When Texas' leading politicians called loudly for the death penalty for repeat child rapists last year, they knew there was a good chance the U.S. Supreme Court might find the provision unconstitutional. Legal experts told them so – repeatedly.
And on Wednesday the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision in a Louisiana case, did just that, ruling that "the death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child."
The decision didn't surprise many, said Shannon Edmonds, staff attorney for government relations with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association.
"A lot of legal experts had seen the writing on the wall from the Supreme Court," he said. "Whether those people, on both sides, agree with what the Supreme Court was going to do or not, didn't mean they didn't see it coming."
The decision does not entirely overturn Jessica's Law in Texas, the statute named after Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl who was abducted and killed in 2005. The ruling invalidates the Texas death provision, but legislators created a fallback position in the statute: Life without parole would apply if capital punishment for child rape was outlawed.
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