.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h3laqfsenfwJ7MYE8qxqGT39 h2dQD91GNOM80

Ex-con found guilty of torturing NYC grad student
By SAMUEL MAULL – 23 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — An ex-convict was found guilty Tuesday in the rape and torture of a Columbia University graduate student who survived 19 hours of nightmarish sadism in which he scalded her with boiling water and attempted to blind her before trying to burn her to death.

Robert Williams was convicted of attempted murder, rape, kidnapping, arson and other charges in the attack, which was so prolonged and agonizing that the victim begged her tormentor to kill her and later tried to kill herself.

The verdict followed a gruesome trial that included dramatic testimony from the victim, who said the 31-year-old Williams made her swallow fistfuls of painkillers, ordered her to gouge out her eyes with scissors, sealed her lips with super glue and gagged her with duct tape before torching her apartment.

Williams, who was found guilty of all but two of 46 counts, was not in court to hear the verdict read. The judge said that when Williams was told a verdict had been reached, he simply turned over in his courthouse cell and went back to sleep.

"He didn't have any more reaction to that than he has had to anything else," said Williams' attorney Arnold Levine.

The victim and her relatives, in the front row of the courtroom, showed no reaction while the verdicts were read. Her father, on behalf of the family, later declined to comment.

Williams, who previously served eight years in prison for attempted murder, could get a life sentence at a hearing set for July 24.

When the trial began June 5, prosecutor Ann Prunty told jurors that Williams had violated the victim "in every way imaginable — and in some ways unimaginable," then tried to finish her off by burning her alive.

The evidence against Williams included DNA from the victim found on a shirt he was wearing when he was arrested and DNA from him on one of the woman's T-shirts. The victim also identified him in court.

The woman told teary jurors Williams repeatedly raped and sodomized her, scalded her with boiling water, threw bleach at her eyes in an attempt to blind her and slit her eyelids during the excruciating torture in her upper Manhattan apartment.

Tied up and left unconscious to die in a fire her attacker set in her apartment, the woman woke up and used the flames to burn through some of her restraints and escape what might have become her crematorium.

Prunty credited the victim's intelligence and mental toughness with helping her survive, despite the emotional and physical pain.

The victim testified that she memorized features and scars of her torturer while trying to connect with him — even asking about his taste in music — and trying to convince him she wouldn't identify him to authorities.

The nearly three-week trial was unusual in that the defendant was in court just once for a few hours. He was forced to show up on the day the victim testified and pointed him out to the jury as her rapist and torturer.

[superchef]

I vote for dropping him in the general population. That will save the taxpayers the expense of the numerous appeals that would legally have to be made if he did get the death penalty.

My opinion of him is not printable.

ps. let's chuck that second **&&$$#% in there too.

[Steamer]

Having lived in Louisiana for awhile, I learned some little tid-bits early on, first of all that the bijou holds a lot of secrets.

Also, did y'all know that the digestive system of alligators and crocodiles will digest even the bones of its prey? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v347/Steamer/whistling2.gif

[jlcooke3]

This particular case is a prime example of how the legal system in this country has been corrupted. Everything from frivolous lawsuits to this judicial legislation. The good people of Louisiana voted and elected representatives that were tasked legislating the will of the people of Louisiana and they did. The duly elected representatives of Louisiana voted to allow the death penalty in certain non-homicide trials. The United States Supreme Court has taken it upon itself to completely negate the will of an entire state, and for what? The supreme court cited the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution which states: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." I find it hard to believe that a punishment that is sanctioned by the people of Louisiana is either cruel and/or unusual.

On a side note, the death penalty is a highly derisive subject that elicits emotions from just about everyone. There have been many arguments over the years about the cruelty of the death penalty, everything from the possibility of suffocation from hanging to the recent pain caused by lethal injection. Some people understand that their is need for pain to because in order to affect punishment, whether that pain be emotional, mental, or physical pain. If anyone doubts this, those of us that used to receive spankings as a child know the true relationship of pain and punishment. The death penalty has lost, if it ever had, deterrent ability due in part to the length of time from sentencing to when the sentence is carried out. I believe that everyone is afforded the right to a fair, just, and speedy trial. I also believe that the offender, the victim, and society is entitled to speedy punishment. We should as a society should do everything in our power to see that no innocent man/woman is ever punished for a crime he/she didn't commit, this must be tempered by the fact that as humans we are fallable and mistakes will occur. As tragic as that fact is it should in no way deter us as a society from ensuring our safety by punishing those that we find guilty of crimes against as WE THE PEOPLE see fit.

P.S. I hope that the POS dies a slow, horrible, agonizing death. I hope and pray that the victim and her family somehow (I can't imagine how) overcome this tragedy and live out their lives in peace. They have surely paid the price to earn it.

[DaSharkie]

I learned some little tid-bits early on, first of all that the bijou holds a lot of secrets.

Also, did y'all know that the digestive system of alligators and crocodiles will digest even the bones of its prey? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v347/Steamer/whistling2.gif

I have heard this too.

[BryanLoader]

I am against the death penalty, but not out of pity or concern for the guilty party. Its got to be far worse to be sentenced to life in prison where that A##hole knows he or she will never breath free air, hold their family, walk a street. As far as I'm concerned the death penalty is too lenient. At least in your country, the scumbag will probably leave the prison in a pine box. In Canada life usually means 15 to 25 years.

[michfire]

On kind of a side note, what about the Democratic politician out of Mass, REP JAMES FAGAN, who, in regards to child rape victims, said he would “rip apart” 6-year-old victims on the witness stand and “make sure the rest of their life is ruined.”

In a fiery soliloquy on the House floor, Fagan said he’d grill victims so that, “when they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.”

What the hell's the matter with him?

By the way, he is involved with numerous youth organizations, sits on the house ethics committee, and his email address is Rep.JamesFagan@hou.state.ma.us

[MalahatTwo7]

On kind of a side note, what about the Democratic politician out of Mass, REP JAMES FAGAN, who, in regards to child rape victims, said he would “rip apart” 6-year-old victims on the witness stand and “make sure the rest of their life is ruined.”

In a fiery soliloquy on the House floor, Fagan said he’d grill victims so that, “when they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.”

What the hell's the matter with him?

By the way, he is involved with numerous youth organizations, sits on the house ethics committee, and his email address is Rep.JamesFagan@hou.state.ma.us


IS THIS GUY ON GLUE? And if so, why is he NOT SHARING???????

=======
On a different note:

Obama, McCain Chide Court On Rape Case. Both Call Crime 'Heinous'

POSTED: 9:40 am EDT June 26, 2008
UPDATED: 11:27 am EDT June 26, 2008

CHICAGO -- Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain say they disagree with the Supreme Court's decision outlawing executions of people who rape children, and said states have the right to consider to capital punishment for such crimes.

"I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for the most egregious of crimes," Obama said Wednesday at a news conference. "I think that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited, well-defined circumstances the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that that does not violate our Constitution."

The court's 5-4 decision Wednesday struck down a Louisiana law that allows capital punishment for people convicted of raping children under 12, saying it violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The ruling spares the only people in the U.S. under sentence of death for that crime -- two Louisiana men convicted of raping girls ages 5 and 8. It also invalidates laws on the books in five other states that allowed executions for child rape that does not result in the death of the victim.

McCain, also criticized the court's decision, calling it "an assault on law enforcement's efforts to punish these heinous felons for the most despicable crime."

"That there is a judge anywhere in America who does not believe that the rape of a child represents the most heinous of crimes, which is deserving of the most serious of punishments, is profoundly disturbing," McCain said in a statement.

Obama, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, said that had the court "said we want to constrain the abilities of states to do this to make sure that it's done in a careful and appropriate way, that would have been one thing. But it basically had a blanket prohibition and I disagree with that decision."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.

[doughesson]

As I understand,some politician,I think from Massachussetts,was on TV saying that lawyers will rip into each and every kid brought in to testify against their rapist because that's what defense attorneys do.tear down every witness in an attempt to get their client off the hook for what they did.
I'm more of the type that when asked what I would do if my niece or child was kidnapped,and this was on Channel 6 in Paducah when it seemed like kids were getting grabbed daily,I responded"I would let my sister or wife do the tearful pleas to have her baby returned.I will announce the time,and that the kidnapper has 24 hours to return my child,niece,my loved one unharmed,unmolested and in the same condition as when she was taken.
Failing that,I will be conducting my own search for the kidnapper and you WILL find a jacked up SWAT team more reasonable to deal with than I will be if I catch you with my child."Then I'd announce the time again and repeat the 24 hour grace period.
I don't know why they only ran that response once and the ones about how people would pray for their child's return more often.Maybe a friend on the SO saw it and warned them that yeah,he would because he didn't want to have to arrest me for it.

[doughesson]

Having lived in Louisiana for awhile, I learned some little tid-bits early on, first of all that the bijou holds a lot of secrets.

Also, did y'all know that the digestive system of alligators and crocodiles will digest even the bones of its prey? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v347/Steamer/whistling2.gif


My Granddad and most of his neighbors raised pigs.Did you know that they can crunch down and eat bones?

[michfire]

As I understand,some politician,I think from Massachussetts,was on TV saying that lawyers will rip into each and every kid brought in to testify against their rapist because that's what defense attorneys do.tear down every witness in an attempt to get their client off the hook for what they did.


In this case, Fagan, who is a defense lawyer, said he himself would be the one attacking and ruining the lives of any child who would claim to be raped.
Some may say that is what defense lawyers do, defend their clients. I just don't understand how a man, or woman, could sacrifice an innocent child in support of such scum for monetary gain, especially one who claims to be so supportive in so many youth organizations.

In case anyone missed it, that email address again is: Rep.JamesFagan@hou.state.ma.us

[MalahatTwo7]

My Granddad and most of his neighbors raised pigs.Did you know that they can crunch down and eat bones?

Ummm yes, but there is a fellow in BC who is being held for something like 56 charges of murder etc of prostitutes in the Vancouver area. His name is Picton, and he had a pig farm. Whether pigs will eat and "crunch down" all human material, they still sh!t it out. He was convicted based on DNA evidence gathered from the pigs....... I like the bijou and the alligators better. Less chance of DNA sampling. :eek: :D:D :p

[DaSharkie]

This is the aforementioned speech that this typical useless, scum-sucking, bottom-feeding piece of human filth that is typical of the flaming liberal, bleedingheart morons (more than 90% of who are Democrats) in the People's Republik of Taxachusetts.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aq-NJ1YQu8M

[Steamer]

Ya know, I understand that ethically a trial attorney has to do everything in his power to defend/represent their client, but damn....he sure sounded almost anxious to destroy an 8 year old's life beyond even the level his client presumably did, and reveled in his ability to do so.

[Paddiegrunt]

No worries, It is usually taken care of by the Inmates

[FWDbuff]

Death Penalty, no death penalty....Life W/O Parole.....Doesnt matter. You let me catch the sunofabitch who rapes my kids, and I guarantee that they will be begging for death by the time I get done with them.

[MalahatTwo7]

Death Penalty, no death penalty....Life W/O Parole.....Doesnt matter. You let me catch the sunofabitch who rapes my kids, and I guarantee that they will be begging for death by the time I get done with them.

Decapitation, starting the the big toe of the left foot.

[MaryJane69]

Sounds like they are putting the rights of the criminal before the rights of the victims.
How can they say child rapists aren't deserving of the death penalty? Have they taken leave of their senses?
I'm British and we don't have the death penalty over here. (But I wish we did!) I'm all for it.

Rape is one of the worst crimes. Once proven guilty the rapist should not be allowed to draw breath again. If they will end up sitting on death row for the next ten to twenty years the law should do something about it. Just line up all those SOB's against a wall and shoot them into oblivian. Same goes for the above mentioned rapist and torturer.

Same goes here. Anyone rapes my kids I will reap revenge on their ass so fast they won't know what hit them! I don't care what the cost to myself would be. I'd totally do it! Assault, murder, whatever! (I have two sons, no girls. But it still applies.) This thread has just got my blood boiling. I'm so mad right now. :mad:

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

This is the aforementioned speech that this typical useless, scum-sucking, bottom-feeding piece of human filth that is typical of the flaming liberal, bleedingheart morons (more than 90% of who are Democrats) in the People's Republik of Taxachusetts.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aq-NJ1YQu8M

You know that this guy is a) a fool and b) a terrible attorney. (He also looks like he is about 5' tall, but that is another thread). Juries do not like when a defense attorney "rips apart" an 8 yoa rape victim. It almost never works.

[DaSharkie]

You know that this guy is a) a fool and b) a terrible attorney. (He also looks like he is about 5' tall, but that is another thread). Juries do not like when a defense attorney "rips apart" an 8 yoa rape victim. It almost never works.

Yeah, but they do it all the time - and the kid suffers while the scumbag.....excuse me - I would hate tick off the ACLU - alleged scumbag fights his way out.

Sad thing is that in Massachusetts the equally scum-sucking moronic judges would allow Fagan to get away with ripping apart a child.

[BryanLoader]

George In the interests of political correctness, it is not allowed to comment on a persons height or lack thereof. A correct term might be " Vertically Challenged"



You know that this guy is a) a fool and b) a terrible attorney. (He also looks like he is about 5' tall, but that is another thread). Juries do not like when a defense attorney "rips apart" an 8 yoa rape victim. It almost never works.