Finally a jury gets it right!!
 

Rapist of Girl Sentenced to Death in La.
Tue Aug 26,10:49 PM ET

GRETNA, La. - A man convicted of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter received the death penalty Tuesday in what could be the state's first death sentence for a crime other than murder.

The man, whose identity was being withheld to protect the victim, was convicted of aggravated rape Monday and jurors sentenced him to death after nearly two hours of deliberations.

Under a 1995 Louisiana law, the death penalty can be sought for aggravated rape if the victim is under the age of 12. The other penalty is a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) ruled it was unconstitutional to sentence someone to death who had not committed a murder. Since then, no one in the state has been sentenced to death for a crime other than murder, said Nick Trenticosta, a New Orleans attorney who has handled numerous death row appeals.

The girl was attacked on March 2, 1998. At first she told police that she was raped by a young man as she sorted Girl Scout cookies in the open garage of her suburban New Orleans home, but told her mother more than a year later the defendant raped her.

Defense attorney Graham Da Ponte argued in court that the evidence against the defendant wasn't enough and suggested that the victim was pressured to change her story.

Wait, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this mean Louisiana is going against the 1977 Supreme Court case... Did they decide that they don't need the federal government telling them what to do, or did the supreme court reverse that 1977 ruling sometime between '77 and now?

EDIT: Found this, I guess I didn't read it wrong.

Okay, child rape is bad. Awful. Fucking horrible.

However...

Putting someone to death for committing a crime other than murder is downright scary. It's a slippery slope that I don't think we want to start down. Put the man in jail but don't kill him. This isn't the middle ages, we don't stone people who commit crimes.

Plus, as Raw said, horribly unconstitutional.

I disagree. People do stuff like this because they know that if they're caught they'll usually just get a little smack on the wrist. Personally, I'm all for a public stoning of assholes like this. I want to be first in line with a handful of rocks.

If I ever have a kid and someone would rape him/her. Our justice system would be the least of their worries, and they better hope that the police would get to them before me cause I would kill a mother fucker in a horrible way, and I would gladly go to jail. People like that guy don't deserve to live.

It really does not matter one way or the other if they give this piece of shit a death sentence, once he gets into the prison system......HE'S a DEAD MUTHERFUKER anyway:D

about damn time, I'm glad a judge had the guts to do it. I think we should have cruel and unusual punishment. We are too kind to sick fuckers like that. Because of that man, that poor child will suffer for the rest of her life through counsoling. It just pisses me off because I feel so bad for kids in that situation. I listen on love line to all these girls who are raped and can't even talk right. WTF!!!!!!

The real problem I see here is that it won't stop at people who abuse children. If someone can be murdered by the state for raping a child, then the next step is captial punishment for the raping of an adult. Pretty soon you're chopping off thieves hands, hanging people who assualt women and taking a bamboo cane to people who spray paint freeway overpasses.

You have to set limits with something as grave as capital punishment. In every western society I can think of, that limit is murder.

the judge didn't have anything to do with the sentencing, but I am glad this guy is going straight to the chair (metaphorically speaking, i'm not sure what the preferred method of execution is in La). Ending a life is bad enough, but shit like this makes me agree with sixate on the public stoning thing. That girl's life has been forever altered in a very bad way by this man, he doesn't deserve to live.

I support that also. They don't play by the rules so the rules should not apply to criminals.

I agree with sixate on this one. I don't feel any pity for someone being sentenced to death for raping an 8 year old.

Child rapists get "special attention" from the all the other inmates, so I would think he got a break with that ruling. Once word gets out about what he did his life is not going to be very fun...

No matter what, he will get his due. He might be getting off lucky with the death penalty, rather than being killed by fellow inmates.

i hope ya burn in hell, motherfucker. (the rapest)

I'm with sixate & spec on this one.

Although I can be quite progressive.

Once you've done something like this, you've lost your right to humanity.
Why? Because you've been inhuman, period.

I personally don't want to pay for his life in prison,
let him fade into a nice "permanent" sleep.

Shit, I'd almost rather some of the murderers that currently get the death penalty get life,
if someone who did this, would get it instead.

This is MUCH more heinous than some of the other death penalty cases.

I dont normally agree with putting people to death, but when it comes to criminals that will simply go back on the street and can do it again. Let them fuckers burn.

What happened here was the bost possible choice imho.

I am in favor of more public and corporal punishments...I think executions should be public and brutal, (and not just televised, either), I think canings should be reinstituted...do you think drunk driving would be decreased if the punishment was 20 lashes in public instead of 30 day work release in a minimum security prison? Besides, it's cheaper and more effective to punish physically then it is to jail indefinitely.

Woooooooohooooooooo, lets hope this catches on. This little girl will NEVER forget what happened to her.

Lets hope the punishment stands

I don't believe so.
This would start placing us on the same level with those who commit the crime.

I would just prefer that those persons are,
simply put to sleep permanently.
Like a animal...because that is what they have allowed themselves to be.

Cut to the chase, make it quick.
This is the most humane, in a inhumane situation.

This is not about vengence, this is about getting rid of a threat
and then getting rid of a permanent burden to society.

Yep, deal him death.

Perhaps this is just the beginning of turning around a system where pleading insanity will get you out of most crimes. Personal responsibility is in the crapper in this country. This girl was EIGHT!!!!! She doesn't even know what that part is for yet!!!! Cut this dude's wank off, and let him hold onto it when he's getting the juice in the chair!!!!!

WE DON"T NEED JAILS! if we gave everyone the death penalty crime would be nearly non-existent

I would agree with sixate...except that, in this case, the Death Penalty is going to let him get off easy. As I read the story, the rapist's only other choice of sentence was life in prison without parole. I'm guessing this assclown is around early to mid thirties. That's a long time to be ass raped by Bubba and band of merry-men. I think that I'm kinda for that.

The world is a better place without scum like him.

I think the Hawaiians (pre-European-influenced, of course) had it right - they didn't have any prisons. When you screwed up, they either gave you a pass with a warning, or if the crime was heinous enough, or if they got tired of giving you warnings , they just caved in your head with a war club.

Which is why I favour putting him in jail for the rest of his natural life.

Death is an easy way out for this guy. I want to see him and the others like him suffer the anal fuck-fest that I am sure will begin once the other prisoners find out about him.

And sticking your cock in an 8 year old is consitutional ????????????


I think all rapists should get the chair young or old victum. There is no reason to force someone to have sex with you. I personally don't want my tax money going to prisons to house rapists and murderers. KILL ALL OF THEM!!!!!!

I'm all for the death penalty in this case. C'mon -- The guy grabbed an eight year old girl and fucked her -- what is the state to do with someone like this -- rehabilitate them -- screw that -- make an example out of him and fry his ass.... !!!!!

I've always felt the parent(s) of any child molested or killed in any fashion (if proved guilty) should be allowed to go into a room with the guilty person and deal out their own form of punishment short of killing him/her. There have been several cases where a parent has waited outside the courthouse and harmed or killed the perp. I say shove a steal pipe in the ass and make them keep it there until they are released from prison. It's one thing to violate and adult...but when you mess with a child your just asking for it from everybody!

Great point, and, even if they don't kill him right away......he's gonna be REALLY sore:hmm:

I don't see a thing wrong with any of the above... Only problem with capital punishment is the length of time involved and the cost due to mandated appeal, etc. Just throw him into the general population and let them deal with him - He'll be dead before you can say John Geoghan.

I am with sixate on this as well. What possible value can this rapist bring to our world being alive? The only value he can bring is being someone's bitch behind bars.....which, by the way, you and I are paying for his little stay in prison. He deserves to die, not only because of the heinous crime he cimmitted, but because there is nothing of value he can bring to humanity.

This doesn't mean we will enact chopping off hand because someone steals, or caning someone for tagging a freewey.....there is a slight difference in crimes here. So, for all you softy conservatives who want to pay for this guy to stay in prison instead of getting the due punishment, wait till it happens to you, your mom, your little baby sister, your best friend. (I don't wish this on anyone by the way)

I'm wondering why they withhold the name of the rapist? To protect his life? They're sentencing the sob.

having lived in Singapore and been to other countries where laws and consequences are much stricter... i'm with sixate, if they don't play by the rules, why should rules be set for them?

rogue said what i've been stating for awhile. no dragging it out or any extra shit. end it. it's over.

he signed his death warrent. he's gone.

i totally agree with sixate and the others. if you rape a young child you should die no jury no court. i also believe crime would be down if the US adopted greater punishment. when i was young i can still remember a neighbor of mine talking about the last hanging he ever saw. this guy stole another man's horse and a few days later they had a him put to death on the court house lawn. it was a big thing back in those days. the hole town would shutdown to watch it.

think how much auto thief would go down if they started executing every person that stole a car or was convicted of armed robbery. ??

just my 2 cents

OK, let's not go too far with this.

Robbery is not a case for the death penalty.

It's just inhuman acts that would be under consideration.

First-Degree Murder
Aggravated Rape
Molestation
Torture

The case HAS to go to jury, to be review by a judge.
The evidence HAS to be not circumstantial.

Otherwise we are bring ourselves to the level of the criminal.

As I said before, this is not about vengence,
this is about getting rid of someone who's essentially violated humanity.
They aren't going to be out in society ever again, and they are a burden to the community.

Let's not go to the level of them.
Just keep it clear, simple & quick.

Just to clear some things up, the expense to keep a person in jail for life is less than the legal fees of the government for all of the appeals they have to go through (which the defendant is entitled to, unless they decide they don't want to appeal).

Also, while (almost) everyone seems to say that this man should die, do you think that a state should be allowed to go against a ruling by the Supreme Court? I'm not entirely sure on how you would go about trying to get the supreme court to rule in favor of the death penalty for non-murder cases, but I think this would be that way right? This guy gets sentenced to death, and he would appeal over until he appealed to the Supreme Court to hear his case? But I'm not sure if an appeal for just the punishment can go to the Supreme Court, can it?

Life in prison would most likely be a death sentence for him. The priest accused of raping little boys got his ass beat to death in prison. If anyone in the prison finds out about that, his ass is grass. I am sure some prisoners have reasons for crimes (murder of someone they hate, robbing for money, etc) but something that sick the prisoners would be upset.

Death by state or death by inmates. Pick one

I think the right decision was made. While I'm no fan of the death penalty, rape of someone that young (the law says under 12, i say it should be more like under 14) is worse than murder and should carry a death penalty. Like another guy said, inmates are usually there because they committed a specific crime to hurt a specific person. These inmates tend to give criminals like this a hard time, and sometimes kill them. Like another guy said, the child-molesting priest was killing by an inmate. I also remember a few years back that a cannibal was killed by inmates. Might as well make it a quicker and less painful death by needle.

Ignoring the chances of him being assaulted and/or killed by an inmate (does anyone have any data on this? I started to look, but couldn't find anything). What if he was later found to be not guilty?
Now these statistics don't include anything about being found not guilty after the execution (I couldn't find anything on that, I guess what's the point of finding someone not guilty after they are dead). So theoretically, all of the people who went through the appeals, and were executed could be quite guilty, and the ones who were not finally got out of the execution.
Now I know this is getting into the general idea of the death penalty, but it has enough relevance I think.

in reading this thread again...
it's not really the jury who got it right so much as the DA who did all their homework, dotted their i's and crossed their t's.

the jury just affirmed the DA's arguments.

The man is identified as the girl's step father (? or other relation), so identifying the man would identify the girl. They're making the right call there. Although the next article identifies him....


I respectfully disagree. I believe the punishment should fit the crime. Physical violence is a viable punishment...not only does it punish the offender, but it discourages future criminals. If rapists just 'go to sleep' painlessly, do you think that discourages future crime? I don't...out of sight out of mind, who cares if someone in a hospital bed doesn't wake up.

Now, if you could go to a public square and see someone getting their balls removed and fed to them with a dull knife (not advocating that, just an extreme example) for fucking a kid, I think that would cut down on the number of people who fuck with kids. That is the ultimate goal here, that has been lost in the American judicial system. I think punishments should not only be to reduce repeat offenders and to 'rehabilitate', but to discourage others from committing the crime in the first place.

People commit crimes mostly because they are not scared of the consequences...

As blurry a line it is to execute someone who doesn't commit murder, I think the sentence is justified. And many other crimes need a better punishment. I think most people would be inclined to finally listen to their concience and not do the crime if they are going to lose a hand for stealing, or public hangings, etc.

Amen, Kaos...we're on the same wavelength :-)

Although harsher punishment may prevent some crimes, rape could arguably not be one of them. If a person is imbalanced enough to rape a child (crap, what was the name of that movie, where the father drugs his family, and rapes his son's friend who is their as well) then the consequences may not be a large factor in the descision. Then again, it might, I dunno, I know so friggin little about this stuff, I am a horrible arguer, someone take over for me please.... or not.

Just think of it in office space terms...the reason it was OK to steal the money was because they might spend a few years in a white-collar prison...when they found out they'd be in a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, they were regretful and wished they hadn't done it. Just extrapolate...

Boy-raping priest: Dead
Gay Cannibal (Jeffrey Dahmer): Dead

Probably many others: Prisoners do not treat freaks very well

Well, of course you are going to know about the ones who were killed, thats news. Unless it's an incredibly slow news day, you are not likely to hear "Convicted child rapist has not been killed in prison today, more at 11."

Then again, I don't even know about the numbers of child rapists in prison, so maybe the few that are killed is a large portion (although I am not too optimistic about society to think that there are so few of them).