In Ohio, the clock hasn’t moved past June 24, 2008. The residents of that state have been reliving that one day for the last 5+ years.
Or at least that’s the only explanation for this bill proposed by State Rep. John Becker, which would make horrific sexual crimes against children punishable by the death penalty.
So why June 24, 2008? Because the next day, June 25, 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States of America issued its opinion in Kennedy v. Louisiana [PDF], which held that it was a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to punish a crime that did not result in death by death.
In Kennedy, Kennedy wrote that the 5 states that had authorized such a penalty did not constitute a “national consensus” and that it violated the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
Rep. Becker wishes to create that “national consensus”, stating that the bill is modeled after the law in half a dozen states. Which is 6. 6 states out of 50. And which is decidedly not the law. See, Kennedy, supra.
He said:
his House Bill 244 would give prosecutors another option when negotiating plea agreements and could help to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to allow capital punishment for heinous crimes against children.
Oh, that’s great. “Take this plea deal or we’ll kill you” has proven real effective in ensuring that only the guilty get sent to prison.
But what could be causing him to suddenly propose such a bill?
“In light of the Ariel Castro kidnapping case of three young women in Cleveland,
I don’t need to finish that quote. Thankfully (or not?) Ohio is still part of these United States and thus subject to the law of these United States as interpreted by the Supreme Court of these United States, which said, quite clearly, that what Becker is proposing is unconstitutional.
At least we can sit comfortably here in CT knowing that no legislato-nevermind.