La. Child Rapist Death Sentence Upheld

New Orleans Man On Death Row For Rape of 8-Year-Old Girl; Case May Be Appealed To U.S. Supreme Court

(AP)  Louisiana's Supreme Court ruled that a man may be executed for raping an 8-year-old girl, and lawyers say his case may become the test for whether the nation's highest court upholds the death penalty for someone who rapes a child.

Both sides say the sentence for Patrick Kennedy, 42, could expand a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that held the death penalty for rape violated the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The high court said then that its ruling applied only to adult victims.

Attorney Jelpi Picou, director of the New Orleans-based Capital Appeals Project, said he will ask the Louisiana Supreme Court for a rehearing and, if rejected, will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“As horrid as (rape) is and as harshly as we believe it should be condemned, death is inappropriate in this case,” Picou said.

Louisiana law allows the death penalty for the aggravated rape of someone less than 12 years old.

“He's the only person in the United States on death row for non-homicide rape,” Picou said.

Kennedy was convicted in 2003 of raping a relative as she sorted Girl Scout cookies in the garage of her home in suburban New Orleans. He bragged to one man that the girl “became a lady today,” deputies said.

His defense attorney at the time argued that blood testing was inconclusive and that the victim — who didn't report that Kennedy was her rapist until 21 months later — was pressured to change her story.

In Tuesday's opinion, Justice Jeffrey Victory wrote, “Our state Legislature and this court have determined this category of aggravated rapist to be among those deserving of the death penalty, and, short of a first-degree murderer, we can think of no other non-homicide crime more deserving.”

Victory wrote that the Louisiana law meets the U.S. Supreme Court test requiring an aggravating circumstance — in this case the age of the victim — to justify the death penalty.

The governors of South Carolina and Oklahoma signed laws last year allowing the death penalty for people who repeatedly rape children. Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said he doesn't know of any successful prosecution under either of those laws.

A bill that would allow the death penalty for a second offense of child rape is awaiting the governor's decision in Texas.

Georgia law allows death as a penalty for rape. Dieter said Florida and Montana also have such laws, but authorities have said the penalty would be invoked only for rape of a child.

[ecuadoriana]

"He bragged to one man that the girl 'became a lady today,' deputies said."

Because that's how he sees "ladies"- things to r*pe & torture for his pleasure. He feels that doing this to someone is doing her a favour. He has no concept of respect for personal boundaries.

Lethal injection is too good for him. Slow, hot poker up his man-hole should be a good start. But he has to do it to himself & while crying like a lady.

[jdweymouth]

Furthermore, those of you saying that life imprisonment would be better punishment because of the way he would be treated, albeit very badly, shows that you obviously don't understand the purpose of the death penalty. It's not for revenge of individual(s); it's for the revenge of the society; it%u2019s for the society to show its disgust with acts such as murder or rape. It also serves to recompense; he takes a life unjustly, then he hasn't the sufficient respect for human life that would allow him to deserve his: he's no longer "innocent" by the society's standards, and therefore not entitled to the same rights as law-abiding citizens. If he%u2019s taken an innocent life, why should he deserve to live? How can we let someone who has taken a life, unnecessarily, live? It is unnatural. How can we let someone live who has violated someone it one of the worst possible ways (rape) live? Regardless of what happens in prison, when faced with death, human nature scrambles for a way to survive. As long as there is no death penalty, evil people will be willing to take the risk because their lives are not at stake-unlike their victims%u2019.

[jdweymouth]

The death penalty is mentioned in the constitution when it says, "...nor be deprived of life liberty, or property without due process of law. Indicating that the founding fathers expected the death penalty but provided that it wasn't used unjustly. When it says, "no cruel or unusual shall be inflicted", it was referring to the British method of execution: death by vivisection only AFTER you'd been nearly strangled to death at the gallows. So, not only is the death penalty not unconstitutional: it's actually mentioned in the constitution, though indirectly, as an expected form of execution.

I agree that this man needs to get the worst possible punishment, and that's why I don't agree with lethal injection-it needs to be painful. If you rape someone (virgin or not) you take something away that can never be gotten back: so we need the death penalty for ALL rapists, and it should be something like the electric chair, gallows, or firing squad. The same goes for murderers: how can you recompense the life of someone who does not deserve to die? You do the math.

[gunownerdan]

If I saw some maniac attacking or raping a child, I would blow their brains out with my .45 and it would be perfectly legal.

[luckygirl042]

What a low down scum bag.
He bragged to one man that the girl %u201Cbecame a lady today,%u201D deputies said.
This cruel man obviously had no remorse for what he did and would surely do it again. He has ruined this little girl's life. There is no therapy that will help her completely recover from this horrible act. No one can give her back what was taken from her. I do hope they let the other prisoners get at him, they can make a "lady" out of him.

[asor1-2009]

Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment???? What should punishment be, kind and customary?
Let his new friends in prison decide his fate.

[peaceforusa]

%u201CAs horrid as (rape) is and as harshly as we believe it should be condemned, death is inappropriate in this case,%u201D Picou said".

Death is appropriate for all child molesters. What is their life worth exactly? They cannot be rehabilitated and that has been proven over and over again...They are in our society to victimize our children and that is what they do. Death is the appropriate sentence...

[grammawhamma]

Death penalty...no!! Too good for this scum. I agree that life in prison with access to the other inmates would be the way to go. He will soon wish that he would have been put to death.

[goss4444]

I agree with funkiwiteboy to a degree, death is inappropriate in this case. Keep him in prison for the rest of his life and leave him in general population... The other inmates love child rapists and will do the job for us.

[goss4444]

I agree with funkiwiteboy to a degree, death by our legal system is inappropriate in this case. Keep him in prision for the rest of his life and leave him in general population... They love child rapists and will do the job for us.