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Death penalty in Texas' 'Jessica's Law' not viable after SCOTUS' Kennedy decision

SCOTUSBlog reports that the US Supreme Court's ruling in the Kennedy case out of Lousiana bars states from legislating the death penalty for the crime of child rape "when the victim does not die and death was not intended." The 5-4 ruling written by swing-man Justice Anthony Kennedy will invalidate a portion of Texas' new "Jessica's Law" statute, which included the death penalty for the second offense.Though the ruling will disallow a portion of Texas' statute and the state participated in an amici brief to support Louisiana's position, the ruling will affect no pending Texas cases. That's because, cleverly, the House members involved with Texas' 2007 Jessica's Law - notably Jerry Madden and Dan Gattis along with Rep. Debbie Riddle who accepted their amendments on the House floor - found a way to put off the real-world application of the death penalty with a bit of legislative sleight of hand...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 25, 2008 (boomark / email).